An examination of Dietary Inflammatory Index scores in a Canadian nationally representative sample
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Date
2024-02-09
Authors
Fleet, Kristen
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Abstract
There is growing recognition that diet can influence an individual’s inflammation level and ultimately, their risk for developing disease (Minihane et al., 2015; Prasad et al., 2012). The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) was developed to assess the inflammatory potential of an individual’s diet and pro-inflammatory diets have been linked to numerous chronic diseases (Phillips et al., 2019). That said, there is a paucity of research examining the inflammatory nature of diets in Canada.
The current project used data from the Canadian Community Health Survey – Nutrition 2015. The study sample consisted of adults aged 18-65, who were not pregnant. 24-hour dietary recalls were used to calculate DII and Health Eating Index – Canada (HEI-C) scores. Adherence to food guide recommendations was assessed using Health Canada’s four-tiered, grading system. The association between DII and HEI-C scores, as well as adherence to the Canadian Food Guide recommendations were measured. The influence of personal and external factors that influence diet and DII scores was examined using a structural equation modelling approach.
Results indicated that there was an inverse relationship between adherence to food guide recommendations and DII scores; however, no significant relationship was observed for HEI-C scores. Higher DII scores were noted for individuals who were not married or had lower levels of education or income. The best fitting structural equation model included variables for sex, income, number of foods consumed and length of time since immigration.
The findings in this thesis indicated that certain Canadian populations have significantly higher DII scores and this knowledge could lead to the development of effective interventions to promote the consumption of an anti-inflammatory diet.
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Keywords
Dietary Inflammatory Index, Inflammation