Anti-inflammatory food
“Many experimental studies have shown that substances in food and drink can have an anti-inflammatory effect”
Dr. Frank Hu, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health
Did you know that you can eat your way to less inflammation in your body?
Food’s ability to counteract inflammation and reduce the degree of inflammation in the body is an important factor that can affect our health. But what is inflammation exactly? And why isn’t it a good thing? Imagine a thorn from a rose bush tearing a deep scratch in the skin. After a while, the skin becomes red and swollen due to increased blood flow and fluid. It might also hurt a bit. The increased blood flow brings with it, among other things, “soldiers” from the body’s immune system and growth factors to accelerate the healing of the injury. Inflammation that is started by the immune system when we injure ourselves or become infected by viruses or bacteria is good for the body. Sometimes it can even be life-saving. Once the injury has healed, the skin returns to its normal state again.
Harmful invisible inflammation
However, inflammation has also been shown to be present in various organs in a number of different welfare diseases, known as invisible inflammation. This inflammation is chronic and damages and breaks down both cells and tissue. If this lasts for a long time, the condition can contribute to an increased risk of various welfare diseases such as depression, type 2 diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular disease, various cancers, dementia, and gout. Consequently, the degree of inflammation in the body is particularly important when it comes to counteracting premature ageing and reducing the risk of disease. So, is it possible to influence the degree of inflammation in the body? There’s currently no research to evidence that our diet can reduce invisible inflammation or the risk of suffering from various lifestyle diseases. However, there’s a great deal of indirect scientific support for this. Food that has been shown to reduce invisible inflammation in the body is also the food that studies have shown to reduce the risk of things like cardiovascular disease, some types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes. Although researchers have been unable to evidence exactly how this works, they have seen a connection and been able to show that this is a contributing factor that drives the process. This is an area that is currently subject to a lot of attention.
What creates inflammation in the body?
There are many different factors that contribute to inflammation in the body, such as physical inactivity, obesity, stress, smoking, too little sleep, and various kinds of environmental toxins. Different types of food can also exacerbate inflammation or prevent it from occurring. One factor contributing to the rise of inflammation in the body today is that our diets contain increasing amounts of substances that cause inflammation and less of what counteracts inflammation. Our diet affects the degree of inflammation in the body in a variety of ways: our level of consumption of protective antioxidants, how food affects our blood sugar levels, the type of fat we eat, what gut bacteria we have, and whether we’re overweight
“We know inflammation is important in carcinogenesis because experimental data support this mechanism and the use of anti-inflammatory drugs is protective. Now we’re starting to see that diet influences inflammation and that the inflammatory potential of the diet is associated with colorectal cancer.”
How can I influence the degree of inflammation in my body through the food I eat?
By eating lots of delicious fruit, vegetables, and berries, you can get optimal protection from antioxidants. It has been shown that the best way of protecting the body from invisible inflammation is to eat all types of berries, cherries, plums, and green leafy vegetables such as spinach and kale. A study published in May 2017 in the British Journal of Nutrition has found that onions, turmeric, red grapes, acai berries, and green tea also offer significant protection. Focus on healthy, slow carbohydrates such as coarse wholegrain products and legumes to ensure stable blood sugar levels, which reduces the risk of inflammation. By choosing the fats found in olive oil, rapeseed oil, avocados, nuts, and oily fish, you provide your body with healthy fats that can help to reduce inflammation in the body. And remember that this is the same food that’s good for the brain, vascular system, gut bacteria, and blood sugar levels. Everything’s interrelated!
My advice:
Focus on delicious, colourful fruit, vegetables, berries, and fresh and dried herbs and spices. Eat plenty of wholegrain products, beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds along with olive oil and oily fish. This way, you’ll have the basis for a diet that’s good for both body and soul, and that can help to reduce invisible inflammation.
