Research Article: Mediterranean Diet and Airway Inflammation in School-Aged Children
Abstract:
There seems to exist an intricate relationship between airway inflammation, body mass index (BMI), and diet. The intake of specific foods or food groups has been suggested to suppress the oxidative stress and inflammatory processes that characterize airway inflammation, but little is known about dietary patterns and their complex interplay with BMI and airway inflammation. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aimed to explore the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), a characteristic European diet, and levels of airway inflammation in school-aged children, taking into account their BMI. This cross-sectional analysis comprised 660 children: 49.1% females, 7–12 years old. Adherence to the MD was assessed through the alternate Mediterranean score (aMED). Higher scores represent a healthier diet (0–8). Airway inflammation was assessed measuring exhaled fractional nitric oxide (eNO). Two categories of BMI were considered: non-overweight/non-obese (p < 85th) and overweight/obese (p ? 85th). The associations between diet and airway inflammation were estimated using logistic regression models. Higher scores of the aMED were associated with decreased odds of having eNO ? 35 ppb, but only in non-overweight/non-obese children (OR = 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61–0.97). For overweight/obese children, the previous association was not significant (OR = 1.57, 95% CI, 0.88–2.79). Our findings suggest that adherence to the MD is associated with lower levels of airway inflammation among non-overweight/non-obese children.
Introduction:
Chronic inflammation is linked to deleterious effects, such as damage to healthy tissues, as occurs in asthma and other respiratory diseases [1]. Several studies are nowadays focusing on biomarkers to detect inflammation to aid clinicians in the diagnosis and management of this condition [2]. One such biomarker is exhaled nitric oxide (eNO), which has gained prominence due to its clinical feasibility. Exhaled nitric oxide evaluation is especially relevant in children as it is a simple, non-invasive method to…
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