AUTHOR=Zhang Chuang , Ren Weirui , Li Meng , Wang Wenbo , Sun Chi , Liu Lin , Fang Yanbin , Liu Lin , Yang Xiaofeng , Zhang Xiangjian , Li Suolin TITLE=Association Between the Children's Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII) and Markers of Inflammation and Oxidative Stress Among Children and Adolescents: NHANES 2015-2018 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.894966 DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.894966 ISSN=2296-861X ABSTRACT=Objectives

To explore the association of Children's Dietary Inflammatory Index (C-DII) scores with inflammation and markers of inflammatory factors in children and adolescents.

Methods

Data on dietary nutrient intake, markers of inflammation (ferritin, alkaline phosphatase, C-reactive protein (CRP), absolute neutrophil cell count and lymphocyte count) and oxidative stress (serum bilirubin, albumin, and iron) were available for participants aged 6–19 years (n = 1281). Each participant's C-DII score was calculated based on a 24-h diet and recall. Generalized linear models were applied to examine associations between C-DII and markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, while adjusting for covariates. Restricted cubic splines were used to explore the dose-response association of C-DII scores with indicators of inflammatory oxidative stress. Akaike's Information Criterionwas applied to compare the performance of linear and non-linear models.

Results

After adjusting for potential confounders, quantile regression results showed that when comparing C-DII quartile 4 (most pro-inflammatory) and quartile 1 (most anti-inflammatory), lymphocytes, ferritin, CRP were statistically significant differences in serum bilirubin, albumin and serum iron (P < 0.05). The C-DII score showed a non-linear relationship with inflammatory oxidative stress indicators. Overweight/obese children and adolescents who ate a high pro-inflammatory diet were more likely to have higher levels of inflammatory cytokines (P = 0.002).

Conclusions

The dietary inflammatory index in children is associated with markers of chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. A pro-inflammatory diet resulted in increased serum concentrations of these markers, implying that early dietary interventions have implications for reducing chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in children and adolescents.