Inflammation is good and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is bad...like when it persists too long. Inflammation is a cellular level event and may contribute to a multitude of chronic diseases: cardiovascular,
gastrointestinal, lung, mental, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and more. (1)
Layden Chiropractic strives to decrease inflammation’s
effect on the health of our Plainville
chiropractic patients experiencing issues like
back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues associated
with Alzheimer’s. An anti-inflammatory diet has a
role in this effort.
INFLAMMATION LINKED TO BACK PAIN, DEPRESSION, ALZHEIMER’S…
A systematic review and meta-analysis of current
medical studies concerning the role of inflammation and
depression reported that a pro-inflammatory diet was related
to a bigger risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis contrasted with those who chose an
anti-inflammatory diet. (2) Another study suggested a connection
between low back pain and pro-inflammatory diets as well. A study of 7346
people described that those reporting
the 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 reported. The good news is that
nutrition was described as being able to regulate
the immune system and even alter the neuroinflammatory processes
related to Alzheimer’s and age-related cognition issues. (4) These descriptions
show just how extensive inflammation can be.
…EVEN MIGRAINE
Migraine as primary headache is estimated to
affect 14.4% of people and ranked as the largest
contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is examined
a great deal as to what causes it 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 newer
data search found that Ketogenic diet, modified Atkins diets, and low glycemic
diets may better mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, reduce
CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, balance serotonin,
and suppress neuroinflammation. Through inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (including
migraines) may be linked. The inflammatory link emerged 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 described as helpful. (5) Layden Chiropractic
knows the power diet and nutrition may have in disease processes
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Layden Chiropractic also knows many of us don’t like
the word diet. It often reminds us of things what we can’t
have. A good diet allows a lot of good food though. Basic guidelines
for an anti-inflammatory diet design incorporate eating
eggs, coffee, tea, fish, lean meat, legumes, vegetables, honey and plain dairy
like milk, yogurt, hard cheeses, kefir with limited consumption 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 Layden Chiropractic
Listen to the PODCAST
with Dr. James Cox on the Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how inflammation and the immune system work and how
chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may be
beneficial.
Schedule your next Plainville
chiropractic visit with Layden Chiropractic. If inflammation has hung
around past its good and normal welcome, let’s talk about taking some steps toward a more beneficial
anti-inflammatory diet.