pro-inflammatory diets and frailty

A December 2021 study by, amongst others, Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, and Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, said that, 

• “The study indicated that regularly eating foods that contain nutrients such as dietary fiber and dietary antioxidants (such as vitamin C, vitamin E, and flavonoids) may prevent older adults from becoming frail,” 

• “While more studies are necessary, guidelines based on an anti-inflammatory diet may help reduce the percentage of older adults who may develop frailty and related conditions such as falls and fractures, which can improve their quality of life.”

Processed food, chronic infections and risks

An April 2021 study by Georgia State University said,

"We observed that feeding mice a Western-style diet, rather than standard rodent grain-based chow, altered the dynamics of Citrobacter infection, reducing initial colonization and inflammation, which was surprising. However, mice consuming the Western-style diet frequently developed persistent infection that was associated with low-grade inflammation and insulin resistance," 

”These studies demonstrate potential of altering microbiota and their metabolites by diet to impact the course and consequence of infection following exposure to a gut pathogen."

"We speculate that reshaping gut microbiota by nutrients that promote beneficial bacteria that out-compete pathogens may be a means of broadly promoting health,"

Dietary Inflammatory Index and pre-Diabetes

Another study regarding the Dietary Inflammatory Index.

A 2017 study entitled Association between Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and risk of prediabetes: a case-control study said,

“Subjects who consumed a more pro-inflammatory diet were at increased risk of prediabetes compared with those who consumed a more anti-inflammatory diet.”

Source

Department of Nutritional Sciences, National Nutrition and Food Technology Research Institute, Faculty of Nutrition Sciences and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Dietary Inflammatory Index and Colorectal Cancer Risk

Another study regarding the Dietary Inflammatory Index

A 2017 study entitled “Dietary Inflammatory Index and Colorectal Cancer Risk—A Meta-Analysis” concluded

“This meta-analysis suggests that a more pro-inflammatory diet, as estimated by the higher DII score, was independently associated with an increased risk of CRC. Hence, promoting diets low in pro-inflammatory items and rich in anti-inflammatory food components should help in reducing the incidence of CRC. Future research should concentrate on how DII fares in a population with CRC and what effect it would have on CRC-specific mortality.”

Source

Shivappa N, Godos J, Hébert JR, et al. Dietary Inflammatory Index and Colorectal Cancer Risk-A Meta-Analysis. Nutrients. 2017;9(9):1043. Published 2017 Sep 20. doi:10.3390/nu9091043

Link between Inflammation and Metaboblic Syndrome

Another study regarding the Dietary Inflammatory Index.

A 2017 study by the University of South Carolina entitled “Association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index, Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Metabolic Syndrome” the researchers concluded,

“the results of this study suggest an association between the [Dietary Inflammatory Index] and some [metabolic syndrome - the medical term for a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension) and obesity.] components; 

“however, this conclusion may be limited by the cross-sectional nature of the study, the use of self-reported data, participation of men and women from very specific geographic regions (Poland’s Świętokrzyskie Province and the city of Kielce), and an abbreviated FFQ (inquiring about only 55 food items).” 

Pro-inflammatory diet and Schizophrenia

Another study regarding the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII).

A 2019 study by concluded

“The data suggest that a pro-inflammatory diet, as indicated by increasing E-DII score, is associated with schizophrenia. This is the first study to examine the association between the DII and schizophrenia in a Middle Eastern population. Although these results are consistent with findings from research conducted in depression, additional studies are required before generalizing the findings to other populations.”

Source 

Jahrami H, Faris MA, Ghazzawi HA, Saif Z, Habib L, Shivappa N, Hébert JR. Increased Dietary Inflammatory Index Is Associated with Schizophrenia: Results of a Case-Control Study from Bahrain. Nutrients. 2019 Aug 11;11(8):1867. doi: 10.3390/nu11081867. PMID: 31405205; PMCID: PMC6722742.

Testosterone and immune response

A May 2021 study by West Virginia University said, 

"Stomach cancer is primarily caused by rampant inflammation,”

"The overarching theme of my lab is to understand what's controlling the balance between a protective immune response, which is just targeting the infection, and a pathogenic immune response, which is like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum and damaging everything. It looks like androgens may be really important in tipping that balance toward a protective response."

Glucocorticoids are "the chief anti-inflammatory hormones that your body produces …You can think of them as the brake pedal to the immune system.”

"We were able to completely rescue them from their stomach inflammation,”

"We proved that androgens were the hormones giving male mice that double layer of protection from inflammation. In the females, the only anti-inflammatory hormone was glucocorticoids. In males, it could be either glucocorticoids or androgens. This study potentially explains why women have a much higher incidence of autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases."

"Actually, eight out of 10 individuals with autoimmune disease are women," 

"If someone presents with stomach inflammation, it might be worth it for clinicians to investigate what's going on with their endocrine system," 

"Persistent, smoldering inflammation over the course of many, many years is the fertile ground for stomach cancer to grow." 

"It's an important, and understudied, human health issue."

"These findings may help us understand how inflammation promotes cancer development, but we can't make any direct inferences about stomach cancer from this body of work,”

"That's the direction we're moving in, though. We're currently studying how sex affects carcinogenesis using an actual cancer model."