Anti-Inflammatory Effects of the Mediterranean Diet in the Early and Late Stages of Atheroma Plaque Development

Table 5

Baseline values and changes in the plasma concentrations of molecules related to the vulnerability of atheroma plaque formation at 3 and 5 years of follow-up after a MeDiet+EVOO, MeDiet+nuts, or LFD intervention in subjects at high risk for cardiovascular disease.

		Intervention group			Between-group changes; value for differences^3
		MeDiet+EVOO	MeDiet+nuts	LFD	MeDiet+EVOO versus LFD	MeDiet+EVOO versus MeDiet+nuts	MeDiet+nuts versus LFD
IL-10, pg/mL	Baseline^1	0.38 ± 0.37	0.36 ± 0.34	0.32 ± 0.38
	3 y^2	0.01 (−0.14, 0.16)	0.06 (−0.09, 0.21)	0.01 (−0.16, 0.16)	1.00	1.00	1.00
	5 y^2	0.34 (0.02, 0.66)^,γ	−0.003 (−0.31, 0.30)	−0.08 (−0.41, 0.25)	0.29	0.63	1.00
IL-13, pg/mL	Baseline	0.25 ± 0.52	0.20 ± 0.39	0.34 ± 0.37
	3 y	−0.02 (−0.21, 0.18)	0.07 (−0.11, 0.25)	0.11 (−0.08, 0.31)	1.00	1.00	1.00
	5 y	0.26 (0.02, 0.49)^,γ	0.07 (−0.16, 0.03)	−0.14 (−0.37, 0.09)	0.05	1.00	0.36
IL-18, pg/mL	Baseline	8.7 ± 5.7	10.7 ± 5.2	7.5 ± 3.3
	3 y	−1.8 (−3.6, −0.07)^,a	−0.6 (−2.3, 1.2)	1.1 (−0.6, 2.9)	0.02	0.21	1.00
	5y	−1.9 (−0.5, 3.0)^,a	1.1 (−0.7, 2.9)	1.3 (−0.5, 3.0)	0.02	0.02	1.00

¹Values are means ± SDs, n = 22 unless expressed otherwise. ²Mean differences (95% CI). : different from baseline, (). ^γ: different from 3 and 5 y of intervention (). ³ value: significant differences () in changes between groups. ^aMeDiet+EVOO or MeDiet+nuts versus low-fat diet are significantly different, . EVOO: extra virgin olive oil; LFD: low-fat diet; MeDiet+EVOO: Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil; MeDiet+nuts: Mediterranean diet supplemented with nuts.