Diet plays a huge role in both the prevention and management of many diseases. Additionally, it supports our quality of life, physical fitness and well-being. The anti-inflammatory diet has been gaining popularity recently, but many people do not fully know what it actually is. You will learn everything important about this topic from the article!

What is inflammation and pro-inflammatory effects?

What is very important to us is the division of inflammation into chronic and acute . For example: when you suffer a burn at home, acute inflammation is a necessary phenomenon to remove unwanted residues (pathogens, damaged tissue) and appropriate regeneration. In an ideal scenario, acute inflammation subsides within a few days or weeks after eliminating the "inflammatory stimulus" (here, a burn). In each of our bodies, regardless of our health condition, inflammation is induced in response to various everyday situations (e.g. burns or cuts) - and this is completely fine and normal. The problem begins to arise when the inflammatory response is unable to cope with the stimulus(s) and begins to be induced chronically [1].

In the drawing above, I have marked acute inflammation in green and chronic inflammation in red to make it easier for you to remember which is a normal and physiological process in the body and which we should actually fear and avoid. Inflammatory reactions are involved, among others: immune system cells (macrophages, neutrophils, T lymphocytes) and cytokines, including Interleukin 1, Interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a).

Why are we afraid of chronic inflammation?

When inflammation becomes chronic, the joke ends. A number of diseases have been bidirectionally linked to persistent inflammation. Therefore, chronic inflammation may be both the cause of the development of a given disease and its symptom. Look at the graphic below to see how broad this group of diseases is.

Metabolic syndrome includes, for example, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes - these are problems that the vast majority of Poles struggle with, so chronic inflammation affects a significant part of the population... Remember from this part of the article that persistent inflammation is a strong a risk factor for the development of many diseases, including those that are significantly associated with the risk of death .

What factors increase inflammation in the body?

Many factors contribute to the maintenance of chronic inflammation, most often of low severity, including [3]:

• chronic stress,

• disturbed sleep duration and quality,

• smoking,

• hormonal disorders,

• age (the older the person, the higher the level of pro-inflammatory markers),

• obesity,

• incorrect diet (both in terms of quantity and quality).

In today's article, we will focus on the last two aspects, i.e. those strictly related to dietetics.

Obesity and inflammation

The impact of obesity on inflammation in the body has been confirmed by a number of studies. Even if our diet is based largely on the consumption of healthy products, but there is excess fat tissue, our body is in a state of chronic inflammation . An excess of macronutrients in adipose tissue stimulates it to release inflammatory mediators (Interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha), and additionally reduces the production of adiponectin, which further intensifies this pathology. I don't want to bore you with difficult biochemical names, but the message is simple - adipose tissue is hormonally active and the more of it we have, the more these processes are disturbed and maintain chronic inflammation [4].

To remember: excessive body weight itself is a very important factor that leads to the persistence of chronic low-grade inflammation. One of the most important “anti-inflammatory” interventions is to regulate body weight ! And if you want to ensure that your meals are full, be sure to check out the eatyx offer , where you will find products with high protein and fiber content, including:

• meal replacement shake,

• powdered meal.

How does diet affect inflammation? Anti-inflammatory diet

Now we come to the most important thing, the anti-inflammatory diet. You already know when we should be afraid of inflammation, what it involves and what induces it, so now we can confidently talk about nutrition. We have two pathways - pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory. An anti-inflammatory diet is nothing more than a nutritional model whose ingredients reduce the pro-inflammatory cytokines I mentioned earlier (e.g. interleukin 6). Pro-inflammatory activity is associated with their growth . It is very difficult to determine when a given diet becomes anti-inflammatory and when it is still pro-inflammatory, but it has been somewhat arbitrarily assumed that dietary patterns in which vegetable oils, fruits, vegetables or nuts predominate are considered anti-inflammatory, and the "Western" diet, dominated by fast food, processed foods and sweets - to pro-inflammatory ones.

However, for the needs of scientific research, a special indicator was created, called the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), which can be translated into Polish as the Dietary Inflammatory Index. This index grouped foods based on their effect on inflammatory biomarkers into pro-, anti-inflammatory, or neutral.

• Anti-inflammatory compounds/products : fiber, folic acid, garlic, ginger, magnesium, Omega-3 fatty acids, onion, vitamin D, saffron, selenium, zinc, tea, pepper, thyme, rosemary and many others…

• Pro-inflammatory compounds/products : carbohydrates (total), cholesterol, energy (total kilocalories), iron, trans fats, saturated fats, etc.

In scientific works, based on the subject's menu, scientists use specialized formulas to assess the inflammatory potential of the diet, assigning it a score from -8.78 to 7.89, with the higher the score, the more pro-inflammatory (worse) the diet [5]. However, I will immediately assure you that this indicator is used only for scientific research purposes, calculating it yourself is complicated, unnecessary and makes no sense. For the needs of an individual, sufficient information is that standard nutrition models, such as the Mediterranean Diet, DASH, MIND or simply the Polish Healthy Eating Plate, focus largely on consuming products with anti-inflammatory properties and following their principles will be sufficient to maintain health and prevention promoting chronic inflammation.

Anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory products

You already know what an anti-inflammatory diet is. Food products can have a wide range of effects from strongly anti- to pro-inflammatory. For convenience of use, I leave a table - "anti-inflammatory diet - what to eat and what not to eat?".

Anti-inflammatory diet - benefits

An anti-inflammatory diet has been linked in scientific studies to many health effects , including reduced risk of:

• death from any cause by 23%,

• cancer by 60%,

• breast cancer by 33%,

• depression by 44%,

• cardiovascular diseases by 34%.

So an anti-inflammatory diet, and any anti-inflammatory foods in general, can help you significantly reduce your risk of many health problems. Without a doubt - it's worth it!

Summary

Inflammation is a very complex and complicated process. Moreover, if it occurs only temporarily, in response to, for example, a burn, it is even a desirable reaction. However, when inflammation begins to persist chronically, it becomes a serious problem because it is associated with the risk of developing many diseases. Body weight and an anti-inflammatory diet have a significant impact on maintaining homeostasis (balance) in the body and are key elements of anti-inflammatory interventions. Anti-inflammatory products should constitute about 90% of every Pole's diet. Introduce the anti-inflammatory foods recommended in the article into your diet and your health will thank you for it!

Literature

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2. Liu CH, Abrams ND, Carrick DM, Chander P, Dwyer J, Hamlet MRJ, Macchiarini F, PrabhuDas M, Shen GL, Tandon P, Vedamony MM. Biomarkers of chronic inflammation in disease development and prevention: challenges and opportunities. Nat Immunol. 2017 Oct 18;18(11):1175-1180. doi: 10.1038/ni.3828. PMID: 29044245.
3. Pahwa R, Goyal A, Jialal I. Chronic Inflammation. 2023 Aug 7. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan–. PMID: 29630225.
4. Ellulu MS, Patimah I, Khaza'ai H, Rahmat A, Abed Y. Obesity and inflammation: the linking mechanism and the complications. Arch Med Sci. 2017 Jun;13(4):851-863. doi: 10.5114/aoms.2016.58928. Epub 2016 Mar 31. PMID: 28721154; PMCID: PMC5507106.
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6. Marx W, Veronese N, Kelly JT, Smith L, Hockey M, Collins S, Trakman GL, Hoare E, Teasdale SB, Wade A, Lane M, Aslam H, Davis JA, O'Neil A, Shivappa N, Hebert JR, Blekkenhorst LC, Berk M, Segasby T, Jacka F. The Dietary Inflammatory Index and Human Health: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses of Observational Studies. Adv Nutr. 2021 Oct 1;12(5):1681-1690. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmab037. PMID: 33873204; PMCID: PMC8483957.