A diet to combat the pain of inflammation

sir – Miranda Levy (Features, January 16) rightly highlighted the role of inflammation in obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

She also noted the lack of routine testing in medical practice and described a number of dietary and lifestyle changes that may reduce inflammation. However, interventions must be supported by high-quality clinical trials.

Current guidelines for osteoarthritis advise that “weight loss will improve quality of life and physical function and reduce pain”.

Using MRI scanning, our colleagues in Copenhagen have shown the link between inflammation in the kneejoint membrane and pain; while others, also in Copenhagen, showed that dietary energy restriction and 10 per cent body weight loss reduced the levels of 10 blood proteins associated with inflammation.

Other Danish colleagues, using a diet very similar to the NHS “soups and shakes” plan for diabetes remission to achieve 10-15 per cent weight loss, have reduced the severity of the skin inflammatory disease psoriasis, and improved heart function and cardiovascular risk factors.

Ms Levy notes that “eating is, in itself, an inflammatory act”, so it follows that eating less should reduce inflammation. Thus, contemporary evidence supports the use of the NHS “soups and shakes” diet – not just to achieve diabetes remission but also for the pain of osteoarthritis, for psoriasis and as a component of secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Dr Anthony Leeds

Senior Fellow

Professor Henning Bliddal

Director, Parker Arthritis Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

Professor Hamish Simpson

Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, University of Edinburgh