Inflammation is like a pimple our pathology lecturer told us back in vet school (and clearly I never forgot it)!

It’s hot, red, painful, swollen and useless! (Or at least poorly functioning)…

While useless isn’t the most correct word it does hammer home a point. Inflammation renders the affected tissue somewhat useless until the mess has been cleared up.

When we apply these fundamentals to another part of the body we get a clearer picture of what inflammation really is.

Inflammatory Bowel = Hot, red, painful, swollen and poorly functioning intestinal lining.

Rheumatoid arthritis = Hot, red, painful, swollen and poorly functioning joint lining.

Inflammation can be triggered by number of ‘insults’ to the body – allergens, toxic substances, preservatives, even natural things that for whatever reason we react negatively to.

Some inflammation is good – it is our body’s way of sending in the troops. Our immune system gets activated, white blood cells are sent in to clean up infections and our lymphatic system drains away the debris and waste materials.

However, inflammation that lasts too long and overrides the natural homeostasis or balance in the body can have serious implications.

Inflammation has been linked to obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes, to name a few.

While there are many things you can do to reduce your overall inflammatory state, this article focuses on foods that you can incorporate regularly into your diet that have been shown to have the some anti-inflammatory effect and help cool inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory Food #1: Berries

Other fruits such as cherries and grapes contain many of the same nutrients as berries do, however it is the relatively low sugar content in berries that sees them take out the fruit category.

As well as fibre, vitamins (e.g. vitamin C) and minerals (e.g. manganese), berries also contain phytochemicals – antioxidants such as anthocyanins and resveratrol which are particularly beneficial for health.

Anti-inflammatory Food #2: Broccoli and Peppers

Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable that contains the antioxidant “sulforaphane.” This anti-inflammatory compound is associated with reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.1,2

Bell peppers, on the other hand, are one of the best sources of the antioxidants vitamin C and quercetin.

Quercetin has been shown, including recently in studies investigating cervical cancer, to reduce cancer cell viability and encourage apoptosis (or programmed cell death) and is marked as a ‘promising candidate for cancer preventative and treatment potential warranting further investigation’. 3,4

Anti-inflammatory Food #3: Healthy Fats (omega 3 fatty-acids avocado, olive oil, fatty fish)

To keep it simple, omega 6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory while omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory.

Wind the clock back in time, a few hundred years right back to our early days as human beings, the ratio between omega 6: omega 3 fatty acids had always been fairly close at 1:1 or 2:1.

Our modern Western diet? More like 10:1 or higher.

No wonder ‘inflammation’ is such a buzz word nowadays and chronic and diet and lifestyle preventable diseases account for all 5 of the leading causes of death in Australia (heart disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke, lung cancer and chronic lung disease like emphysema).

To shift the ratio back to a more natural balance, increase consumption of omega 3 rich foods like salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, grass fed meat, pasture raised eggs, cod liver oil, flax and chia seeds.

And of course reduce omega 6 rich foods like ‘vegetable’ oils and instead use fats low in omega 6 like butter, coconut oil and olive oil.

Anti-inflammatory Food #4: Green Tea

Green tea contains the anti-inflammatory compound called “epigallocatechin-3-gallate”, otherwise known as EGCG.

EGCG is linked to reduced risk of heart disease, certain cancers, obesity, and Alzheimer’s.

Drinking steeped green tea is great, but have you tried matcha green tea?

Although all green teas contain some EGCG, this study (5) showed matcha contained 137 times more ECGC than the average green tea!

Anti-inflammatory Food #5 – Turmeric

Would a list of anti-inflammatory foods be complete without turmeric? 

Turmeric contains the antioxidant curcumin, a compound that has been shown to reduce the pain of arthritis, as well as have anti-cancer and anti-diabetes properties.6,7

Anti-inflammatory Food #6: Dark Chocolate

This *may* be slightly more decadent than the other foods!

Dark chocolate, with at least 70% cocoa (the higher % the better) is packed with anti-inflammatory antioxidants (namely flavonols) which reduce the risk of heart disease and other chronic inflammatory diseases. 8

They’ve been shown to prevent “neuro-inflammation” (inflammation of the brain and nerves) reduce the risk of dementia and stroke.

Make sure you avoid the sugary chocolate bars for obvious reasons… sugar! (Highly inflammatory!)

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Kelly Moriarty is an online health & nutrition coach and founder of The Green Body Plan.

After 5 years as a veterinarian Kelly was unhealthy, stressed out and generally dissatisfied.

She now helps professional women make the same changes she did to beat burn out, lose weight, recover their energy and take back control of their health naturally. 

References:

  1. Brain Circ. 2019 Apr-Jun;5(2):74-83. doi: 10.4103/bc.bc_7_19. Epub 2019 Jun 27. “The neuroprotective mechanisms and effects of sulforaphane.” Klomparens EA1, Ding Y1,2.
  2. Curr Dev Nutr. 2017 Dec 26;2(3):nzy002. doi: 10.1093/cdn/nzy002. eCollection 2018 Mar. “Broccoli Sprouts Delay Prostate Cancer Formation and Decrease Prostate Cancer Severity with a Concurrent Decrease in HDAC3 Protein Expression in Transgenic Adenocarcinoma of the Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) Mice.” Beaver LM1,2, Lӧhr CV2,3, Clarke JD1,2, Glasser ST1, Watson GW1,2, Wong CP1,2, Zhang Z4, Williams DE2,5, Dashwood RH2,5, Shannon J5, Thuillier P4,6, Ho E1,2,7.
  3. Semin Cancer Biol. 2019 Jul 30. pii: S1044-579X(19)30182-8. doi: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2019.07.023. [Epub ahead of print] “Flavonoids nanoparticles in cancer: Treatment, prevention and clinical prospects.” Khan H1, Ullah H2, Martorell M3, Esteban Valdes S4, Belwal T5, Tejada S6, Sureda A7, Kamal MA8.
  4. Biosci Rep. 2019 Jul 31. pii: BSR20190720. doi: 10.1042/BSR20190720. [Epub ahead of print] “Quercetin modulates signaling pathways and induces apoptosis in cervical cancer cells.” Sundaram MK1, Raina R1, Afroze N1, Bajbouj K2, Hamad M3, Haque S4, Hussain A5.
  5. J Chromatogr A. 2003 Sep 5;1011(1-2):173-80. “Determination of catechins in matcha green tea by micellar electrokinetic chromatography.” Weiss DJ1, Anderton CR.
  6. Pharmacol Res. 2019 Jul 12;147:104353. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2019.104353. [Epub ahead of print] “Targeting regulatory T cells by curcumin: A potential for cancer immunotherapy.” Shafabakhsh R1, Pourhanifeh MH1, Mirzaei HR2, Sahebkar A3, Asemi Z4, Mirzaei H5.
  7. Front Genet. 2019 Jun 4;10:514. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00514. eCollection 2019. “Curcumin as an Alternative Epigenetic Modulator: Mechanism of Action and Potential Effects.” Hassan FU1,2, Rehman MS2, Khan MS2, Ali MA3, Javed A4, Nawaz A4, Yang C1.
  8. Nutrition. 2018 Apr;48:87-95. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2017.11.012. Epub 2017 Nov 28. “Reduced mortality risk by a polyphenol-rich diet: An analysis from the Moli-sani study.” Pounis G1, Costanzo S1, Bonaccio M1, Di Castelnuovo A1, de Curtis A1, Ruggiero E1, Persichillo M1, Cerletti C1, Donati MB1, de Gaetano G1, Iacoviello L2; Moli-sani Investigators.

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