Diets High in Inflammatory Potential Linked to Cardiovascular Disease

TUESDAY, Nov. 3, 2020 — Dietary patterns with higher inflammatory potential are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke, according to a study published in the Nov. 10 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Jun Li, M.D., Ph.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues examined whether proinflammatory diets are associated with increased CVD risk among 74,578 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), 91,656 women from the NHSII, and 43,911 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. A food-based empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) score was used to assess the inflammatory potential of diet.

The researchers documented 15,837 incident CVD cases, including 9,794 CHD cases and 6,174 strokes during 5,291,518 person-years of follow-up. After adjustment for use of anti-inflammatory medications and CVD risk factors, a higher dietary inflammatory potential (as indicated by higher EDIP scores) was associated with an increased risk for CVD, CHD, and stroke in pooled analyses (hazard ratios for highest versus lowest quintiles, 1.38, 1.46, and 1.28, respectively). A higher EDIP was associated with a higher circulating profile of proinflammatory biomarkers, lower levels of adiponectin, and an unfavorable blood lipid profile in a subset of the participants.

“A better knowledge of health protection provided by different foods and dietary patterns, mainly their anti-inflammatory properties, should provide the basis for designing even healthier dietary patterns to protect against heart disease,” a coauthor of an accompanying editorial said in a statement.

One author disclosed financial ties to the California Walnut Commission.

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