Foods That Cause Inflammation

You may have heard that inflammation is at the root of many ailments. To help minimize its effects, avoid foods that cause inflammation. Learn more here.

Inflammation is your body’s natural response to an infection, something toxic or an injury. If a bee stings you, the surrounding area becomes red, swollen, and possibly warm to the touch. If you eat something to which you’re allergic, or foods that cause inflammation, you may get a scratchy throat or develop a stomachache or diarrhea.

In those examples, inflammation is a byproduct of your body’s immune system working properly. Your body’s defenses are trying to either eliminate or isolate an intruder and begin the healing process.

When your immune system is overactive, your body is in a constant state (chronic) of inflammation, which has destructive potential. This is evident in autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and gastrointestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, in which your immune system mistakenly targets your own tissues.

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What causes inflammation?

Many things can cause inflammation. Some causes are nearly universal — bee stings, for example — but other causes of inflammation can be as individual as the people it afflicts.

Stress, smoking, and exposure to toxins in your environment can cause low-level, nearly imperceptible, chronic inflammation. Not exercising, genetic predisposition, and dietary choices are additional potential causes of chronic inflammation.

Such factors will affect individuals to different degrees and in different ways, but, if left unchecked, chronic inflammation can serve as the foundation for a whole variety of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

More recently, inflammation has also been associated with psychiatric disorders, such as depression and schizophrenia.

According to Andrew Weil, MD, a Harvard-educated doctor and pioneer in the field of integrative medicine, what you eat has a profound influence on your state of inflammation. Weil, credited with developing the anti-inflammatory diet, believes that most people in North America and other developed parts of the world go through life in a pro-inflammatory state as a result of what they eat.

As we all know, eating a balanced diet promotes health. There is truth in the saying: “You are what you eat.” Although it’s unlikely that a single food or ingredient is responsible for all of your inflammation, minimizing your intake of processed foods and certain ingredients can help reduce inflammation and help get chronic conditions under control.

For example, if you have arthritis, your body is in an inflammatory state, so avoiding foods that exacerbate inflammation could help calm your symptoms.

What you can do to reduce inflammation in your body

Stay away from foods that you have identified as “not agreeing” with you. You may find over time that you have developed new food allergies. If you’re not sure, eliminate a suspected culprit from your diet for a couple weeks to see if you notice a difference.

Apart from specific foods that are known to cause reactions in people who have food sensitivities, whole groups of foods can cause inflammation in the general population.

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Avoid foods that cause inflammation

• Refined and added sugar is a common offender, appearing in sweets and foods you wouldn’t expect, such as chips, mustard, and cottage cheese. When you consume more sugar than your body can process, it increases levels of pro-inflammatory messengers called cytokines. Sugar comes in many forms. Read labels for ingredients ending in “ose,” for example fructose, sucrose, dextrose, and glucose. Fructose in particular has been shown to trigger inflammation.
• Saturated fats trigger inflammation in fat (adipose) tissue. Saturated fats can come only from animal products and are solid at room temperature. Common culprits are red meat, cheeses, and butter.
• Trans fats have long been identified as a trigger of systemic inflammation. Trans fats are commonly found in fast foods and fried foods, and in processed snacks and pastries such as cookies, crackers and doughnuts, and margarine. Search food labels for “partially hydrogenated oil” and avoid foods containing it.
• Refined carbohydrates are ubiquitous. Think white foods: White flour, white rice, and white potatoes are good examples. Consuming those types of high-glycemic index foods fuels the production of advanced glycation end products that stimulate inflammation.
• Dairy is a common allergen. If you develop an unusual amount of mucous after you eat cheese or drink a glass of milk, or if you develop diarrhea, hives, or bloating, stomach cramps, and gas, they are inflammatory responses. You are better off avoiding dairy foods.
• MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is a food additive that can trigger inflammation if you are sensitive to it. It is known by many names. Calcium glutamate, magnesium glutamate, and yeast extract are a few to look for on food labels.
• Gluten, derived from wheat, barley and rye, and casein (found in dairy products) can trigger joint pain and gastrointestinal distress — forms of inflammation — in people who are sensitive to them. Gluten also sets off an autoimmune response that damages the small intestine and may cause joint pain in people with celiac disease.
• Nightshades are a group of vegetables that includes tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes, to which some people are sensitive. Avoid them if eating those foods gives you a stomachache, causes your mouth to swell or break out, or makes your throat or skin scratchy.
• Peanuts are another common allergen that can be life-threatening (anaphylaxis) for some people. Additionally, peanuts are prone to contamination from mold and fungus, which can set off allergic responses of their own.
• Artificial sweeteners are approved by the Food and Drug Administration and found in thousands of products. If you have an autoimmune disease and are sensitive to those chemicals, ingesting them can set off an inflammatory response. Artificial sweeteners also disrupt the good bacteria in your gut. These good bacteria help release anti-inflammatory compounds.
• Alcohol can have beneficial effects in moderation because it can reduce inflammation. But too much alcohol has the opposite effect. The process of breaking down alcohol generates toxins that can damage your liver, increase your blood pressure, promote inflammation, and weaken your immune system.
• You should generally avoid artificial flavors and colorings. If the word “artificial” appears on a food package, put it down. People with specific health conditions should avoid certain foods. For example, people with gout (a type of arthritis resulting from uric acid deposits in the joints) should avoid alcohol and foods that are high in purines, such as organ meats (liver and kidney), sardines, and anchovies.

If you have a health condition that is linked to chronic inflammation, talk to your doctor about whether you should avoid specific foods that cause inflammation and how a healthy diet can help manage your condition.

Eat foods that fight inflammation

More research is needed to understand exactly how foods exacerbate inflammation. Until that is better understood, you can still help yourself by eating more foods that fight inflammation. They include plenty of:

• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• Whole grains and beans
• Healthy fats
• Fish and other seafood
• Skinless poultry
• Other high-quality lean meats

Staying away from your inflammatory triggers and minimizing consumption of processed foods can improve your health and ward off the effects of chronic inflammation. Add in regular exercise, adequate sleep, stress reduction, and a daily cup (or more) of green tea, and you are well on your way to recovering your health and avoiding possible chronic conditions down the road.

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