Diet-induced inflammation is associated with sarcopenia and muscle strength in older adults who visit a frailty clinic

Abstract

Background: Diet-induced inflammation may be associated with sarcopenia; however, few reports have examined this relationship.

Aim: To examine the association between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and sarcopenia in older adults who visited a frailty clinic in Japan.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used outpatient data from the Frailty Registry Study. The DII is an index of diet-induced inflammation, and a dietary assessment was performed using a brief self-administered diet history questionnaire to calculate the DII score. We classified DII scores by quartiles (Q1-Q4), and sarcopenia was diagnosed according to the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia 2019 consensus. Logistic regression analyses for sarcopenia were performed. Age, sex, comorbidities, and physical activity were entered as confounding factors (Model 1) and Models 2, 3, and 4 with BMI, protein intake, and energy intake added to Model 1.

Results: We included 304 patients in the analysis (mean age, 77.6 ± 6.3 years; female, 67.4%). The prevalence of sarcopenia was 14.5%. Logistic regression analyses showed that DII scores were significantly associated with sarcopenia in Model 1 and 2 (Model 1, reference: Q1, Q4: OR 3.10, P = 0.020; Model 2, Q4: OR 3.40, P = 0,022) but not in Model 3 and 4.

Discussion: Diet-induced inflammation is associated with a higher likelihood of sarcopenia; however, this association disappeared after confounding for protein and energy intake.

Conclusions: The results demonstrated that dietary protein and energy parameters were the main drivers for muscle health in medical patients.

Keywords: Diet; Energy; Inflammation; Muscle weakness; Older adults.