Anti-inflammatory foods in your diet
Your diet has a profound impact on your overall health and disease risk. While some foods are known to contribute to chronic inflammation, others have been shown to decrease inflammatory markers and reduce the incidence of inflammation-related disease.
Compounds found in foods, including polyphenols, omega-3 fats, and carotenoids, help prevent and combat inflammation in the body. Anti-inflammatory dietary patterns prioritise foods rich in these protective compounds, such as fruits, vegetables, and fatty fish.
Here are some foods to include in an anti-inflammatory diet, plus foods to avoid.
1. Berries
Berries, such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, are a staple in anti-inflammatory diets. Berries are packed with anti-inflammatory plant compounds, including anthocyanins, flavanols, and phenolic acids, as well as inflammation-fighting nutrients, like vitamin C.
Studies show that berry-rich diets may protect against the development of inflammatory diseases, such as certain cancers.
2. Cacao products
If you view cocoa and cocoa products like dark chocolate as unhealthy, think again. Though the added sugar in many cocoa products, like chocolate candy, can contribute to inflammation when consumed in excess, cocoa itself is high in anti-inflammatory compounds such as flavonoids like catechins, anthocyanins, and proanthocyanidins.
Eating cocoa products like cacao nibs and dark chocolate may help lower inflammatory markers in people with conditions associated with inflammation, such as diabetes and kidney disease.
3. Citrus fruits
Adding citrus fruits to your diet can help you meet your daily requirements for important nutrients, such as vitamin C and fibre. Plus, citrus fruits provide an array of anti-inflammatory substances, such as flavonoids like hesperidin and carotenoids.
Research shows that consuming citrus fruits and citrus juices may help lower inflammatory markers, which can lower disease risk, such as the risk for developing heart disease.
Enjoying whole citrus fruits, like oranges and grapefruits, or sipping on 100% citrus juices could benefit health by lowering inflammation and increasing your intake of antioxidant nutrients, like vitamin C.
4. Carrots
Carrots contain the compounds falcarinol and falcarindiol, which may help the body cope with inflammatory diseases, like cancer, by decreasing the secretion of inflammatory proteins in the blood.
5. Grapes
Green and red grapes are concentrated in inflammation-fighting compounds. For example, they're rich in resveratrol, a polyphenol that's been shown to inhibit inflammatory pathways in the body. What's more, eating resveratrol-rich foods, like grapes, may help increase levels of anti-inflammatory enzymes.
This may be why grape intake has been shown to protect against inflammatory diseases like heart disease. A note of caution if eating grapes whilst managing conditions such as diabetes. Grapes have been evermore cultivated and engineered to be sweeter and sweeter. Grapes will hold a lot of natural sugars – fructose – which needs to be a consideration if you’re trying to offset erratic sugar spikes on an empty stomach.
6. Beans and lentils
Beans and lentils are packed with anti-inflammatory substances, including fibre and polyphenols like kaempferol and cyanidin. Not only do beans and lentils provide your body with inflammation-fighting compounds, but their consumption can increase the production of anti-inflammatory substances in the gut.
Beans and lentils contain soluble fibre, which is broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. This process releases short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which positively influence health in a number of ways, including regulating intestinal inflammation and reducing the production of inflammatory proteins.
7. Olives and olive oil
Olives and olive oil are important components of anti-inflammatory dietary patterns like the Mediterranean diet. Olives and olive oil are high in inflammation-fighting polyphenols, like ferulic acid, epicatechin, and apigenin.
Olive oil and olive-rich diets have been consistently linked to reduced rates of inflammatory diseases, including heart disease.
What's more, olive oil has been shown to reduce levels of inflammatory markers and reduce disease activity in people with inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
8. Herbs and spices
Incorporating herbs and spices, like rosemary, turmeric, cinnamon, saffron, sage, and oregano, into your diet can boost your intake of anti-inflammatory polyphenols, like gallic acid, curcumin, apigenin, catechin, and caffeic acid.
Studies show that consuming certain herbs and spices, like turmeric, may help lower inflammatory markers in people with inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis.
9. Garlic and ginger
Garlic and ginger are staple ingredients in dietary patterns linked with reduced disease risk, such as Mediterranean dietary patterns and traditional Indian diets. They're both rich in anti-inflammatory compounds and studies show that consuming garlic and ginger may help protect against and improve symptoms of inflammatory diseases.
Ginger has been shown to reduce pain and inflammatory markers in people with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, while garlic intake has been shown to reduce inflammatory markers and protect against cognitive decline by lowering inflammation in the brain and reducing nerve cell degeneration.
10. Leafy greens
Leafy greens, like salad leaves, spinach and kale, are high in anti-inflammatory plant compounds and nutrients, such as flavonoids, carotenoids, glucosinolates, and vitamin C. Studies show that increasing your intake of leafy greens is an easy and effective way to reduce inflammation.
A 2022 study suggests that simply adding leafy greens to your diet without making other significant dietary changes could be a powerful way to reduce inflammation and boost your body's anti-inflammatory defences.
11. Seafood
Seafood is an excellent source of anti-inflammatory substances like omega-3 fats and selenium, a mineral that has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body.
Research shows that both eating omega-3-rich seafood and supplementing with omega-3s can help improve symptoms of inflammatory conditions like inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis.
A 2020 study found that people at a high risk of developing heart disease and diabetes who followed an oily fish-rich diet for eight weeks experienced significant reductions in inflammatory markers.
Try eating more oily fish, like salmon, trout, sardines, and herring, to increase the anti-inflammatory power of your diet.
12. Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds, like pumpkin seeds, almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, are excellent sources of anti-inflammatory polyphenol compounds, fibre, and heart health-promoting fats.
A number of studies have found that people who regularly consume nuts and seeds have lower levels of inflammatory markers and fibrinogen. Having elevated levels of fibrinogen is associated with increased cardiovascular risk.
Eating nuts and seeds may also help increase levels of adiponectin, a hormone that has anti-inflammatory properties and decreases inflammatory responses and cellular damage that may otherwise lead to disease.
Foods to avoid
While following a nutrient-dense diet that prioritises foods high in anti-inflammatory compounds can help reduce inflammation and chronic disease risk, consuming some foods and beverages too frequently could have the opposite effect.
In general, it's best to limit your intake of the following foods and drinks:
Fast food: Fried foods, cheeseburgers, convenience foods
Sweetened foods and drinks: sweets, soda, sweetened coffee drinks, cookies, cakes, ice cream, energy drinks, sugary cereals
Packaged and convenience foods: crisps, snack mixes, sweetened granola and protein bars, highly processed frozen meals
Foods and oils high in omega-6 fats: vegetable oils (such as sunflower oil) and margarine
Refined grain products: white bread, bagels, crackers, doughnuts, cupcakes, morning pastries, pretzels
Processed meat products: lunch meats, bacon, beef jerky, ultra-processed sausage rolls, pies and pasties
Products high in added salt: canned soups, salty snack foods, salty restaurant and takeout meals
While you can enjoy these foods and drinks occasionally while still following a primarily anti-inflammatory dietary pattern, consuming these products too often can harm your health and increase your risk of developing inflammation-mediated health conditions, like cognitive decline, heart disease, and certain cancers.
Other ways to reduce inflammation
In addition to following a healthy, well-rounded diet and avoiding foods known to increase inflammation, there are a few other ways to lower inflammation through lifestyle changes.
For example, quitting smoking, minimising your alcohol intake, maintaining a healthy body weight, moving more, having a restful night’s sleep, and reducing levels of chronic stress can significantly reduce your risk of inflammatory health conditions and help you live a longer, healthier life.
Extracts taken from Jillian Kubala from www.health.com