Diet, inflammation and coronary heart disease

Abstract

In the last few years inflammation has been potentially linked to atherosclerosis. This review gathers information on the effect of diet on coronary heart disease, through an inflammatory pathway. Different methodological approaches to study diet were highlighted: single nutrients and/or foods and dietary patterns, and the relations between them and inflammatory markers were extensively described. Together, findings suggest that inflammation could be a potential pathway by which diet can modulate the coronary risk. However, research is still in progress and many scientific questions have not yet feasible answers. Most of the cohort studies providing dietary evaluations were conducted in the U.S, but the higher food diversity and wide ranges in dietary exposure frequently observed in European populations could provide novel and interesting insights into this filed. The use of different methodological approaches to study diet in a same population, and further providing straight comparisons by sex and obesity status would represent enormous advantages for the clear understanding of the role of diet and obesity in the modulation of coronary risk.