Table 3.

Distribution of servings of food groups across quartiles of dietary inflammatory index (DII) among 2411 controls (mean ± standard deviation). Italy, 1992–1999.

	Food item (standard serving size)	DII quartiles				p valuea
		< −1.63	−1.63, −0.32	−0.31,1.35	>1.35
Fruit	10 items: apples and pears (1 medium size); bananas (1 medium size); kiwi (1 medium size); 1/2 cooked fruits (1 fruit bowl); unsweetened fruit juices (1 glass); citrus fruits (150 g); peaches, apricots, and prunes (100 g); melon (75 g); grapes (230 g); strawberries and cherries (150 g)	26.0±12.8	20.5±8.6	16.6±9.6	11.2±8.4	<0.0001
Vegetables	10 items: green and red salad (50 g); raw carrots (75 g); cooked carrots (130 g); onion (80 g); artichokes (1 whole); cruciferae (125 g); spinach/other greens (200 g); tomatoes (150 g); salad with carrots, cucumbers, peppers (100 g); zucchini, eggplants, bell peppers (150 g)	17.4±6.5	14.2±5.6	11.3±5.4	8.3±5.1	<0.0001
Fish	3 items: Boiled or broiled fish or mollusks (150 g); Fried fish or mollusks (150 g); Tuna or sardines packed in oil (80 g)	2.0±1.2	1.9±1.1	1.6±1.1	1.4±1.0	<0.0001
Egg	Eggs	1.3±1.1	1.4±1.1	1.3±1.3	1.3±1.3	0.21
Coffee	4 items: coffee (50 ml); decaffeinated coffee (50 g); cappuccino (125 ml); tea (125 ml)	18.3±12.6	18.7±11.8	16.8±11.3	17.8±12.4	0.15
Red meat	8 items: steak/roast-beef/lean ground beef, veal or horse meat (120 g); boiled beef (150 g); beef or veal stew/meat balls (150 g); Wiener Schnitzel (120 g); pork chop/paillard or pork roast (150 g); liver (150 g); 1/2 pasta/rice with meat sauce (80 g); 1/2 lasagne/cannelloni (250 g)	3.6±2.0	3.9±2.1	3.6±2.1	3.4±2.4	0.01
Pork	3 items: Prosciutto, lean processed meat (50 g); ham (50 g); salami, bologna, sausages, bacon, hot dog (50 g)	2.1±1.5	2.5±1.8	2.5±2.0	2.6±2.2	<0.0001
Sugar	4 items: sugar (1 tablespoon); honey and jams (1 tablespoon); chocolate and candy bars (1); candies (1)	24.1±23.9	27.3±22.9	27.2±25.0	33.6±29.4	<0.0001
Cheese	5 items: Ricotta/mozzarella cheese (100 g); other cheeses (80 g); 1/3 any type of cheese in addition or as snack (25 g); 1/15 grated cheese (1 tablespoon); 1/2 pizza (250 g)	4.0±2.2	4.7±2.5	4.7±2.6	4.5±3.6	0.01
Desserts	7 items: cookies (50 g); croissants and doughnuts (50 g); pastry, doughnuts with cream or custard (50 g); pound cakes, plain cakes, Christmas and Easter cakes (100 g), fruit or jam pies, fruit tarts (100 g); ice-creams (100 g); 1/2 cooked fruits (1 fruit bowl)	3.6±3.5	4.5±4.4	5.4±5.6	6.7±9.2	<0.0001

^ap values were obtained from ANOVA