Although many focus on dietary restriction when it comes to weight loss, the composition of a diet is of great importance for health too. A bad diet can be central to chronic inflammatory responses within the body, something we often forget.

The constant immune response caused by inflammatory foods (e.g.  depending on the individual: gluten, dairy and processed foods or anything else they may be intolerant to) could contribute to a number of health problems, including heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and gastrointestinal disease. Modifying a diet to reduce persistent inflammation can really help in prevention of negative health outcomes. Eating unhealthy foods isn’t just detrimental to our weight but also to our health.

A recent study investigated the effects of an anti-inflammatory diet on inflammatory bowel disease (e.g. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis). The diet included lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, certain sources of carbohydrate, fruit and vegetables, nut and legume flours, aged cheeses and cultured products (rich with probiotics).

They also placed emphasis on ingesting pre- and probiotics (e.g. leeks, onions, soluble fibre) to help restore intestinal flora and encouraged a review of the diet as a whole to detect missing nutrients and identify intolerances. The texture of foods was also modified (e.g. blended, group, cooked) as required, depending on the individual’s present symptoms to improve nutrient absorption.

They found that some individuals with inflammatory bowel disease could benefit from the use of an anti-inflammatory diet in terms of reducing symptoms and consequently reducing medication use. They concluded that the diet could decrease inflammation, improve nutritional status and possibly help to maintain a beneficial intestinal bacterial balance.

This research further highlights the potential role of the diet on the inflammatory response within the body and thus the importance of eating a healthy diet to improve our health. However, as this research was only in the form of a case study, a clinical trial is now required to determine the exact benefit.

Whilst this study demonstrates that an anti-inflammatory diet may be beneficial to some individuals with inflammatory bowel disease, professional advice should always be sought prior to dietary change if you have a gastrointestinal disorder.

Adie Blanchard – Researcher

References

Olendzki, B. C., Silverstein, T. D., Persuitte, G. M., Ma, Y., Baldwin, K. R. et al. (2014). An anti-inflammatory diet as treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: a case series report. Nutrition Journal, 13(1), 1-7.