WHAT’S ON THE MENU... AND OFF IT
From calorie counts to fat content, food labels are packed with information. But how do you know which foods are likely to trigger inflammation — and which ones will dampen it down?
This is still very much an emerging area in medicine, but now U.S. doctors and public health experts have devised an at-a-glance guide to help.
They’ve assessed 20 common foods, from breakfast staples such as cereal and coffee, to red meat, apples and alcohol, and given each an inflammation score.
The more negative the score, the better the food is at fighting inflammation — making tomatoes (see table below) the most anti-inflammatory food of all those tested.
In contrast, the more positive the number, the more inflammation it causes. White bread, breakfast cereal and processed meat, including bacon, are some of the worst offenders, reported the study in the Journal of Nutrition last year.
‘Inflammation is linked to a range of diseases, from cancer and heart disease to type 2 diabetes, asthma and depression, and it’s known that a person’s diet can contribute to that inflammation,’ says Professor Suzanne Judd, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the U.S. ‘We wanted to find out which foods cause inflammation and which ones help prevent it.’
TodeveloP the dietary inflammation score index, Professor Judd crunched data on the diet and health of 639 people. The volunteers, who were in their 50s and 60s, had given extremely detailed information about what they ate, as well as blood samples.
The blood was analysed for levels of four proteins (C-reactive protein and interleukins 6, 8 and 10) that are known as inflammatory markers. The higher the level of the first three of these proteins, the more potentially damaging inflammation there is in the body. Interleukin 10, in contrast, is a sign of lower inflammation.
By comparing the diet information with the blood test results, the researchers calculated how much 20 common foods and food groups contribute to inflammation.
To check the results, Professor Judd scored the diets of another 14,000 volunteers and then compared the scores with levels of inflammatory markers in their blood. This proved the system’s worth.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the foods found to be most antiinflammatory are all fruits and vegetables, with tomatoes, apples and berries, followed by carrots, squash, peaches and other deep yellow and orange produce at the top of the list.
Their bright colours are a signal that they are rich in inflammation- fighting antioxidants, says Professor Judd. ‘In simple terms, antioxidants are compounds that go out and gobble up the inflammation in the body,’ she explains. ‘The body produces inflammation all the time, from when it’s responding to an illness, or to a lack of sleep, for example — lots of things cause inflammation and there are processes within the body to try to temper that back down again.
‘Antioxidants in the diet are an important part of lowering inflammation back down to normal levels. They also help with chronic inflammation that might increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or cancer.’
Processed meat, including bacon and sausages, was rated highly inflammatory. Nitrites, compounds added to processed meats as preservatives, are thought to increase inflammation. Plus, they are high in saturated fat, which fuels inflammation, particularly when cooked, says Professor Judd.
The foods that performed worst on the inflammation scale were potatoes and refined grains — white rice, white bread, pasta, breakfast cereal and cakes. Their beige colouring is a sign they are low in antioxidants, she says, while additives used during the processing of grains may trigger inflammation. Wholegrains are thought to be moderately anti-inflammatory.
Alcohol, in moderation (under 12 units a week for women and 24 for men), fights inflammation but, in higher amounts, stokes the flames.
low amounts of alcohol encourage the formation of ‘good’ Hdl cholesterol in the liver, thought to have antiinflammatory properties, explains Professor Judd.
But when alcohol is consumed in high quantities, the liver has to work aggressively to process the toxins in it — leading to the production of large amounts of pro-inflammatory compounds.
‘ There were inflammation indexes of nutrients but to make it easy for people to assess their own diet, they need to know about the foods themselves,’ says Professor Judd.