This is one of the scourges of life in the modern world: chronic inflammation. This unhelpful response from the immune system is linked to accelerated aging and conditions such as stroke and heart disease.
What if we could reduce it by eating certain foods, such as spinach, walnuts and salmon? This is the promise of anti-inflammatory diets, often vaguely advocated by the media and the nutrition industry. This may surprise scientifically minded people. But new research reveals that this approach is not so outlandish and paints a different picture of the relationship between food, inflammation and our long-term health.
This article is part of a nutrition series exploring some of today's hottest trends. Read more here.
Inflammation is an important part of our response to injury and disease. But when the body continues to spread it even when there is no traumathis causes chronic inflammation. The exact reason why this happens is still unclear, but genetics, environment and lifestyle factors play an important role. The disease can be detected by measuring certain chemical markers in the blood, and it is increasingly being linked to poor health.
“Chronic inflammation is a driver of many common diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis and dementia,” he said John Mathers at Newcastle University in England. That has happened too involved in several mental health conditions.
But how…