Introduction Dietary pattern may influence the risks of cardiovascular disease, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes through its effects on inflammation. We evaluated the association between dietary pattern and serum high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in a Japanese population.

Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, we used baseline data from 3905 men and 5640 women (age 40–69 years) who participated in a population-based cohort study between November 2005 and December 2007. Participants with possible inflammation-related diseases, current analgesic use, high hs-CRP levels (≥3000 ng/ml) or extreme dietary energy intake were excluded. We used 46 items from a validated short food frequency questionnaire and examined major dietary patterns by factor analysis.

Results We identified five dietary patterns: healthy (high in vegetables and fruit), Western (high in meat and fried foods), seafood (high in shellfish, squid, fish, etc), bread (high in bread and low in rice), and dessert (high in confections and fruit). After adjustment for age, alcohol use, smoking, physical activity, and body mass index, hs-CRP levels in men were inversely associated with the healthy, bread, and dessert patterns (p-trend: 0.02, 0.06, and 0.001, respectively) and positively associated with the seafood pattern (p-trend=0.03). In women, hs-CRP levels were inversely associated with the healthy pattern (p-trend=0.07) and positively associated with the Western pattern (p-trend=0.06).

Conclusions The healthy dietary pattern may be associated with suppressed inflammation in Japanese men and women, independently of body mass index and other factors. The sex-specific associations of hs-CRP with other dietary patterns (eg, the seafood pattern) require further study.