The association between dietary inflammatory pattern and body weight, lipid profile in Iranian diabetic adults

Diabetes mellitus and its comorbidities which result in dyslipidemia and cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the leading causes of death in the world, and diet plays a major role in those disease incidences, especially through lipid oxidation mechanisms. This, in turn, leads to tissue inflammation and the formation of atheromatous plaques. Our objective was to evaluate the association between the inflammatory potential of the diet and the incidence of dyslipidemia or its subclasses. We included 599 T2DM patients (276 men and 323 women), aged 35 to 65 years from diabetes referral centers, including Gabric Diabetes Association, Iranian Diabetes Society, and other health centers in Tehran. The lipid profiles in serum were measured by the dietary inflammatory index (DII) was computed using a validated 148-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The DII score ranged between - 4.85 and 5.46 and its mean and standard deviation (SD) was (-0.02±1.65). Younger individuals had higher adherence to the inflammatory diet (p≤0.001). Moreover, in the higher quartiles of DII, lower levels of physical activities were seen (p=0.005). There were no significant differences in the distribution of BMI, waist circumference, or lipid profile across DII quartiles. In the overall analysis, no significant association was observed between DII and lipid profile in the crude model, but after adjusting for confounders (age, gender, BMI, physical activity, and energy intake), the DII score was found to be positively associated with total cholesterol (β=3.123, SE=1.478, p=0.035) in all participants. A pro-inflammatory diet, as measured by a higher DII score, was prospectively associated with a higher level of total cholesterol in serum. This result may shed a light on the prevention of incidence dyslipidemia and CVD in diabetic patients by intervention in dietary patterns.