Adherence to healthy eating patterns is associated with higher circulating total and high-molecular-weight adiponectin and lower resistin concentrations in women from the Nurses’ Health Study.

Description

Studies have shown that adherence to a healthy dietary pattern such as the Alternate Healthy Eating Index (AHEI) is associated with a lower risk of diabetes and atherosclerosis. This study examined the relationship of adherence to the AHEI to high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin concentrations, resistin levels and biomarkers of inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and insulin resistance. The study sample was composed of 1,922 women from the Nurses’ Health Study free of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. After adjusting for age and total energy intake, women who had the highest adherence rate to the AHEI had 24% higher adiponectin levels and 32% higher HMW adiponectin concentrations as well as 16% lower resistin, 41% lower C-reactive protein, 19% lower sE-selectin, and 24% lower ferritin concentrations compared to women with the lowest adherence to the AHEI (p<0.01 for all). These results remained significant after adjusting for multiple confounding variables. Therefore, these associations support the hypothesis that the beneficial effects of a healthy diet with respect to insulin resistance, diabetes, and atherosclerosis may be at least partly mediated by improvements in adipokines and other biomarkers of diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk.