Diet Quality and Biomarker Profiles Related to Chronic Disease Prevention: The Multiethnic Cohort Study

Abstract

Objective: To understand how diet quality affects chronic disease etiology, the associations of 4 a priori diet quality indices with blood levels of lipid-soluble micronutrients and biomarkers of inflammation, lipid, and glucose metabolism were examined in 5 ethnic groups.

Methods: In a cross-sectional design, the Adiposity Phenotype Study, a subset of the Multiethnic Cohort in Hawaii and Los Angeles, recruited participants of white, African American, Native Hawaiian, Japanese American, and Latino ancestry. A total of 896 men and 910 women completed a validated quantitative food frequency questionnaire and anthropometric measurements and donated a fasting blood sample. Using general linear models, covariate-adjusted mean levels of lipid-soluble micronutrients (total carotenes, lycopene, total tocopherols, total lutein, cryptoxanthins), biomarkers of inflammation (C-reactive protein [CRP], tumor necrosis factor-$\mathrm{\alpha }$), adipokines (adiponectin, leptin), lipids (total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], triglycerides), and glucose metabolism (glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance [HOMA-IR]) were computed across tertiles of 4 a priori dietary indices Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010, Alternative HEI (AHEI)-2010, alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH); trends were evaluated in models with diet quality scores as continuous variables.

Results: With better diet quality, levels of carotenes, lutein, cryptoxanthin, adiponectin, and HDL-C were significantly higher (p_trend < 0.01), whereas levels of CRP, leptin, total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, and HOMA-IR were inversely associated (p_trend < 0.05) with diet quality. With the exception of cryptoxanthins and triglycerides, the associations were consistent across ethnic groups.

Conclusions: These findings confirm the association between diet quality and nutrition-related biomarkers and support the idea that a high-quality diet positively influences biologic pathways involved in chronic disease etiology across different ethnic groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Diet quality
• biomarkers
• lipid-soluble micronutrients
• inflammation
• ethnicity
• metabolism

Additional information

Funding

The Adiposity Phenotype Study was supported by grant P01 CA168530. The Multiethnic Cohort. Study is supported by grant U01 CA164973 (PI: L. Le Marchand/C. A. Haiman/L. R. Wilkens). The University of Hawaii Cancer Center Analytical Biochemistry Shared Resource is partially funded by grant P30 CA71789 (PI: R. Holcombe). C. G. was supported by a graduate assistantship funded by the University of Guam/University of Hawaii Cancer Center Partnership grant U54 CA143728.