Development of a questionnaire-based Dietary Inflammatory Index assessment for clinical implementation

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Science
• Public Health
• Clinical Nutrition

Background:

• Chronic metabolic diseases pose a significant healthcare burden.
• Current dietary guidelines lack consensus on ideal patterns.
• The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) measures diet's inflammatory potential but is complex for clinical use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simplified method for calculating DII scores using a clinically available food frequency questionnaire (FFQ).
• To validate the accuracy of the FFQ-based DII calculation against traditional dietary records.

Main Methods:

• Thirty healthy volunteers completed a 3-day dietary record (DR) and an FFQ.
• Nutrient intake and DII scores were calculated from both DR and FFQ data.
• Regression equations were developed to predict nutrient intake from FFQ data, creating an estimated DII (eDII).

Main Results:

• Significant correlations were found between 27 of 29 nutrient intakes and DII scores derived from DR and FFQ.
• The eDII calculated using regression equations showed a strong correlation with the DR-derived DII (r=0.716, p<0.0001).
• The developed method demonstrated low bias and variance.

Conclusions:

• The simplified FFQ-based method accurately estimates DII scores.
• This approach facilitates individualized and inflammation-targeted dietary interventions.
• The findings support the clinical application of DII for managing chronic diseases through diet.