A dietary pattern characterized by higher intake of fruits and vegetables is inversely associated with inflammatory markers in Latinos diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between food patterns and plasma inflammatory biomarkers in Latinos (23 men/55 women, 32–76 y) diagnosed with type‐2 diabetes (T2D) by using reduced rank regression (RRR) analysis. We used intake data on 33 consolidated food groups as predictors and interleukin‐6 (IL‐6), leptin and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐alpha) as response variables to derive 3 dietary patterns by RRR. We selected the first dietary pattern because explains much more variation than the subsequent ones. After adjusting for potential confounding factors including age, gender, waist circumference and glycosylated hemoglobin, associations were found between IL‐6 (p< 0.0001), TNF‐alpha (p =0.002) and leptin (P < 0.01) and the first dietary pattern. Food groups in this dietary pattern positively associated with these biomarkers were red meat, sugar‐free beverages and refined grains, which explained 14%, 4.7% and 3.7% of the variance, respectively. The food groups that were negatively associated were fruits and dark yellow vegetables and they represented 7.9 and 5.4% of the variance. Dietary patterns analyses allow a more holistic approach, where antioxidants and functional compounds present in fruits and vegetables might synergistically contribute to ameliorate the inflammatory status in this population [Supported by NIH‐NCMHD EXPORT Center grant P20MD001765]