Association between carbohydrate quality and inflammatory markers: systematic review of observational and interventional studies.

Background: Chronic low-grade inflammation is a likely intermediary between quality of carbohydrate and chronic disease risk.

Objective: We conducted a systematic literature search to evaluate the relevance of carbohydrate quality on inflammatory markers in observational and intervention studies.

Design: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched for studies on associations between glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), dietary fiber or fiber supplements or whole grain intake, and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) or interleukin 6 (IL-6).