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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1537855
This article is part of the Research Topic Dietary Habits in Liver Health and Disease: Preclinical and Clinical Studies View all 9 articles

Exploring the Association Between Pro-Inflammatory Diets and Chronic Liver Diseases: Evidence from the UK Biobank

Provisionally accepted
Lili Pan Lili Pan 1,2Zhengrong Xu Zhengrong Xu 2Yining Li Yining Li 2Guoen Cai Guoen Cai 3*Haibin Gao Haibin Gao 4*Shenglong Lin Shenglong Lin 4*
  • 1 Translational Medicine Center on Hematology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
  • 2 Fujian Institute of Hematology, Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory on Hematology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China
  • 3 Department of Neurology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
  • 4 Department of Severe Hepatopathy, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Chronic liver diseases (CLD) continue to pose a significant global burden, potentially exacerbated by pro-inflammatory diets. This study explores the relationship between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), a measure of dietary inflammatory potential, and CLD risk. Methods:Utilizing data from the UK Biobank cohort, we assessed the dietary information and calculated the DII for each participant. Cox proportional hazards models and Fine-Gray competing risk models were employed to evaluate the association between DII and CLD incidence, adjusting for potential confounders. Results: Our analysis included 121,329 participants with a median follow-up of 604.43 weeks, during which 4,018 developed CLD. A higher DII, indicating a more inflammatory diet, was associated with a 16% increased risk of CLD (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.162, P = 0.001), with each unit increase in DII elevating the risk by 3.3% (HR: 1.033, P < 0.001). A significant linear association between DII and CLD was observed. Competing risk analyses, which accounted for cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death, supported these findings. Subgroup analyses confirmed the robustness of the DII's association across various demographic and lifestyle factors. Moreover, a higher DII was positively associated with the progression of CLD to cirrhosis. Sensitivity analyses, including energy-adjusted DII and typical dietary DII, reinforced our results. Additionally, adherence to anti-inflammatory dietary patterns, as indicated by higher Healthy Eating Index 2020 and Mediterranean Diet Score values, was inversely associated with CLD risk. Conclusion: Our study highlights the potential benefits of adopting anti-inflammatory diets as a strategy for the prevention and management of CLD.Comprehensive dietary interventions may play a pivotal role in mitigating the global burden of CLD.

    Keywords: Dietary inflammatory index, Pro-inflammatory diet, dietary pattern, chronic liver diseases (CLD), UK Biobank

    Received: 01 Dec 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Pan, Xu, Li, Cai, Gao and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Guoen Cai, Department of Neurology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, 350001, Fujian Province, China
    Haibin Gao, Department of Severe Hepatopathy, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China
    Shenglong Lin, Department of Severe Hepatopathy, Mengchao Hepatobiliary Hospital of Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.