Long-term associations between inflammatory dietary scores in relation to long-term C-reactive protein status measured 12 years later: findings from the Supplementation en Vitamines et Mineraux Antioxydants (SU.VI.MAX) cohort

Chronic low-grade inflammation has been recognised as a key underlying mechanism for several chronic diseases, including cancer and CVD. Nutrition represents a host of key modifiable factors that influence chronic inflammation. Dietary inflammatory scores were developed to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet and have been associated with inflammatory biomarkers in cross-sectional and short-term longitudinal studies. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between the dietary inflammatory index (DII), the alternate dietary inflammatory index (ADII) and long-term C-reactive protein (CRP). We also tested age as an effect modifier of this relationship. Participants were selected in the Supplementation en Vitamines et Mineraux Antioxydants study, which included subjects aged 45-60 years old for men and 35-60 years old for women in 1994. Participants with 3 24-h dietary records at baseline and a CRP measurement at the 12-year follow-up evaluation were included in the present study (n 1980). The relationships between the DII and ADII and elevated CRP (>3 mg/l) were investigated using logistic multivariable regression. All analyses were stratified by age (cut-off at median age=50 years old). The overall associations between DII and ADII and long-term CRP were not statistically significant (P-trend across tertiles=016 for DII and 010 for ADII). A quantitative interaction was found between ADII score and age (P=016 for ADII, 036 for DII). In stratified analyses the ADII was significantly prospectively associated with CRP only in younger participants: OR tertile 3 v. tertile 1: 179 (95 % CI 104, 307). Pro-inflammatory diets may have long-term effect on CRP only in younger subjects.