Can the Dietary Inflammatory Index Be an Essential Tool for Preventing Diabetes? An Overview of Clinical Studies

Abstract

Low-grade, chronic inflammation is related to various non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancers. Dietary factors are important modulators of chronic inflammation. Furthermore, diet may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus through inflammation. The dietary inflammatory index was designed to determine the inflammatory potential of diet. Considering that diet may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus through inflammation, determining the inflammation potential of individuals' diets is essential for preventing diabetes risk. Thus, it may benefit from using the dietary inflammatory index to characterize dietary inflammatory potential. In this review, a comprehensive literature search was performed for the dietary inflammatory index and studies investigating the effects of the Dietary Inflammatory Index on diabetes risk and glucose markers. Although studies evaluating diabetes and diabetes-related markers with the dietary inflammatory index have inconsistent results, the dietary inflammatory index is successful in reflecting the inflammatory potential of diet. It can be an essential tool to characterize the populations' diet and reduce the risk of chronic inflammation-related disease, including diabetes. However further clinical studies are needed to determine the relationship between the Dietary Inflammatory Index and diabetes and whether the dietary inflammatory index tool will be helpful in practice.