Inflammation is good and normal…in certain circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected. Inflammation is not good...like when it persists too long. Inflammation is a cellular level event and may be a factor in a multitude of chronic diseases: cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, lung, mental, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and more. (1) New Hampshire Spine and Sport strives to decrease inflammation’s influence on the health of our Southern New Hampshire chiropractic patients suffering with issues like back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues associated with Alzheimer’s. An anti-inflammatory diet plays a role in this effort.
INFLAMMATION LINKED TO BACK PAIN, DEPRESSION, ALZHEIMER’S…
A systematic review and meta-analysis of existing medical studies concerning the role of inflammation and depression found that a pro-inflammatory diet was related to a bigger risk of depression symptoms and diagnosis compared to those who chose an anti-inflammatory diet. (2) Another study suggested a link between low back pain and pro-inflammatory diets as well. A study of 7346 people revealed that those who said they followed a highest inflammatory diet had higher risk of saying they have low back pain, too. (3) Connections between diet, nutrition and Alzheimer’s disease have been published. The good news is that nutrition was written to be able to regulate the immune system and even modify the neuroinflammatory processes related to Alzheimer’s and age-related cognition issues. (4) These descriptions demonstrate just how extensive inflammation can be.
…EVEN MIGRAINE
Migraine as primary headache is estimated to impact 14.4% of people and ranked as the greatest contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is examined a great deal as to what its mechanism is but still continues to be a bit of a mystery. Researchers summarized that many factors are involved: vascular function, trigeminovascular pathway activation, pro-inflammatory and oxidative stats may add to migraine pain. Studies associating migraine to the role of dietary interventions are not many, but a recent data search found that Ketogenic diet, modified Atkins diets, and low glycemic diets may better mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, decrease CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, stabilize serotonin, and subdue neuroinflammation. Through inflammation and irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (including migraines) may be linked. The inflammatory link came out in the published papers. Dietary interventions like supplementing with essential fatty acids (reducing omega-6 and increasing omega-3 which were documented to affect inflammation) were discussed as beneficial. (5) New Hampshire Spine and Sport understands the power diet and nutrition may have in disease issues like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
New Hampshire Spine and Sport also knows many of us don’t like the word diet. It often brings to mind what we can’t have. A good diet allows a lot of good food though. Basic guidelines for an anti-inflammatory diet design include eating eggs, coffee, tea, fish, lean meat, legumes, vegetables, honey and plain dairy like milk, yogurt, hard cheeses, kefir with limited intake of red meat and other dairy and sugar while avoiding canned/processed food, sweetened drinks, and alcohol. (6) We are sure our chiropractic patients can handle this kind of diet!
CONTACT New Hampshire Spine and Sport
Listen to the PODCAST with Dr. James Cox on the Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares how inflammation and the immune system interact and how chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may well help.
Schedule your next Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment with New Hampshire Spine and Sport. If inflammation has overstayed its good and normal welcome, let’s talk about taking some steps toward a better anti-inflammatory diet.