Adults allostatic load is less with greater dietary quality: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2018

Background and Objectives: Few studies have explored the relationship between overall diet quality and stress load. Therefore, we have evaluated the association between dietary quality and allostatic load (AL) in adults. Methods and Study Design: The data were derived from the 2015-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Dietary intake information was obtained by 24-hour dietary recall. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015 version was estimated as an indicator of dietary quality. The AL was indicative of the accumulated chronic stress load. The weighted logistic regression model was used to explore the relationship between dietary quality and the risk of high AL in adults. Results: A total of 7557 eligible adults older than 18 years were enrolled in this study. After being fully adjusted, we found a significant association between HEI score and the risk of high AL (OR_(Q2) =0.73, 95% CI: 0.62,0.86; OR_(Q3) =0.66, 95% CI: 0.55,0.79; OR_(Q4) =0.56, 95% CI: 0.47,0.67) in logistic regression model. Increased intake of total fruits and whole fruits or decreased intake of sodium, refined grains, saturated fats and added sugars were associated with the risk of high AL (OR_(total fruits) =0.93, 95%CI: 0.89,0.96; OR_(whole fruits) =0.95, 95%CI: 0.91,0.98; OR_(whole grains) =0.97, 95%CI: 0.94,0.997; OR_(fatty acid) =0.97, 95%CI: 0.95,0.99; OR_(sodium) =0.95, 95%CI: 0.92,0.98; OR_(refined grains) =0.97, 95%CI: 0.94,0.99; OR_(saturated fats) =0.96, 95%CI: 0.93,0.98; OR_(added sugars) =0.98, 95%CI: 0.96,0.99). Conclusions: We found that dietary quality was inversely associated with allostatic load. High dietary quality presumptively less cumulative stress.