The Science Behind Anti-Inflammatory Eating: What Does Research Say?

Inflammation refers to an immune response triggered within the body as a result of exposure to a foreign substance or a perceived stressor. While acute inflammation is a vital part of the immune response in the short term, an ongoing immune response causing chronic inflammation can damage cells and tissues and instigate a cascade of negative effects throughout the body. This chronic inflammation increases the risk of many chronic diseases.

With inflammatory-based diseases on the rise, more attention is focused on anti-inflammatory eating as a strategy to mitigate inflammation and promote overall health. With many different names, a true anti-inflammatory diet focuses on whole, real foods with antioxidants and micronutrients, while minimizing processed foods and other proinflammatory ingredients.

Anti-inflammatory foods are those that reduce current and future inflammation. Examples include fruits, vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids, many herbs and spices, fermented foods, and others. By focusing on anti-inflammatory foods, you can manage, reduce, and even prevent chronic inflammation.

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Understanding Inflammation and Its Effects on Health

The mechanisms of acute inflammation typically begin as a result of exposure to a foreign substance or a perceived stressor. While inflammation is a vital part of the immune response in the short term, sustained inflammation over weeks to months (called chronic inflammation) can have detrimental effects. Many of the foods in the standard American diet both cause and perpetuate the mechanisms of chronic inflammation. These include processed foods, trans fats, refined sugars, and more.

While inflammation in the short term is vital for survival, an ongoing immune response causing chronic inflammation can damage cells and tissues and instigate a cascade of negative effects throughout the body. When the inflammatory response continues beyond the short-term, chronic inflammation results. Chronic inflammation and disease are marked by chronically elevated levels of stress hormones that have blunted effects, which necessitate the production of higher and higher levels of stress hormones. As chronic inflammation continues, a chronic state of increased stress hormones follows. Dysregulations in stress hormones lead to further metabolic derangements and downstream organ dysfunctions. This is the inflammation and disease connection, as it leads to autoimmune diseases, reduced ability to fight off illnesses, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson diseases, and metabolic diseases, such as high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels, fatty liver disease, prediabetes and diabetes, and obesity.

Principles of Anti-Inflammatory Eating

Inflammation can have a variety of different triggers, and the foods you eat have a significant impact on inflammation. The standard American diet includes up to 40% of calories from refined carbohydrates and added sugars. Adding in processed meats and trans fats, this number doubles in many people. Processed foods cause inflammation, and the higher the amount of processed foods in the diet, the higher the risk of an inflammatory-related illness. The human body is not meant to metabolize the foreign ingredients that are processed foods. As a result, cellular damage, metabolic dysregulations, and chronic inflammation occur.

On the other hand, some of our best food choices are anti-inflammatory, foods that reduce current and future inflammation. Fruits and vegetables contain polyphenols, which are potent antioxidants, preventing cell damage and fighting many other downstream effects of inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids (like those found in fatty fish, chia seeds, and avocados) are both anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating, meaning they fight inflammation and boost your immune health at the same time. Furthermore, many herbs, spices, and food forms help reduce inflammation too, like turmeric, garlic, fermented foods, and others. By focusing on anti-inflammatory foods, you can manage, reduce, and even prevent chronic inflammation.

Research Evidence Supporting Anti-Inflammatory Eating

Anti-inflammatory eating boasts significant promise in promoting overall health and well-being. Adherence to a diet of whole, real foods, with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats, and reducing the amount of processed foods is positively associated with successful disease prevention and treatment. Research on antiinflammatory diets demonstrates improvements in heart health, inflammatory markers, and chronic disease risk, metabolic health, immune health, gut health, and mental health. 

The high amounts of polyphenols and antioxidants within an antiinflammatory diet lowers cardiovascular disease risk factors and reduces the incidence and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Antiinflammatory diet components reduce inflammatory and metabolic disease markers. The same polyphenols derived from plant-based foods are shown to bolster immunity and reduce the risk of autoimmune diseases. Antiinflammatory foods have been shown to improve gut health, which has a significant impact on the body. Reducing the intake of processed foods and increasing the intake of inflammatory foods has positive impacts on cognitive and psychiatric health.

Anti-Inflammatory Foods to Incorporate into Your Diet

Knowing which foods offer anti-inflammatory properties makes it both easy and delicious to incorporate them into your diet! 

Berries are rich in antioxidants, and they offer high amounts of water, fiber, and other micronutrients. Their antioxidant effects help reduce inflammation. Berries are versatile; you can add them to a smoothie with other whole ingredients, eat them solo, or add them to drinks or salads.

Leafy green vegetables, like kale and spinach, and cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, are all anti-inflammatory vegetables. They boast antioxidants and phytochemicals that are particularly adept at fighting inflammation. The isothiocyanates in broccoli are also functional foods that are linked to significantly lower rates of certain types of cancers.

Fatty fish is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids. The anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish help lower your risk of metabolic syndrome, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. Plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids include flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts.

Nuts and seeds themselves are full of healthy mono- and polyunsaturated healthy fats, protein, fiber, polyphenols, antioxidants, and other micronutrients. Evidence suggests that regular consumption of nuts provides a significantly reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Nuts and seeds make a filling, portable snack on their own in measured portions, or they can be added to salads and other dishes or ground into nut butter.

Extra virgin olive oil contains healthy monounsaturated, anti-inflammatory fats, including omega-3 fatty acids. Because of its antioxidants and polyphenols, regularly eating extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of heart disease, certain types of cancers, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and many others. Extra virgin olive oil adds richness and depth to vegetables, meats, and salad dressings. Lighter-flavored olive oil can even be substituted for less healthy fats in many baking recipes!

Turmeric contains curcumin, an anti-inflammatory spice with a strong, earthy flavor. Ginger is another spice with notable anti-inflammatory properties, known to reduce oxidative stress and inflammatory-mediated chronic diseases. Both turmeric and ginger have strong flavor profiles but are delicious when paired with complementary foods. Garlic is yet another antiinflammatory ingredient for flavorful dishes. It provides cardiovascular risk reduction, potential improvement in insulin resistance, and bolstered immunity.

Finally, delicious dark chocolate boasts anti-inflammatory properties from the flavanols in its cacao. Flavanols protect against endothelial damage, which is the start of plaque formation and coronary artery disease. Dark cacao can also help to reduce blood pressure.

Potential Challenges and Considerations

While anti-inflammatory eating provides a solid framework for good nutrition, adopting a functional medicine approach to anti-inflammatory eating allows for personalizing anti-inflammatory diets. Functional medicine correlates form and function, evaluating the body as one system with a large number of inputs, and it acknowledges the importance of tailored treatment plans for each individual. Personalizing anti-inflammatory diets is key to the successful management of many health conditions. Chronic problems like brittle diabetes mellitus, inflammatory bowel disease, food allergies and intolerances, skin conditions, immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, and more often require adherence to not only an anti-inflammatory diet but also only specific foods within an anti-inflammatory diet, including the exclusion of certain other foods. This often requires an elimination diet to isolate individually problematic foods or food groups. However, tailoring the anti-inflammatory diet to meet personal needs and preferences is vital to overall health and well-being and successful disease treatment.

Future Directions in Research and Recommendations

Laboratory testing is a helpful way to detect the presence of inflammation and the overall impact of anti-inflammatory nutrition. Functional medicine laboratory tests aid in assessing the presence of inflammation, thus allowing the application of personalized health strategies to improve and maintain optimal health. Markers including high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), cortisol, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR, plus additional interleukins and cytokines can be markers of a pro-inflammatory state and indicate suboptimal nutrition status.

The positive impacts of antiinflammatory diets on cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, gut, and mental health conditions are well demonstrated. For other conditions, further research is needed to assess the impact of antiinflammatory diets on fatigue, chronic pain, additional types of cancers, male and female fertility, endometriosis, and more. Additional studies continuing to investigate the statistically significant impacts of these and other individual foods on overall health are integral to future nutrition recommendations.

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Anti-Inflammatory Eating: Key Takeaways

Anti-inflammatory eating boasts significant promise in promoting overall health and well-being. Adherence to a diet of whole, real foods, with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains, lean proteins, and unsaturated fats, all while reducing the amount of processed foods you eat, is positively associated with successful disease prevention and treatment. While it can be difficult to sift through the large volume of nutrition recommendations available, rely on evidence-based dietary changes to support your health and well-being, of which anti-inflammatory eating holds an integral part. Your journey towards adopting evidence-based dietary changes can be both delicious and healthy by integrating the principles of anti-inflammatory eating.