Inflammation is effective and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is not beneficial...like when it persists too long. Inflammation is a cellular level event and may contribute to a variety of chronic diseases: cardiovascular,
gastrointestinal, lung, mental, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and more. (1)
Spinal Care Clinic works to reduce inflammation’s
impact on the health of our Burlington and Hamilton
chiropractic patients suffering with issues like
back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues related to 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 existing
medical studies regarding the role of inflammation and
depression reported that a pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a higher risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis contrasted with 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 reporting
the highest inflammatory diet had higher risk of reporting
low back pain, too. (3) Links between diet, nutrition and Alzheimer’s
disease have been described. The good news is that
nutrition was written to be able to control
the immune system and even alter the neuroinflammatory processes
related to Alzheimer’s and age-related cognition issues. (4) These descriptions
show just how far-reaching inflammation can be.
…EVEN MIGRAINE
Migraine as primary headache is estimated to
impact 14.4% of people and rated as the largest
contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is studied
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 contribute to migraine pain. Studies related
to the role of dietary interventions are few, but a recent
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, stabilize serotonin,
and suppress neuroinflammation. Through inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (including
migraines) may be related. The inflammatory link appeared in the published papers. Dietary interventions like the intake of essential fatty acids (reducing omega-6
and boosting omega-3 which were documented to affect inflammation)
were discussed as beneficial. (5) Spinal Care Clinic
understands the power diet and nutrition may have in disease processes
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Spinal Care Clinic also knows many of us do not 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 consist of 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 staying away from canned/processed
food, sweetened drinks, and alcohol. (6) We are confident our
chiropractic patients can handle this kind of diet!
CONTACT Spinal Care Clinic
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 interact and how
chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may well help.
Make your next Burlington and Hamilton
chiropractic visit with Spinal Care Clinic. If inflammation has overstayed its good and normal welcome, we can talk about taking some steps toward a more beneficial
anti-inflammatory diet.