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Epidemiology and Population Health

The correlation between serum inflammatory, antioxidant, glucose handling biomarkers, and Dietary Antioxidant Index (DAI) and the role of DAI in obesity/overweight causation: population-based case–control study

International Journal of Obesity volume 45, pages 2591–2599 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

Obesity is a multifactorial disease, and about 40% of world adults are overweight, and about 20% are obese. Diet is one of the most important factors in the causality of obesity. The interactions between the diet and gut microbiota or chronic inflammation pathways highlight the importance of its various aspects in the incidence and prevalence of obesity. At the same time, diet is a combination of several antioxidants that are needed together for the body’s antioxidant system. The Dietary Antioxidant Index (DAI) is a valid nutritional tool, and its correlation has been studied concerning total antioxidant capacity and malondialdehyde. The study aimed to examine the relationship between the DAI and the odds of obesity. We hypothesized that a higher DAI score indicating a predominantly antioxidant diet has a protective effect against odds of obesity.

Methods

In this population-based case–control study, 812 participants with a higher body mass index (BMI) than 25 were selected as the case group. Also, 793 participants with BMI in the range of 17.9–24.9 were selected as the control group. A valid and reliable 124-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was used to assess dietary intake. Based on FFQ data, we summed up the standardized intake of the major dietary antioxidants, including vitamin A, E, C, selenium, zinc, and manganese, to calculate DAI.

Results

In a multivariable adjusting model, there was a significant association between DAI (as a continuous variable) and BMI (odds ratio (OR) = 0.95; 95% CI: 0.92–0.99; P value = 0.02). Also, there was a significant association between DAI (as a categorized variable) and body surface area with multivariable adjusting model (OR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.64–0.98; P value = 0.04).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the DAI can accurately predict some serum antioxidant and anti-inflammatory levels along with glucose handling markers.

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Data availability

Data described in the manuscript, codebook, and analytic code will be made available upon request pending.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr Diyako Rahmani for the technical editing of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arak University of Medical Science, Arak, Iran

    Farhad Vahid & Diana Rahmani

  2. Nutrition and Health Group, Population Health Department, Public Health Research, Luxembourg Institute of Health, Strassen, Luxembourg

    Farhad Vahid

  3. Department of Cellular and Molecular Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition and Food Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Sayed Hossein Davoodi

Authors
  1. Farhad Vahid
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  2. Diana Rahmani
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  3. Sayed Hossein Davoodi
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Contributions

FV and SHD designed and conducted research; FV analyzed the data; DR and FV drafted the paper; FV has primary responsibility for final content. All authors read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Farhad Vahid.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Arak University of Medical Science Ethics Committee, Arak, Iran, approved the study protocol (Ethics Committee No. IR.ARAKMU.REC.1398.094).

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Vahid, F., Rahmani, D. & Davoodi, S.H. The correlation between serum inflammatory, antioxidant, glucose handling biomarkers, and Dietary Antioxidant Index (DAI) and the role of DAI in obesity/overweight causation: population-based case–control study. Int J Obes 45, 2591–2599 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00944-w

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