The Relationship Between the Dietary Inflammatory Index and Metabolic Syndrome in Ravansar Cohort Study

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components using data of Ravansar non-communicable diseases (RaNCD) cohort study.

The present cross-sectional study was performed using the information of 6538 participants in the RaNCD study in Iran. A validated 125-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to acquire DII scores. MetS was defined based on national cholesterol education program-adult treatment panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria. The association between DII and MetS and its components was investigated by the logistic regression model using STATA software.

A significant association was found between DII and MetS (OR _trend: 1.08, 95% CI: 1.01-1.15, P =0.017), triglyceride (TG) (OR _trend: 1.06, 95% CI: 1.00-1.12, P=0.030), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (OR _trend: 1.10, 95% CI: 1.01-1.20, P=0.018) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (OR _trend: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.02-1.12, P= 0.005) after adjustment for all covariates. Also, there was a significant relationship between DII score and waist circumference (WC) (OR _trend: 1.07, 95% CI: 1.01-1.14, P=0.016).

Higher DII score (a pro-inflammatory diet) had a significant association with the risk of MetS and its components, even after adjustment for different potential confounding factors including socio-demographic data and lifestyle habits. However, further longitudinal investigations with more dietary parameters are needed to elucidate the role of the pro-inflammatory diet in the etiology of MetS.