Abstract
AIMS: Dietary inflammatory potential and genetic factors are reported as being linked to coronary heart disease (CHD). We aimed to investigate their joint association with CHD incidence.
METHODS AND RESULTS: We included 51 889 British participants from the UK Biobank who completed the 24-h dietary assessment at baseline. We used reduced rank regression and stepwise linear regression analyses to generate an empirical dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP) score to assess dietary inflammatory potential. A polygenic risk score (PRS) for CHD was constructed based on 1.7 million genetic variants. During a median follow-up of 11 years, 1346 incident cases of CHD were observed. High EDIP scores significantly increased the risk of CHD with the hazard ratio (HR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] of 1.26 (1.10-1.45) for high EDIP scores (T3) compared with low EDIP scores (T1). Interestingly, we observed a gradient in the risk of CHD across PRS categories, with the HRs of 1.12 (95% CI: 0.73-1.71), 1.20 (95% CI: 1.01-1.43), and 1.42 (95% CI: 1.10-1.83) in low (Q1), intermediate (Q2-4), and high (Q5) PRS categories, respectively. When the joint effect was examined, individuals with high PRS (Q5) and high EDIP scores (T3) would have the highest risk of CHD with a HR of 3.87 (95% CI: 2.74-5.46) compared with individuals with both low PRS (Q1) and low EDIP scores.
CONCLUSION: High dietary inflammatory potential was associated with a higher CHD risk, especially in those with high PRS, suggesting that a comprehensive assessment of inflammatory diet and genetic factors may be beneficial in the prevention of CHD.