INFLAMMATION is an essential part of our immune system’s response to injury or illness, but it’s been linked to diseases and ageing if it simmers in your body long-term.
According to an immunologist, certain foods can also trigger an inflammatory response.
Appearing on a recent episode of the ZOE Science & Nutrition podcast, Prof Philip Calder – a professor of nutritional immunology at the University of Southampton – discussed two foods that are major drivers of inflammation, as well as four that could curb the response.
Not all inflammation is bad, Prof Calder stressed.
It’s the first part of your immune response – think about how the skin around a cut or a bite can become red, painful or swollen.
This indicates that the tissues around it have become inflamed, and it’s your body’s way of protecting you from further injury.
An inflammatory process is also mobilised when you develop an infection.
But inflammation that goes on for too long, or it happens in a place where it’s not needed can burden rather aid you.
Ongoing inflammation is behind things like rheumatoid arthritis, a painful condition where the immune system mistakes healthy tissue in the joints for an enemy.
If you’re in pain, this means that inflammation is high-grade.
Low-grade inflammation – which you generally won’t feel – has been linked to conditions like heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia, according to Prof Calder.
It’s tied to ageing, the immunologist warned.
“Of course the clock is ticking for all of us, we are all ageing,” Prof Calder said.
But he pointed out that there’s a difference between biological and chronological age, and some people just seem to age sooner than others.
This can be due to genetics or healthy conditions, but lifestyle can also have a big impact on how quickly your body ages.
“Things like cigarette smoking, very high use of alcohol can be damaging to the individual, and that actually hastens ageing,” Prof Calder explained.
“And part of that actually is probably inflammation.
“Diet is also important, being overweight is important, physical activity is important, probably sleep and stress are very important.
“Inflammation is part of the process of making ageing faster.”
He went on: “Ageing is considered to be a state of this chronic low-grade inflammation.”
Just like our lifestyle, the foods we eat can trigger inflammation – a process Prof Calder called postprandial inflammation.
He warned that following a diet that causes pronounced postprandial inflammation over many years can increase the risk of heart disease.
Two foods in particular are major drivers of inflammation.
Simple sugars was the first food group Prof Calder explained.
These are the most basic forms of sugars or carbohydrates that your body absorbs quickly into the bloodstream.
This includes things like sweets and fizzy drinks, as well as white rice and pasta and sweetened breakfast cereals, according to the American Heart Association.
Prof Calder said: “If you have a high simple sugar meal, you have more inflammation than if you have the same meal with less simple sugar.”
Prof Calder named “total fats” as the second food category that can cause an inflammatory response.
“Fat could come in many forms, but I’m using it in a general sense. So a high-fat meal causes this inflammatory response,” he explained.
We tend to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy fats, also known as saturated and unsaturated.
According to the NHS, foods high in saturated fats include:
Prof Calder recommended incorporating four foods to control postprandial responses and bust inflammation.
They include:
Omega-3s from oily fish, called EPA and DHA, might also help resolve inflammation, the immunologist added.
According to studies, high levels of EPA and DHA can help reduce arthritis pain, while regularly consuming omega-3s may also reduce your risk of heart disease and dementia.
He also recommended replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats, for example replacing saturated fats with extra-virgin olive oil.
“If you replace saturated fat, or a source of saturated fat, with extra virgin olive oil, for example, you don’t get such a big [inflammatory] response,” Prof Calder said.
“If you include nuts in the meal, you don’t get such a big response. If you include vitamin C with the meal, you don’t get such a big response.
“So maybe oxidative stress is part of this as well. If you include omega-3 fatty acids in the meal, you don’t get such a big response.”
It comes after researchers found that switching out mayo for olive oil could lower your risk of dementia-related death by 8 to 14 per cent.
There are a number of habits you can take up to care for your health and wellbeing as you age.
Age UK shared the following tips:
