The Mediterranean diet, dietary inflammatory index, and adiposity

Obesity rates have experimented a large increase worldwide with a greatly impact on the global population. Low-grade chronic inflammation associated with obesity perpetuates the disease and contributes to the development of related metabolic complications including insulin resistance or cardiovascular disease. Dietary patterns are associated with the incidence of obesity. In fact, several investigations have claimed that adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet (MD) pattern is negatively associated with the prevalence of overweight/obesity. On the other hand the dietary inflammatory index (DII) has emerged as a potential tool to quantify the inflammatory potential of diet. Thus a number of studies presented in this chapter show that the traditional MD, which is associated with a lower DII, decreases the risk of developing adiposity, contributing to the prevention/treatment of obesity and other inflammatory-related comorbidities. However, the relationships between MD, DII, and adiposity should be further investigated to better understand the molecular interactions that positively impact on noncommunicable diseases.