Associations between healthy eating patterns and immune function or inflammation in overweight or obese postmenopausal women.
BACKGROUND
The link between poor nutritional status and impaired immune function is well established; however, most studies have focused on individual nutrients instead of overall dietary patterns.


OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to investigate associations between 3 indexes of overall diet quality [the Diet Quality Index (DQI), the DQI including supplementary calcium (DQI-Ca), and the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)] and biomarkers of inflammation and immunity.


METHODS
This cross-sectional study included 110 overweight or obese postmenopausal women. Dietary intake measured by food-frequency questionnaire was used to calculate diet quality scores. C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) were measured by latex-enhanced nephelometry. Flow cytometry was used to measure natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity and to enumerate and phenotype lymphocyte subsets. T lymphocyte proliferation was assessed by (3)H-thymidine incorporation as well as by the carboxyfluorescein-succinimidyl ester method of cell division tracking. Multivariable-adjusted linear regression analysis was used to investigate associations between diet quality scores and markers of inflammation and immune function.


RESULTS
Higher diet quality was associated with increased proportions of cytotoxic and decreased proportions of helper T lymphocytes. CRP and SAA concentrations were higher among women with a lower-quality diet; these associations became nonsignificant after adjustment for body mass index or percentage body fat. We observed limited evidence for an association between healthy eating patterns and greater lymphocyte proliferation and no evidence for an association with NK cell cytotoxicity.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results provide limited evidence that healthy eating patterns contribute to enhanced immune function and reduced inflammation in overweight and obese postmenopausal women.
Boynton
Alanna
A
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Cancer Prevention Program, Seattle, WA 98109-1024, USA.
Neuhouser
Marian L
ML
Wener
Mark H
MH
Wood
Brent
B
Sorensen
Bess
B
Chen-Levy
Zehava
Z
Kirk
Elizabeth A
EA
Yasui
Yutaka
Y
Lacroix
Kristin
K
McTiernan
Anne
A
Ulrich
Cornelia M
CM
D000368:Aged; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity; D007249:Inflammation / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D018655:Lymphocyte Count; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000276:immunology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000276:immunology*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000276:immunology*; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein / Q000032:analysis
D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein; D002097:C-Reactive Protein