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Associations between a Mediterranean diet pattern and inflammatory biomarkers in European adolescents

  • Original Contribution
  • Published:
European Journal of Nutrition Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aim

To test whether the Mediterranean diet score and each food-subgroup is associated with inflammatory biomarkers in European adolescents.

Methods

In 464 adolescents (13–17 years) of the European HELENA study, data were available on body composition, inflammation markers, and food intake determined by two computerized 24-h recalls. The Mediterranean diet score and its food-subgroups (Vegetables, Fruits and Nuts, Pulses, Cereal and Roots, Monounsaturated/Saturated fat ratio, Dairy, Fish, Meat and Alcohol) were evaluated. A set of inflammation-related biomarkers was measured: IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, TGFβ-1, TNF-α, sVCAM-1, sICAM1, sE-selectin, white blood cells, lymphocytes, CD3, CRP, GGT, ALT, and homocysteine. Multivariate and multiple linear regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, country, socioeconomic status, paternal and maternal education, adiposity, and smoking habits.

Results

The Mediterranean diet score was positively associated with CRP, and negatively with sVCAM-1. The subgroups showed the following positive/negative associations: Vegetables with IL-10(+), CRP(+), CD3(+), ALT(+), lymphocytes(+), sE-selectin(−); Fruits and Nuts with IL-4(−), TNF-alpha; Pulses with IL-5(+), IL-6(+), IL-2(−); Cereals and Roots with IL-6(−), IL-10(−); Monounsaturated/Saturated-fat ratio with IL-6(+), TGFβ-1(+), sVCAM-1(+boys, −girls), homocysteine(−); Dairy with IL-1(+), IL-5(+), IL-6(+), IL-10(+), TGFβ-1(+), homocysteine(−); Fish with homocysteine(−); Meat with IL-2(+), IL-10(+); Alcohol with CRP(+), lymphocytes(−). Sex differences were found.

Conclusion

Some specific food–inflammation associations were found, suggesting that diet is to a certain extent already related to inflammation in adolescents and can be used in disease prevention. Also some counterintuitive results were found, which might be due to grouping very different foods into a single group, besides considering that the human body may respond differently depending on the interaction between diet, lifestyle, genetics, biochemical individuality, age and sex.

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Acknowledgements

The HELENA Study was carried out with the financial support of the European Community Sixth RTD Framework Programme (Contract FOODCT-2005-007034). The European Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University, De Pintelaan 185, Block K3, 4th floor, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Aline Arouca, Nathalie Michels, Inge Huybrechts & Stefaan De Henauw

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, GENUD: “Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development Research Group”, Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Aragón (IIS Aragón), Universidad de Zaragoza, Saragossa, Spain

    Luis A. Moreno & Esther M. González-Gil

  3. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERObn), Madrid, Spain

    Luis A. Moreno & Esther M. González-Gil

  4. Department of Metabolism and Nutrition, Institute of Food Science and Technology and Nutrition, Madrid, Spain

    Ascensión Marcos, Sonia Gómez & Ligia Esperanza Díaz

  5. Department of Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Kurt Widhalm

  6. Department of Pediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary

    Dénes Molnár

  7. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

    Yannis Manios

  8. Faculty of Medicine, University Lille, Lille, France

    Frederic Gottrand

  9. Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Crete, Greece

    Antonio Kafatos

  10. Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund, Pediatric University Clinic, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Mathilde Kersting

  11. Unit for Preventive Nutrition, Department of Biosciences, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden

    Michael Sjöström

  12. Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Alejandro de la O

  13. Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Food and Nutrition, Rome, Italy

    Marika Ferrari

  14. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France

    Inge Huybrechts

  15. Department of Health and Human Performance, Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte-INEF, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Marcela Gonzalez-Gross

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Correspondence to Aline Arouca.

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Arouca, A., Michels, N., Moreno, L.A. et al. Associations between a Mediterranean diet pattern and inflammatory biomarkers in European adolescents. Eur J Nutr 57, 1747–1760 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1457-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-017-1457-4

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