The association of dietary inflammatory index and obesity phenotypes in women

Obesity, as a chronic inflammation, is one of the most important health problems in the world. Increased central obesity is associated with increased inflammation. Diet plays a major role in regulating inflammation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between dietary inflammatory index (DII) and obesity in Tehranian women. This cross-sectional study was performed on 199 women living in District 7 of Tehran. Food intake obtained through a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and DII was calculated. Weight, height, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) were measured or calculated. In the final analysis, the effect of age, level of education, smoking status, and physical activity was controlled. The mean age of the subjects was 37.03 years, and the mean BMI was 27.6 kg/m2. The odds of high WC increased with increasing DII score in the crude model (p=0.01) and decreased significantly in the adjusted model (p=0.04). But there was no significant relationship between DII and other variables of abdominal obesity and general obesity (p>0.05). The study states that by increasing the inflammatory index score of the diet, the chance of developing abdominal obesity (waist circumference) decreases. But this result is not true for other variables of abdominal obesity and general obesity.