Foods That Prevent Inflammation Also Enhance Your Brain Function
By
Dr. Mercola
It
is important to realize that chronic inflammation often leads to chronic
illnesses and health conditions, including obesity, heart disease, Type
2-dibetes cancer and immune-mediated conditions. In fact, inflammation plays a
significant role in seven of the top 10 leading causes of death.
Inflammation
is a normal part of your body's response to the environment to protect you from
foreign invaders, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. However, chronic,
long-term inflammation increases your risks for devastating health conditions
that may change the way you live or may even lead to death.
Many
times, inflammation starts in your gut. Your intestines are a large and complex
organ designed to pass nutrients to your body and gather waste to pass from
your body. What you eat has a considerable effect on the permeability of your intestinal
walls and how much waste or toxins may leak into your body. This leakage is a
substantial driving force in the development of chronic inflammation.
The
degree of permeability is in direct proportion to chemical mediators inside
your intestines and in your bloodstream, in real time. This means that you can
affect permeability immediately with the choices you make. However, repeated
damage reduces the ability of the intestines to respond properly.
Eventually
this may lead to impaired absorption of nutrients and overburden your immune
system. Inflammation also has an effect on your brain. Recent research has
found those with inflammatory markers in their 50s experienced a reduction in
the size of their brain 24 years later.
Inflammation May Lead to Reduced
Brain Volume
This
study provides more evidence that systemic inflammation may have lifelong
effects on your health. The researchers took blood samples from a large,
biracial community and analyzed five inflammatory markers at the start of the
study and then again 24 years later. Those markers included levels of
fibrinogen, albumin, white cell count, factor VIII and von Willebrand factor.
Using
these levels, the researchers created a composite score they could compare
against other participant scores and MRI images taken at the conclusion of the
study. The participants were divided into three groups based on the level of
their inflammatory markers. When the group with three or more elevated
biomarkers was compared against the group without any elevations, they found
the group with higher inflammation experienced a 5 percent reduction in brain
volume.
Brain
areas with reduced volume were in the hippocampus and other areas associated
with the development of Alzheimer's disease. Those with higher levels of
inflammation also performed poorer on a memory test given to the participants.
Lead
study author Keenan Walker, Ph.D., from Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine said the effect of one standard deviation increase in inflammation,
appeared to correlate to having a copy of the gene that increases the risk of
developing, Alzheimer’s disease ,and was associated with a decrease in size of
110 cubic millimeters of the hippocampus.
Although
the results from this study support evidence from others that inflammation
negatively affects brain volume and cognitive performance, the authors
acknowledge this study used inflammatory markers from only one point in a
24-year timespan.
There
are several factors that affect the degree of inflammation you may experience
in your body and brain. When you address these factors, you may be able to
reduce the long-term effects of inflammation, including cognitive decline,
cancer, immune-mediated disease, Type 2 diabetes and numerous other health
conditions.
Sleep Clears Your Mind and
Detoxifies Your Brain
Achieving
quality sleep may be one of the most important factors in developing optimal
health. A lack of sleep can have many ramifications, ranging from short-term to
lifelong. Research has found sleep loss for just one night may increase the
inflammatory response in your body, and a good night's sleep can reduce your
risk of heart disease and autoimmune disorders.
Subclinical
shifts in basal inflammatory cytokines have also been noted in those whose
sleep was restricted between 25 and 50 percent of normal. The mechanism
explaining the alteration in inflammation is not known, but the researchers
theorize it's likely related to metabolic changes. In a recent meta-analysis of
72 studies involving more than 50,000 participants, the data demonstrated that
both too much and interrupted sleep had the effect of increasing the
inflammatory response.
Dr.
John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry, commented on the meta-analysis,
stating, "It is important to highlight that both too much and too little
sleep appears to be associated with inflammation, a process that contributes to
depression as well as many medical illnesses."
Adequate
amount of quality sleep not only reduces inflammation, but also helps clear
your brain of toxins and metabolic waste products. Sleep is critical to keep
your brain's unique waste management system fully functional. Researchers from
the University of Rochester Medical Center found
this system is activated during sleep when your brain cells shrink nearly 60
percent, making waste removal easier.
For
example, during sleep your brain removes amyloid-beta in greater amounts than
when you're awake. These are the proteins that form in the brains of people
suffering from Alzheimer's disease.
Too Much or Too Little May Increase
Inflammation
Your
body works optimally in moderation. In other words, too much or too little
sleep and you'll increase your inflammatory markers. The same is true for
exercise. You may think of this as a Goldilocks effect — in other words, not
too much and not too little will allow you to reap the greatest benefit.
Consistent
overexertion at any exercise can lead to chronic inflammation. The after effect
of overexertion may also lead to overuse injuries or illness. Fatigue,
dehydration and other injuries may
follow a single intense workout, while chronic secretion of cortisol from
overexertion may also negatively impact your immune system and lead to colds
and other illnesses.
Cortisol
is released during a physical or psychological stressor. It has different
functions throughout your body, such as regulating blood sugar, reducing
inflammation and assisting in memory formation. Researchers have found that
prolonged stress may alter the effectiveness of cortisol by reducing your cells
sensitivity to cortisol and increasing the inflammatory response. Lead author,
Sheldon Cohen, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, commented on the link between
stress and the immune system, saying:
"The
immune system's ability to regulate inflammation predicts who will develop a
cold, but more importantly it provides an explanation of how stress can promote
disease.
When
under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal
control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease.
Because inflammation plays a role in many diseases such as cardiovascular,
asthma and autoimmune disorders, this model suggests why stress impacts them as
well."
Often
the greater risk lies in a sedentary lifestyle. Sedentary behavior has
influenced inflammatory markers in participants, independent of obesity, single
workout during the day or blood sugar levels. Sitting during the day has been
associated with a 66 percent higher risk of certain cancers, including
endometrial cancer, colon cancer and lung cancer.
Inflammatory Response to Food
The
foods you eat may have a major effect on the inflammation in your body. The
National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases wrote about the common
Western diet and the relationship to inflammation:
"While
today's modern diet may provide beneficial protection from micro- and
macronutrient deficiencies, our over-abundance of calories and the
macronutrients that compose our diet may all lead to increased inflammation,
reduced control of infection, increased rates of cancer, and increased risk for
allergic and auto-inflammatory disease."
Foods
that increase the inflammatory response in your body include:
Sugar
|
High fructose corn syrup
|
Artificial trans fats
|
Processed vegetable and seed oils
|
Refined carbohydrates
|
Excessive alcohol
|
Processed meats
|
Oxidized omega-6 fats
|
The Nitric Oxide Dump
In
this video, I demonstrate a simple exercise called the Nitric Oxide Dump that
has several benefits. This three-minute exercise, done three times a day, will
stimulate the release of nitric oxide to support your immune system, lower your
blood pressure and decrease platelet aggregation. Nitric oxide also helps you
to develop more lean body mass.
Since
it's a short exercise you do several times per day, it reduces the potential
for overexertion and helps you keep moving throughout the day. You'll want to
wait at least two hours between each session. The exercise doesn't require any
equipment and can be done anywhere you happen to find yourself. A combination
of exercise with dietary restriction may increase your benefits and mobilize
adaptive cellular stress-response pathways that involve DNA repair,
mitochondrial biogenesis and anti-inflammatory cytokines.
Anti-Inflammatory Foods Help Reduce
Inflammation Markers
Just
as some foods may increase the inflammatory response in your body, others have
an anti-inflammatory effect. According to Harvard Medical School, one of the
most powerful tools to fight inflammation does not come from a pharmacy, but
rather from your grocery store. Some of the top anti-inflammatory foods include
Garlic
|
Strawberries
|
Blueberries
|
Cherries
|
Almonds
|
Walnuts
|
Olive oil
|
Spinach
|
Kale
|
Salmon
|
Mackerel
|
Sardines
|
Cloves
|
Ginger
|
Rosemary
|
Turmeric
|
Keep
in mind that while fish is traditionally recognized as a primary source of
healthy omega-3 fats that help reduce inflammation, eating seafood from
contaminated waters offsets any benefits. You risk polluting your body and
damaging your health with chemicals and heavy metals the fish have absorbed
from their environment.
Unfortunately,
a large majority of wild-caught fish are too contaminated with mercury, heavy
metal and chemicals and farm-raised fish carry their own list of risks from
pharmaceutical treatment, overcrowding and unsafe contaminants.
As
a general rule, I recommend eating only authentic wild-caught Alaskan salmon or
smaller fatty fish with short life cycles, such as sardines, herring, mackerel
or anchovies. These are good choices to get omega-3 fats while avoiding as many
toxins as possible.
Although
not a specific food, eating a diet high in healthy fats and low net
carbohydrates and moderate amounts of high-quality protein has also
demonstrated a significant effect at lowering your inflammatory response. Also
called a ketogenic diet, recent research from the University of California San
Francisco uncovered a potential mechanism that helps explain why the ketogenic
diet so effective in reducing inflammation in the brain
This article was brought to you by Dr. Mercola, a New York Times bestselling
author. For more helpful articles, please visit Mercola.com
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