Researchers followed nearly 5,000 American adults for 12 years to see how inflammatory foods and sedentary lifestyles affected their health. They found that people with the most inflammatory diets and inactive lifestyles had significantly higher chances of developing type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Interestingly, the diet’s inflammatory effect was stronger in women than men. These findings suggest that making anti-inflammatory food choices and staying physically active could help prevent these common chronic diseases.

The Quick Take

  • What they studied: Whether eating inflammatory foods and having an inactive lifestyle increases the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease
  • Who participated: 4,736 diverse American adults (from six different communities) with no diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney disease at the start, followed for about 9 years on average
  • Key finding: People with the most inflammatory lifestyles had more than double the risk of developing diabetes, and a 39% higher risk of high blood pressure. Women eating inflammatory diets had a 52% higher diabetes risk. The effect on kidney disease was less clear after accounting for other factors.
  • What it means for you: Reducing inflammatory foods and increasing physical activity may help lower your chances of developing diabetes and high blood pressure. However, this study shows association, not proof of cause-and-effect, so talk to your doctor about your personal risk factors.

The Research Details

This was a long-term follow-up study that tracked real people over time. Researchers used data collected from 2000 to 2012 from a large health study called the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. They created two new scoring systems: one that measured how inflammatory someone’s diet was (based on their food choices) and another that measured how inflammatory their lifestyle was (based on physical activity and other habits). They then looked back at who developed diabetes, high blood pressure, or kidney disease during the follow-up period and compared these people to those who stayed healthy.

The researchers were careful to include people from different ethnic backgrounds and communities across the United States, making the results more representative of the general American population. They also adjusted their analysis to account for other factors that could affect disease risk, like age, smoking, and body weight, to isolate the specific effect of diet and lifestyle inflammation.

This approach is valuable because it follows real people in their everyday lives rather than testing them in a laboratory, which makes the findings more applicable to how people actually live.

Understanding which everyday habits increase disease risk is important because diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney disease are very common and costly health problems. If researchers can identify specific dietary and lifestyle patterns that increase risk, people can make practical changes to prevent these diseases. This study is particularly valuable because it measures inflammation from diet and lifestyle together, rather than looking at them separately, which better reflects how people actually live.

This study has several strengths: it included a large, diverse group of people from multiple communities, followed them for many years, and carefully measured outcomes. However, the study is observational, meaning researchers watched what happened rather than randomly assigning people to different diets or lifestyles, so we cannot be completely certain that the inflammatory diet and lifestyle caused the disease. Additionally, the findings for kidney disease became less clear after adjusting for other factors, suggesting that diet and lifestyle inflammation may not be the main drivers for kidney disease risk.

What the Results Show

The most striking finding was about lifestyle inflammation: people in the highest category of lifestyle inflammation had more than twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to those in the lowest category. This is a substantial increase. For high blood pressure, people with the highest lifestyle inflammation scores had a 39% higher risk, which is also meaningful but less dramatic than the diabetes finding.

Dietary inflammation showed a different pattern. Overall, it wasn’t strongly linked to diabetes across the entire group, but when researchers looked separately at women, those with moderate-to-high dietary inflammation had a 52% higher diabetes risk. This sex difference is interesting and suggests that women’s bodies may respond differently to inflammatory foods than men’s bodies do.

For high blood pressure, dietary inflammation showed a modest effect: people in the middle-high range had about a 22% higher risk. However, this effect didn’t increase steadily as inflammation increased, which suggests the relationship might be more complex than a simple dose-response pattern.

Regarding kidney disease, while there appeared to be some association initially, this connection largely disappeared after researchers accounted for other health factors like obesity and blood pressure, suggesting that diet and lifestyle inflammation may not be direct causes of kidney disease.

The study found that lifestyle inflammation was a stronger predictor of disease risk than dietary inflammation alone. This suggests that physical activity and overall lifestyle habits may be even more important than food choices for preventing these diseases. The fact that the dietary inflammation effect was stronger in women than men is noteworthy and could reflect biological differences in how men and women metabolize inflammatory foods, though the study doesn’t explain why this occurs.

Previous research has suggested that inflammation plays a role in chronic disease development, but this study is novel because it combines dietary and lifestyle inflammation into comprehensive scores and tests them in a large, diverse population over a long period. The findings align with existing knowledge that physical activity protects against diabetes and high blood pressure, and that certain foods can promote inflammation. However, the stronger effect of lifestyle compared to diet, and the sex-specific findings for diet, add new insights to the existing literature.

This study has several important limitations. First, it’s observational, so we cannot prove that inflammatory diets and lifestyles directly cause disease—only that they’re associated with higher risk. People with inflammatory diets and lifestyles might also have other unhealthy habits not measured in the study. Second, the dietary information was collected only at the beginning of the study, so researchers couldn’t track changes in eating habits over the 12 years. Third, the kidney disease findings weakened significantly after adjusting for other factors, suggesting the relationship may not be as strong as initially appeared. Finally, while the study included diverse participants, all were from the United States, so findings may not apply to other countries with different food systems and lifestyles.

The Bottom Line

Based on this research, consider reducing inflammatory foods (typically highly processed foods, sugary drinks, and foods high in unhealthy fats) and increasing physical activity. These changes appear to have moderate-to-strong associations with lower diabetes and high blood pressure risk. However, this is one study showing association, not definitive proof of cause-and-effect. For personalized recommendations, discuss your individual risk factors with your healthcare provider, especially if you have a family history of diabetes or high blood pressure.

This research is particularly relevant for adults without diabetes or high blood pressure who want to prevent these conditions, especially women (given the stronger dietary effect observed). People with family histories of these diseases should pay special attention. However, people already diagnosed with these conditions should work with their healthcare providers on treatment plans rather than relying solely on dietary changes. The findings about kidney disease are less conclusive, so people with kidney disease should consult their nephrologist.

Changes in disease risk from dietary and lifestyle modifications typically take months to years to manifest. You might notice improvements in energy, weight, and blood pressure readings within weeks to months, but the full protective effect against developing diabetes or high blood pressure may take 1-2 years or longer of consistent healthy habits.

Want to Apply This Research?

  • Track weekly physical activity minutes (aim for 150 minutes of moderate activity) and log daily meals to identify inflammatory food patterns. Monitor blood pressure monthly if you have a home monitor, and note energy levels and weight weekly.
  • Use the app to set a specific goal like ‘reduce processed foods by 50% this month’ or ‘add 30 minutes of walking 4 days per week.’ Create reminders for meal prep with anti-inflammatory foods (like vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins) and schedule regular physical activity like you would any important appointment.
  • Track trends over 3-month periods rather than daily fluctuations. Monitor key metrics: weekly activity minutes, inflammatory food frequency, weight, and blood pressure readings. Set quarterly check-ins to assess progress and adjust goals. Share data with your healthcare provider annually to discuss disease prevention strategies.

This research shows associations between inflammatory diets/lifestyles and disease risk, but does not prove cause-and-effect. Individual risk varies based on genetics, age, and other health factors. This information is for educational purposes and should not replace medical advice from your healthcare provider. If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, or are at high risk for these conditions, consult your doctor before making significant dietary or lifestyle changes. Always discuss any new health regimen with your healthcare team, especially if you take medications.