Inflammatory marker changes in a 24-month dietary and physical activity randomised intervention trial in postmenopausal women

Chronic low-grade inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of several chronic diseases including cancer. Physical activity (PA) and diet have been supposed to modulate inflammatory markers. We evaluated the effects of a 24-month dietary and/or PA intervention on plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, a secondary analysis in the DAMA factorial trial. The 234 study participants (healthy postmenopausal women with high breast density, 50-69 years, non smokers, no hormone therapy) were randomised to four arms: (1) isocaloric dietary intervention mainly based on plant-foods; (2) moderate-intensity PA intervention with at least 1 h/week of supervised strenuous activity; (3) both interventions; (4) general recommendations on healthy dietary and PA patterns. Interleukins (IL)-1 alpha, -1 beta, -6, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and C-reactive protein were measured at baseline and at the end of the intervention. Intention-to-treat-analyses were carried out using Tobit regression. Although all cytokines tended to increase over time, after 24 months women in the PA intervention (arms 2+3) showed lower levels of IL-1 alpha (exp(beta)=0.66; p=0.04) and IL-6 (exp(beta)=0.70; p=0.01) in comparison with women in the control group (arms 1+4). No effects of the dietary intervention emerged. In healthy postmenopausal women with high breast density a moderate-intensity PA appears to slow the age-related increase of pro-inflammatory cytokines.