Associations between Dietary Inflammatory Index, ultra-processed food intake, and clinical outcomes in women with...

To examine the associations of ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption, dietary inflammatory index (DII), and Mediterranean diet adherence with pain severity, physical quality of life, body composition, and inflammatory markers in women with lipedema.

This cross-sectional study included women diagnosed with lipedema across different disease stages. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire, and foods were classified according to the NOVA system to determine UPF consumption. The dietary inflammatory index was calculated to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet, and Mediterranean diet adherence was evaluated using a standardized scoring system. Anthropometric measurements, body composition parameters, inflammatory markers, pain intensity (VAS), and physical quality of life (SF-12 PCS) were assessed. Multivariable regression analyses were performed to investigate the associations between dietary variables and clinical outcomes.

A total of 86 women with lipedema (stage 1: n = 36, stage 2: n = 33, stage 3: n = 17) were included. UPF consumption increased from 28.1 to 41.3% of total energy and DII scores from +1.46 to +3.02 across stages, while Mediterranean diet adherence decreased from 28.2 to 21.3. In parallel, BMI increased from 27.1 to 31.1 kg/m² and body fat percentage from 36.7 to 41.1%. Inflammatory markers also rose across stages (hs-CRP: 3.9 to 6.1 mg/L; IL-6: 3.1 to 4.6 pg/ml). In multivariable models, higher DII scores were associated with increased pain severity (β = 0.29, p = 0.007) and higher hs-CRP levels (β = 0.41, p < 0.001), whereas Mediterranean diet adherence was positively associated with physical quality of life (β = 0.34, p = 0.002).

Higher ultra-processed food consumption and dietary inflammatory potential were associated with increased inflammation, pain, and adiposity, whereas greater Mediterranean diet adherence was associated with better physical quality of life in womendietary inflammatory index, inflammation, lipedema, Mediterranean diet, ultra-processed foods with lipedema.