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Dietary inflammatory potential and biological aging among US adults: a population-based study

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Abstract

Objectives

The rate of biological aging is influenced by various factors such as genetics, environment, and diet. The dietary inflammatory index (DII) is strongly associated with various chronic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between DII and biological aging in US adults using quantitative indicators.

Methods

Based on data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2018, weighted multiple linear regression models, generalized weighted models, and smoothed fitted curves were used to investigate the linear and nonlinear relationships of DII with four biological markers of aging (biological age, phenotypic age, telomere length, and serum klotho concentration).

Results

A total of 35,575 adult participants with complete data were included in the study. After adjusting for all confounders, significant positive correlations were found between DII with biological age [0.070 (0.045, 0.095)] and phenotypic age [0.421 (0.371, 0.471)], with an increase of 0.07 and 0.42 years in biological age and phenotypic age, respectively, for each increase in DII score. The negative correlations between DII with telomere length [ – 0.005 ( – 0.008, – 0.002)] and klotho [ – 3.874 ( – 7.409, – 0.338)] were significant only in partially adjusted models and differed across subgroups.

Conclusions

In the current study, higher DII scores (greater pro-inflammatory dietary potential) were associated with biological aging. These findings may contribute to the development of aging prevention strategies through dietary interventions.

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Data availability

The survey data are publicly available on the internet for data users and researchers throughout the world ( www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/).

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Funding

This work did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hand & Microsurgery, Hengyang Medical School, The Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, 421002, China

    Ruijie Xie & Mingjiang Liu

  2. Department of Intensive Care Unit, The People’s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region & Research Center of Intensive Care Unit, Nanning, 530021, China

    Zhongxing Ning

  3. Department of Quality Evaluation Office, Hengyang Medical School, The Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, 421002, China

    Mengde Xiao

  4. Department of Gland Surgery, Hengyang Medical School, The Affiliated Nanhua Hospital, University of South China, Hengyang, 421002, China

    Lihong Li & Ya Zhang

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  1. Ruijie Xie
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Contributions

All authors read and approved the final manuscript. RX and ZN performed the analysis. RX and MX wrote a draft of this article. ML, YZ and LL conceived the study design. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the results and critically revised the manuscript for important intellectual content and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Mingjiang Liu or Ya Zhang.

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The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by NCHS Ethics Review Board.

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The portions of this study involving human participants, human materials, or human data were conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and were approved by the NCHS Ethics Review Board.

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Xie, R., Ning, Z., Xiao, M. et al. Dietary inflammatory potential and biological aging among US adults: a population-based study. Aging Clin Exp Res 35, 1273–1281 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-023-02410-1

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