Inflammation is an important process in our bodies. When injured, sick, or poisoned our immune systems react with inflammation to attack the invaders, heal our wounds and keep us healthy. The problem comes into play when our bodies keep up that inflammation cycle even when there aren’t harmful elements to attack. This results in what’s termed ‘chronic inflammation’, which is different than the ‘chronic stage of healing’ (you can see this post here for an overview of the stages of healing).
There’s a lot of research being done on chronic inflammation and what causes it. Food tends to be a giant culprit in contributing to a chronic inflammation state. There are a lot of mechanisms for this - you can see this post on leaky gut syndrome and how it contributes to chronic inflammation, and this post on evolutionary considerations for diet, and this post on the contribution of an imbalance of the microbiome to chronic inflammatory states - but this post is all about what you can do to help yourself tame the inflammation and get back to a healthy state. This is especially important if trying to recover from an illness or injury. If your body is trying to heal in an already unhealthy tissue environment, it can take longer to make a full recovery because the body doesn’t have what it needs to survive let alone heal. Remember, survival comes first, healing can be delayed until survival is assured.
Harvard Health Publications gives a great overview of how diet can contribute to a chronic inflammatory state and the foods to eat to help combat it. If you’re a super geek like me, I really like this review on polyphenols and health here.
In short, avoid refined carbohydrates and eat more fruits and vegetables. It’s important to note that many polyphenols in plants are fat-soluble, meaning that they are absorbed better by the body in the presence of fat. So eating a diet that includes healthy fats - olive oil, avocado, nuts - can help to increase the amount of the good stuff from plants. In general you should eat about two to three omega 6 fats to every omega 3 fat consumed. The typical North American diet means you eat approximately ten to fifteen omega 6s for every omega 3 consumed. So eat more fish, avocado, nuts, seed, olive oil, and avoid corn oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, cottonseed oil, soybean oil and other oils high in omega 6s.
Now, within that, I like to mention that food allergies and intolerances can also be a major contributor to a chronic state of inflammation. We often forget that many of us have allergies to plants or animals. Food is typically a plant or animal. People with latex allergies often have trouble with bananas, kiwis, avocado, watermelon, grapes, etc. People with ragweed allergies often have trouble with chamomile tea, cantaloup and honeydew melons, etc. People with grass allergies typically have trouble with grains, etc. I went to high school with a guy who was allergic to basically every meat protein. It happens. If you’re having trouble with chronic inflammation - get tested for food allergies and intolerances. Cutting out the foods that are constantly causing your immune system to go into overdrive is usually a great place to start. Especially since many of the recommendations for an anti-inflammatory diet are about increasing your consumption of plant-based foods. This is only helpful as long as you’re not intolerant to all that spinach you’ve just added to your daily meals… I’ve had a number of patients try the elimination diet and have major problems, only to later find out that they are intolerant to all of the foods on their ‘allow’ lists. Seeing a naturopath who does the testing can help to avoid all of the guesswork so you can add in only the foods that are beneficial for you instead of accidentally contributing to the inflammation.
Now, all that said, assuming you’ve seen your naturopath already, here’s a list of research backed herbs and spices that have proven anti-inflammatory effects:
Turmeric – curcumin, the active ingredient in tumeric, has undergone extensive research over the last 50 years for its anti-inflammatory effects. You can see this article here for the long list of conditions it's shown to be beneficial in treatment. Adding curry in the diet is good, but a turmeric supplement might be more effective since the dose is concentrated. Aim for 7tsp per day of the powder or 400-600mg per day of the supplemental form if using it as an anti-inflammatory following an injury.
Garlic – has been shown to inhibit inflammatory enzymes and increase the function of macrophages. You can have a look at this review here for a great summary of the current state of knowledge on garlic’s use as an anti-inflammatory. Adding it to the diet is helpful, but a supplement might be even better. Aim for 2-4 garlic cloves each day or 600 to 1,200 mg of aged garlic extract.
Pineapple – contains bromelain, which you can read about here; bromeliad has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects for digestion and for inflammation/pain relief. Aim for 2 cups of pineapple per day or 500- 1,000 mg in supplemental form.
Cocoa, tea and berries – the great news for chocolate lovers - it’s actually good for you! Opt for the dark kind - 85% and above, and you’ll give yourself a great dose of flavonoids, the active ingredient in these foods. Cocoa, tea and berries have all been shown to help manage inflammation through antioxidant activity and may influence cell growth/new capillary development during tissue regeneration. While eating more flavonoid rich foods would likely be of benefit during times of acute injury, nutritional supplements containing blueberry or grape extracts, green tea extracts, citrus extracts (hesperedin, naringin, etc), and bioflavonoid supplements containing quercetin/dihydroquercetin and rutin may lead to more marked anti-inflammatory effects.
While healing from injury, it’s important to keep in mind that we don’t necessarily want a full suppression of inflammation. Inhibiting the inflammatory response in the healing process has actually been shown to be detrimental. However, sometimes the response can get too aggressive, damaging surrounding tissues. And that’s why we’re looking for inflammatory control instead of suppression. Eating a diet of healthy fats and lots of fruits and vegetables has been shown to be the most protective against chronic inflammatory conditions and help speed healing and recovery.