Dietary Inflammatory Potential and the Risk of Neurodegenerative Diseases in Adults

Nutrition and diet have been suggested to enhance or inhibit cognitive performance and the risk of several neurodegenerative diseases. We conducted a systematic review to elucidate the relationship between the inflammatory capacity of a person's diet and the risk of incident neurodegenerative diseases. We searched major medical databases for articles published through June 30, 2018. Original, full-text, English-language articles on studies with human participants which investigated the link between dietary inflammatory potential and risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases were included. Duplicate and irrelevant studies were removed, and data were compiled through critical analysis. Initially, 457 articles were collected via the searching method, of which 196 studies remained after removal of duplicates. Fourteen articles were screened and found to be relevant to the scope of the review. After critical analysis, 10 were included in the final review. In all studies but one, a higher dietary inflammatory index (DII) was related to higher risk of developing neurodegenerative disease symptoms, including memory and cognition decline and multiple sclerosis. Of 3 studies that assessed the association of DII with levels of circulating inflammation markers, 2 indicated that DII was positively correlated with inflammatory marker levels. Low literacy, an unhealthy lifestyle, and individual nutritional status were the factors involved in a diet with inflammatory potential. These findings enhance confidence that DII is an appropriate tool for measurement of dietary inflammatory potential and validate the role of diets with inflammatory potential in the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative diseases. DII may be correlated with levels of circulating inflammatory markers.