Diet is thought to modulate inflammation. This study shows no relationships between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and biomarkers of inflammation or bone after adjusting for covariates. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 was inversely associated with peripheral tibia cortical thickness and prospective childhood studies should be conducted to better understand this relationship and to determine if there are long-term consequences in adulthood. INTRODUCTION: Examine the relationships between the DII-scores and bone and biomarkers of inflammation in 290 adolescents, ages 9-13 years. METHODS: DII-scores were calculated from 3-day diet records and categorized into tertiles, low (< - 1.34), medium (- 1.34 to 1.41), and high (> 1.41) inflammation. Radius and tibia bone were assessed via peripheral quantitative computed tomography (Stratec XCT 2000) at the 66% site relative to the distal growth plate. Fasting serum was measured for tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). The relationships between DII-scores and bone and biomarkers of inflammation were assessed using bivariate and partial correlations adjusting for sexual maturation, sex, race, muscle cross-sectional area, and height. ANOVA/ANCOVA models were used to compare DII-tertiles with dependent variables. RESULTS: DII-scores were negatively associated with tibia trabecular area (TtAr; r = - .141, P = .019), periosteal perimeter (PsPM; r = - .145, P = .016), endosteal perimeter (r = - .145, P = .016), strength strain index (SSI; r = - .129, P = .032), and radius TtAr (r = - .140, P = .020), PsPM (r = -.138, P = .027) and SSI (r = -.131, P = .036) but nullified when adjusting for covariates. Tibia PsPM was higher in the low DII group compared to the medium (P = .050) and high (P = .046) groups but nullified after controlling for covariates. DII-scores were not associated with TNF-α, VEGF, or IL-6, but were associated with MCP-1 only in the unadjusted model (r = .125, P = .042). In the adjusted model, MCP-1 was inversely associated with tibia cortical thickness (r = -.150 P = .030). CONCLUSION: The DII-scores were not related to biomarkers of inflammation or bone; however, the biomarker of inflammation, MCP-1 was negatively associated with tibia CtTh. Future prospective pediatric studies should be conducted to better understand this relationship and determine if there are long-term implications in adulthood.