Table 1.

Overview of cohort studies on empirically derived dietary patterns and markers of inflammation, published since January 2011

Publication, year Cohort	Population	Dietary assessment	Derived dietary patterns	Inflammatory marker	Study design/Results
Factor analysis/Principal component analysis
Nanri et al., 2011 [16] Japan Multi-Institutional Collaborative Cohort (J-MICC) study	9,545 Japanese men and women, aged 40 to 69 years	FFQ, 46 items	Healthy - high in fruits and vegetables Western - high in meat and fried foods Seafood - high in fish and shellfish Bread - high in bread and low in rice Dessert - high in confections	CRP	Cross-sectional study: Participants with a high healthy dietary pattern score had a lower average CRP concentrations (0.40 mg/l in men and 0.29 mg/l in women) compared to those with a lower score (0.45 mg/l in men, P for trend 0.01; 0.30 mg/l in women, P for trend 0.06 in women). No consistent associations were found for the other dietary pattern scores.
Villegas et al.,2012 [17] Shanghai Men’s Health Study (SMHS)	3,978 Chinese men, aged 40 to 74 years	FFQ, 81 items	Vegetables - high in vegetables, beans Fruits - high in fruits, bread, milk Meat - high in meat and fish	CRP	Cross-sectional study: Participants with a high fruit dietary pattern score had a lower prevalence of high CRP compared to those with a lower score (OR Q5 vs. Q1: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.46–0.99). Participants with a high meat dietary pattern score had a higher prevalence of high CRP compared to those with a lower score (OR Q5 vs. Q1: 1.34; 95% CI: 0.91–1.99). Vegetable dietary pattern was not associated with CRP.
Meyer et al., 2011 [18] MONItoring of Trends and Determinants in CArdiovascular Diseases (MONICA) Augsburg	981 German men, aged 45 to 64 years	7-day dietary records	Unhealthy dietary patterns derived by PCR and PLS - high intakes of meat and beer, low intakes of vegetables, fruit, wholemeal bread, nuts, and tea.	CRP IL-6 IL-8	Cross-sectional study: Crude spearman correlation coefficients between unhealthy dietary pattern (derived by PCR) and CRP of 0.24, IL-6 of 0.19, and IL-18 of 0.11. Crude spearman correlation coefficients between unhealthy dietary pattern (derived by PLS) and CRP of 0.29, IL-6 of 0.23, and IL-18 of 0.11.
Meyer et al., 2012 [19] Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study	2,736 US men and women, aged 18 to 30 years	Diet history	Fruit-vegetable diet High meat diet	F2-isoprostanes	Cross-sectional study (year 20): F2-isoprostanes decreased across quintiles of fruit-vegetable diet (Ptrend<0.0001) and increases across quintiles of meat diet (Ptrend<0.0001). Prospective study (diet year 0/7 vs. average F2-isoprostanes year 15/20 and changes from year 15–20): Fruit-vegetable diet was inversely associated with average and changes of F2-isoprostanes (Q5 vs. Q1: Ptrend<0.01). High meat diet directly associated with average and changes of F2-isoprostanes (Q5 vs. Q1: Ptrend<0.01).
Cluster analysis
Hlebowicz et al., 2011 [21] Malmö Diet and Cancer (MDC) study	4,999 Swedish men and women, aged 45 to 73 years	Diet history	Fibre-rich bread - high in fibre-rich bread Low fat, high fibre - high in fruit, low fat milk, meats White bread - high in white bread, low fat margarine Milk fat - high in high fat dairy Sweets and cakes - high in sugary foods Many foods and drinks	CRP WBC count Lp-PLA2 mass	Cross-sectional study: No associations between dietary patterns and CRP. ‘Fibre-rich bread’ pattern inversely associated with WBC count in women (OR Q4 vs. Q1: 0.50; 95% CI:0.33–0.76). ‘Milk fat’ pattern (OR Q4 vs. Q1: 1.39; 95% CI:0.97–1.98) and ‘sweets and cakes’ pattern (OR Q4 vs. Q1: 1.25; 95% CI:0.96–1.63) directly associated with WBC count in women. ‘Low fat high fibre’ pattern inversely associated with Lp-PLA2 mass in women (OR T3 vs. T1: 0.69; 95% CI: 0.54–0.87) and men (OR T3 vs. T1: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.40–0.96) Milk fat pattern directly associated with Lp-PLA2 mass in men (OR T3 vs. T1: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.10–2.05) ‘Sweets and cakes’ pattern directly associated with Lp-PLA2 mass in women (OR T3 vs. T1: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.02–1.62)
Anderson et al., 2012 [22] Health, Aging and Body Composition (ABC) study	1,751 US elderly men and women, aged 70 to 79 years	FFQ, 108 items	Healthy - high in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, poultry, fish Breakfast cereal Sweets and desserts High-fat dairy products Meat and alcohol Refined grains	CRP IL-6 TNF-α	Cross-sectional study: No associations between dietary patterns and CRP (ranges 1.4–1.9 μg/ml). Participants with a healthy dietary pattern had lower IL-6 concentrations (1.7 pg/ml) compared to those with dietary patterns high in sweets and desserts’ (1.9 pg/ml; P≤0.05) and high in high-fat dairy products (1.9 pg/ml; P≤0.05). No differences in TNF-α between dietary patterns (ranges 2.7–3.2 pg/ml).
Reduced rank regression
Meyer et al., 2011 [18] MONItoring of Trends and Determinants in CArdiovascular Diseases (MONICA) Augsburg survey	981 German men, aged 45 to 64 years	7-day dietary records	Unhealthy dietary patterns derived by RRR - high intakes of meat and beer, low intakes of vegetables, fruit, wholemeal bread, nuts, and tea.	CRP IL-6 IL-8	Cross-sectional study: Crude spearman correlation coefficients between unhealthy dietary pattern derived by RRR and CRP of 0.33, IL-6 of 0.27, and IL-18 of 0.08.
Julia et al., 2013 [23] SU.VI.MAX study	2,031 French men and women, aged 35 to 60 years	24-hr dietary records	High vegetable, vegetable oil diet High fatty fish, eggs, poultry diet High fruits, fruit juices diet High meat, low fatty fish diet	CRP	Prospective study (12 years of follow-up): High vegetable, vegetable oil diet inversely associated with risk of elevated CRP (OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.78–0.98). High meat, low fatty fish (high n-6:n-3 ratio) diet positively associated with risk of elevated CRP (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.00–1.32).
Diet quality scores
Meyer et al., 2012 [19] Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study	2,736 US men and women, aged 18 to 30 years	Diet history	A priori dietary pattern by classifying food groups as beneficial, adverse, or neutral hypothesized general health effects – high in plant foods, fish, low-fat dairy, poultry, tea, whole grains.	F2-isoprostanes	Cross-sectional study (year 20): F2-isoprostanes decreased across quintiles of the a priori diet quality score (Ptrend≤0.0001). Prospective (diet year 0/7 vs. average F2-isoprostanes year 15/20 and changes from year 15–20): A priori diet quality score was inversely associated with average and changes of F2-isoprostanes (Q5 vs. Q1: Ptrend<0.01).
Lavoie et al., 2013 [24] Montreal Ottawa New Emerging Team (MONET) study	124 Canadian women, aged 46 to 70 years	3-day food records	Canadian Healthy Eating Index (C-HEI), components: grain products, vegetables and fruits, milk products, meat; total fat intake, SFA, cholesterol, dietary Na intake	CRP	Cross-sectional study: Participants with high-physical activity energy expenditure /high-C-HEI scores had significantly lower mean CRP values compared to participants with low-physical activity energy 3 expenditure/low-C-HEI (P<0·05)