A study that was published online found a favourable link between inflammation caused by food and a biomarker for heart failure.
Teng-Chi Ma, from the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, and colleagues examined the relationship between diet-induced inflammation (measured by the Dietary Inflammatory Index [DII]) and heart failure (measured by N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide [NT-proBNP]) using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999 to 2004; 10,766 individuals).
Researchers discovered that after controlling for demographic characteristics (8.57 pg/mL) and other variables related to health (5.54 pg/mL), a unit increase in the DII was substantially correlated with an increase in NT-proBNP levels in persons without heart failure.
There was a tendency for NT-proBNP levels in the second and third DII quartiles to be higher than in the lowest quartile (717.06 pg/mL and 855.49 pg/mL, respectively) among people with a history of heart failure. Additionally, there were noteworthy interactions based on gender (men: β = 17.82; women: β = 7.43), age (younger than 50 years: β = 3.63; 50 to 75 years: β = 18.4; 75 years and older: β = 56.09), hypertension (β = 25.73), and diabetes (β = 38.94).
“This study identified a positive correlation between the DII and NT-proBNP levels, suggesting a robust link between pro-inflammatory diets and increased heart failure biomarkers, with implications for dietary modifications in cardiovascular risk management,” the scientists write.
