Associations between the nutrient profiling system underlying the nutri-score nutrition label and biomarkers of chronic low-grade inflammation: a cross-sectional analysis of a middle- to older-aged population

Low-grade systemic inflammation is associated with a range of conditions. Diet may modulate inflammation and public health strategies are needed to guide consumers’ dietary choices and help prevent diet-related disease. The Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSAm-NPS) constitutes the basis of the five-colour front-of-pack Nutri-Score labelling system. No study to date has examined FSAm-NPS dietary index associations with biomarkers of inflammation. Therefore, our objective was to test relationships between the FSAm-NPS and a range of inflammatory biomarkers in a cross-sectional sample of 2006 men and women aged 46–73 years. Individual participant FSAm-NPS scores were derived from food frequency questionnaires. Pro-inflammatory cytokine, adipocytokine, acute-phase response protein, coagulation factor and white blood cell count concentrations were determined. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to examine FSAm-NPS relationships with biomarker levels. In crude and adjusted analyses, higher FSAm-NPS scores, reflecting poorer nutritional quality, were consistently and positively associated with biomarkers. In fully adjusted models, significant associations with concentrations of complement component 3, c-reactive protein, interleukin 6, tumour necrosis factor alpha, resistin, white blood cell count, neutrophils, eosinophils and the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio persisted. These results suggest that dietary quality, determined by Nutri-Score rating, is associated with inflammatory biomarkers related to health.