In July 2018 researchers from Australia, Ireland, Spain and the USA published the results of their study to assess whether a Mediterranean diet produced a lower dietary inflammatory index score in individuals with coronary heart disease. It is known that a lower dietary inflammatory index score is associated with reduced inflammation and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. In this study 56 individuals with coronary heart disease (84% male, average age 63 years) consumed either a Mediterranean diet (27 individuals) or a low-fat diet (29 individuals) for a period of 6 months. Information on diet was collected via 7-day food diaries and a dietary inflammatory index score calculated. The Mediterranean diet was seen to have a markedly lower dietary inflammatory index score than the low-fat diet. Results showed that the Mediterranean diet significantly reduced dietary inflammatory index scores at 6 months but not the low fat diet. However this reduction in dietary inflammatory index score did not translate to an improvement in inflammatory biomarkers.
Mayr HL et al. Randomization to 6-month Mediterranean diet compared with a low-fat diet leads to improvement in Dietary Inflammatory Index scores in patients with coronary heart disease: the AUSMED Heart Trial. Nutr Res. 2018 Jul;55:94-107.