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Food intake and inflammation in European children: the IDEFICS study

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Abstract

Purpose

This cross-sectional study assesses the relationship between consumption frequencies of food items and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in European children.

Methods

Out of the baseline sample (N = 16.228) of the IDEFICS study, 6.403 children (1.315 boys aged 2 to <6, 1.908 boys aged 6 to <10, 1.204 girls aged 2 to <6 and 1.976 girls aged 6 to <10 years) had hs-CRP measured and the Children’s Eating Habits Questionnaire filled, including a food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression adjusted for body mass index z-score, education of the mother, breast-feeding and self-reported hours of physical activity in a sport club per week was conducted.

Results

Mean frequency intake of raw vegetable was lower in boys (p = 0.022 in young and p = 0.020 in old) and older girls (p = 0.026) with high hs-CRP concentration, while in younger girls (p = 0.008) the same occurred with the cooked vegetables. The probability of having higher hs-CRP concentration was significantly associated with having low consumption frequency of vegetables (p = 0.004 in older boys, raw vegetables; and p = 0.0032 in younger girls, cooked vegetables). Also, honey/jam intake decreased the probability of having higher concentration of hs-CRP, whereas soft drinks with sugar, mayonnaise and cereals milled increased this probability.

Conclusions

Out of all food items associated with hs-CRP, frequency intake of vegetables presented more associations across all the analysis. Findings suggest that a high-frequency intake of vegetables is inversely related to an inflammatory status in children. More studies are needed to assess the association between diet and inflammation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done as part of the IDEFICS study and was published on behalf of its European Consortium (http://www.idefics.eu). The information in this document reflects the author’s view and is provided as is. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the European Community within the Sixth RTD Framework Programme Contract No. 016181 (FOOD).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GENUD (Growth, Exercise, Nutrition and Development) Research Group, Universidad de Zaragoza, C/Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Esther M. González-Gil & Luis A. Moreno

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Esther M. González-Gil & Luis A. Moreno

  3. Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Madrid, Spain

    Javier Santabárbara

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain

    Javier Santabárbara

  5. Unit of Epidemiology and Population Genetics, Institute of Food Sciences, National Research Council, Avellino, Italy

    Paola Russo & Alfonso Siani

  6. Department of Epidemiological Methods and Etiologic Research, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology – BIPS, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens & Claudia Börnhorst

  7. Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute of Statistics, University Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Wolfgang Ahrens

  8. Department of Public Health, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium

    Mandy Claessens

  9. Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Lauren Lissner

  10. Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, Department of Preventive Medicine, Fondazione IRCSS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy

    Vittorio Krogh

  11. Laboratory of Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, IRCCS Mediterranean Neurological Institute NEUROMED, Pozzilli, Italy

    Licia Iacoviello

  12. Department of Paediatrics, Medical Faculty, University of Pécs, Pecs, Hungary

    Denes Molnar

  13. Research and Education Institute of Child Health REF, Strovolos, Cyprus

    Michael Tornaritis

  14. National Institute for Health Development, Tervise Arengu Instituut, Tallinn, Estonia

    Toomas Veidebaum

Authors
  1. Esther M. González-Gil
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  2. Javier Santabárbara
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Correspondence to Esther M. González-Gil.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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On behalf of the IDEFICS Consortium.

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González-Gil, E.M., Santabárbara, J., Russo, P. et al. Food intake and inflammation in European children: the IDEFICS study. Eur J Nutr 55, 2459–2468 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-1054-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-015-1054-3

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