Diseases | Risk Factors | Modalities | Foods Increase | Foods Decrease | Supplements
Associated Diseases
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Peripheral arterial disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and coronary heart disease
- Singh 2011, Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration 2010
- Certain Cancers
- Lymphoma, prostate, ovarian, pancreatic, colorectal and lung
- Aggarwal 2006, Kundu 2008, Balkwill 2009
- Type 2 diabetes
- Pickup 2000, Nappo 2002, Ortega Martinez de Victoria 2009
- Osteoporosis
- Cao 2011
- Age-related macular degeneration - AMD
- Hong 2011
- Depression
- Gimeno 2009, Copeland 2012
- Cognitive decline
- Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia
- Singh 2011
Risk Factors
- Age
- Singh 2011
- Low Sex hormones
- Testosterone
and estrogen may
repress the production and secretion of several pro-inflammatory
markers
- Keller 1996, Ray 1997, Deshpande 1997
- Lower testosterone levels in elderly men have been linked
to higher inflammatory markers
- Khosla 2002, Maggio 2006
- Surgical or natural menopause increase inflammatory markers
- Gameiro 2010, Singh 2011
- Hormone replacement therapy may decrease risk of several
inflammatory diseases
- < atherosclerosis, asthma in women, and rheumatoid arthritis
in men
- Gilliver 2010
- < coronary heart disease and inflammatory bowel disease
- Anderson 2004, Vural 2006, Kane 2008
- < atherosclerosis, asthma in women, and rheumatoid arthritis
in men
- Testosterone
and estrogen may
repress the production and secretion of several pro-inflammatory
markers
- Obesity
- Fried 1998, Mohamed-Ali 1997, Weisberg 2003, Trayhurn 2005, Schrager 2007, Ortega Martinez de Victoria 2009
- Interstitial abdominal adiposity and waist
circumference
- Pedersen 2003, Rogowski 2010
- Fat loss decreases markers
for inflammation
- North 2009, Moschen 2010
- Smoking
- Arnson 2010
- Environmental Pollutants
- Sleep Disorders
- Vgontzas 1997, 2000, 2003
- Periodontal disease
- Slade 2003, Pradeep 2011, Vaishnava 2011
- Physical and Emotional Stress
- Pervanidou 2011
- High Blood Glucose
- Basta 2004, Uribarri 2005, Toma 2009
- Inactivity
- Pedersen 2003
Other Factors
- Exercise
- Lowers inflammation independent of weight loss
- Bruunsgaard 2005
- Induces Myokine secretion from muscles
- > gp130 receptor cytokine Interleukin 6 (IL-6)
- increases exponentially in proportion to
- exercise intensity and duration
- amount of muscle mass engaged during exercise
- up to 100 fold increase
- Followed by:
- > IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra)
- > anti-inflammatory IL-10 (Interleukin 10)
- < TNF-alpha production
- Petersen 2006
- Lowers inflammation independent of weight loss
- Calorie restriction
- Decreases inflammation
- Ahmadi 2011, González 2012
- Chronic calorie restriction of more than 30% in rats increased their lifespan by up to 50%.
- Calorie restriction is thought to activate the SIRT-1 gene
- Decreases inflammation
- Diet
- See below...
Also see Testing for Chronic Low-level Inflammation.
Foods that Increase Chronic Inflammation
- Sugar
- Foods high in Omega 6 Fatty Acids
- Fried Foods
- Excessive Calories
- High glycemic index
and high glycemic load
diets
- Modest increase in proinflammatory markers
- Levitan 2008, Du 2008, Galland 2010
- High saturated fat diet
- Association with higher pro-inflammatory markers
- Association particularly with diabetic and overweight subjects
- Nappo 2002, Peairs 2011
- No association with healthy individuals
- Poppitt 2008, Payette 2009, Myhrstad 2011
- Association particularly with diabetic and overweight subjects
- Association with higher pro-inflammatory markers
- High glycemic index
and high glycemic load
diets
Foods that Decrease Chronic Inflammation
- Foods high in Omega
3 Fatty Acids
- Fatty Fish
- Pischon 2003, Lopez-Garcia 2004, Zampelas 2005, Marik 2009, He 2009
- Fatty Fish
- Olive Oil (polyphenols and oleocanthal)
- Tea
- Polyphenols (EGCG and Theaflavin)
- De Bacquer 2006, de Mejia 2009, Cavicchia 2009, Singh 2010, Melgarejo 2010
- Black Tea was more effective than green tea
- Galland 2010, Steptoe 2007, Bahorun 2010
- Polyphenols (EGCG and Theaflavin)
- Probiotics
- Eg: Yogurt, Miso, Sauerkraut
- Vegetables
- Dark Leafy Greens (Vitamin E)
- Eg: spinach, kale, broccoli, and collard greens
- Soys
- isoflavones, particularly Genistein
- Eg: soy milk, tofu, and edamame (boiled soybeans)
- Beets
- Garlic
- Onions (Quercetin and Allicin)
- Ginger
- Dark Leafy Greens (Vitamin E)
- Fruits
- Berries (Possibly anthocyanins)
- Tart Cherries
- Mulberry (Reveratrol)
- Grapes (Reveratrol and Pterostilbene)
- Reveratrol and Pterostilbene
- Khanduja 2004, Pan 2008, Clarke 2008, Jha 2010, Ghanim 2011
- Reveratrol and Pterostilbene
- Pineapple (Bromelain)
- Animal Studies
- Secor 2005, Fitzhugh 2008, Secor 2008, Onken 2008
- Human pain relief studies
- Walker 2002, Akhtar 2004, Yuan 2006, Klein 2006
- Animal Studies
- Fiber
- eg: whole grains, fruits and vegetables
- North 2009
- Sesame (sesame lignans)
- Chavali 1997, Wu 2009, Harikumar 2010
- Turmeric (and curry spice)
- Curcumin
- yellow pigment in turmeric
- 500 mg daily
- Safe dosage: up to 8-12 grams
- yellow pigment in turmeric
- Chainani-Wu 2003, Bengmark 2006, White 2011
- Curcumin
Supplements that Decrease Inflammation
- Magnesium
- Cavicchia 2009, Galland 2010, Chacko 2010
- Selenium
- Human intervention studies are lacking
- Probable anti-inflammatory effect
- Duntas 2009
- Observational studies showing relationships between low Selenium and diseased patients
- Maehira 2002
- Vitamin D
- Human intervention studies are lacking
- Probable anti-inflammatory effect
- Krishnan 2010
- Observational studies showing relationships between low Vitamin
D and diseased patients
- Guillot 2010, Awad 2012, Reid 2011
- Vitamine E
- “the combination of [alpha-tocopherol] and [gamma-tocopherol] supplementation appears to be superior to either supplementation alone on biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation and needs to be tested in prospective clinical trials...”
- Devaraj 2008
- Zinc
- Mariani 2006, Kahmann 2008, Prasad 2009, Duntas 2009, Bao 2010, Kelishadi 2010, Wong 2011
- Carotenoids including Beta-carotene,
- Walston 2006, Cavicchia 2009
- Oregon grape, Barberry (Berberis), and Goldenseal
- Berberine found in these plants
- 1-2 g daily divided into 3-4 servings.
- May inhibit muscle growth
- Berberine found in these plants
- DHEA
- 50 mg/day
- Gordon 2001, Weiss 2011
- Creatine
- Santos 2004