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The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) is a literature-derived scoring system that quantifies the overall inflammatory potential of an individual’s diet by weighting intake of specific dietary components against their empirically established pro- or anti-inflammatory effects on circulating biomarkers such as C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α.
Higher DII values indicate a more pro-inflammatory dietary pattern, and the index is used in nutritional and nutritional-psychology research to examine associations between diet-driven inflammation and outcomes, including cardiovascular, metabolic, cognitive, and mental health conditions.
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Encyclopedia of Nutritional Psychology. (2026). Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII). The Center for Nutritional Psychology.
https://www.nutritional-psychology.org/encyclopedia/dietary-inflammatory-index-dii/Know a term that belongs in the Encyclopedia?
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