Nonlinear dose-response relationship between dietary inflammatory index and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

IF 4 2区农林科学 Q2 NUTRITION & DIETETICS

Frontiers in Nutrition Pub Date : 2025-09-12 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fnut.2025.1645789

Lirong Yu, Lingzi Bian, Liping Ren, Wei Wei, Huijie Zhang, Maoyun Miao

{"title":"Nonlinear dose-response relationship between dietary inflammatory index and risk of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Lirong Yu, Lingzi Bian, Liping Ren, Wei Wei, Huijie Zhang, Maoyun Miao","doi":"10.3389/fnut.2025.1645789","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health disorders that impose a significant global health burden. Emerging evidence suggests that diet plays a critical role in mental health, primarily through its impact on inflammation. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) is a validated tool designed to assess the inflammatory potential of an individual's diet.Objective: To systematically evaluate the association between DII and the risk of depression.Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science from inception to August 9, 2025. Two independent reviewers screened the studies, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association between DII and depression (the main outcome). The dose-response relationship between DII and depression was further analyzed using generalized least squares estimation and restricted cubic spline models in Stata 18.0.Results: A total of 43 studies were included. The meta-analysis revealed that higher DII scores were associated with an increased risk of depression (OR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.42 to 1.66; I 2 = 81.5%). Subgroup analyses stratified by study design, gender, age, region, dietary assessment methods, depression assessment tools, and body mass index (BMI) consistently showed a positive association between higher DII and depression risk. Dose-response analysis indicated a nonlinear relationship (p = 0.0019): no significant association was observed for DII scores below 0, whereas the risk increased progressively for scores above 0. Exploratory analyses of a smaller subset of studies suggested a similar trend for anxiety, but this finding should be interpreted with caution.Conclusion: Higher DII scores are associated with an increased risk of depression. These results highlight the potential benefits of reducing pro-inflammatory dietary components and encouraging anti-inflammatory eating patterns to support mental health, particularly in the prevention of depression.Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023433767, identifier (CRD42023433767).","PeriodicalId":12473,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Nutrition","volume":"12 ","pages":"1645789"},"PeriodicalIF":4.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12465630/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Nutrition","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2025.1645789","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NUTRITION & DIETETICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Depression is a prevalent mental health disorders that impose a significant global health burden. Emerging evidence suggests that diet plays a critical role in mental health, primarily through its impact on inflammation. The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) is a validated tool designed to assess the inflammatory potential of an individual's diet.

Objective: To systematically evaluate the association between DII and the risk of depression.

Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science from inception to August 9, 2025. Two independent reviewers screened the studies, extracted data, and assessed methodological quality. A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association between DII and depression (the main outcome). The dose-response relationship between DII and depression was further analyzed using generalized least squares estimation and restricted cubic spline models in Stata 18.0.

Results: A total of 43 studies were included. The meta-analysis revealed that higher DII scores were associated with an increased risk of depression (OR = 1.53; 95% CI: 1.42 to 1.66; I ² = 81.5%). Subgroup analyses stratified by study design, gender, age, region, dietary assessment methods, depression assessment tools, and body mass index (BMI) consistently showed a positive association between higher DII and depression risk. Dose-response analysis indicated a nonlinear relationship (p = 0.0019): no significant association was observed for DII scores below 0, whereas the risk increased progressively for scores above 0. Exploratory analyses of a smaller subset of studies suggested a similar trend for anxiety, but this finding should be interpreted with caution.

Conclusion: Higher DII scores are associated with an increased risk of depression. These results highlight the potential benefits of reducing pro-inflammatory dietary components and encouraging anti-inflammatory eating patterns to support mental health, particularly in the prevention of depression.

Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023433767, identifier (CRD42023433767).

查看原文本刊更多论文

饮食炎症指数与抑郁症风险之间的非线性剂量-反应关系：一项系统综述和荟萃分析。

背景：抑郁症是一种普遍存在的精神健康障碍，对全球健康造成了重大负担。新出现的证据表明，饮食对心理健康起着至关重要的作用，主要是通过它对炎症的影响。饮食炎症指数（DII）是一种经过验证的工具，用于评估个人饮食的炎症潜力。目的：系统评价DII与抑郁症风险的关系。方法：综合检索PubMed、Cochrane Library、Embase和Web of Science自成立至2025年8月9日的数据库。两名独立审稿人筛选研究、提取数据并评估方法学质量。进行了一项荟萃分析来评估DII与抑郁症（主要结局）之间的关系。在Stata 18.0中使用广义最小二乘估计和限制三次样条模型进一步分析DII与抑郁症之间的剂量-反应关系。结果：共纳入43项研究。荟萃分析显示，较高的DII评分与抑郁症风险增加相关（OR = 1.53;95% CI: 1.42 ~ 1.66; I 2 = 81.5%）。按研究设计、性别、年龄、地区、饮食评估方法、抑郁评估工具和身体质量指数（BMI）分层的亚组分析一致显示，较高的DII与抑郁风险呈正相关。剂量-反应分析显示存在非线性关系（p = 0.0019）：DII评分低于0时无显著关联，而评分高于0时风险逐渐增加。对一小部分研究的探索性分析表明，焦虑也有类似的趋势，但这一发现应该谨慎解读。结论：较高的DII分数与抑郁风险增加有关。这些结果强调了减少促炎饮食成分和鼓励抗炎饮食模式的潜在益处，以支持心理健康，特别是预防抑郁症。系统评价注册：https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/view/CRD42023433767，标识符（CRD42023433767）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Frontiers in Nutrition Agricultural and Biological Sciences-Food Science

CiteScore

5.20

自引率

8.00%

发文量

2891

审稿时长

12 weeks

期刊介绍： No subject pertains more to human life than nutrition. The aim of Frontiers in Nutrition is to integrate major scientific disciplines in this vast field in order to address the most relevant and pertinent questions and developments. Our ambition is to create an integrated podium based on original research, clinical trials, and contemporary reviews to build a reputable knowledge forum in the domains of human health, dietary behaviors, agronomy & 21st century food science. Through the recognized open-access Frontiers platform we welcome manuscripts to our dedicated sections relating to different areas in the field of nutrition with a focus on human health. Specialty sections in Frontiers in Nutrition include, for example, Clinical Nutrition, Nutrition & Sustainable Diets, Nutrition and Food Science Technology, Nutrition Methodology, Sport & Exercise Nutrition, Food Chemistry, and Nutritional Immunology. Based on the publication of rigorous scientific research, we thrive to achieve a visible impact on the global nutrition agenda addressing the grand challenges of our time, including obesity, malnutrition, hunger, food waste, sustainability and consumer health.