Inflammation is effective and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is damaging...like when it hangs
around 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)
Amelia Chiropractic Clinic strives to reduce inflammation’s
effect on the health of our Fernandina Beach
chiropractic patients dealing 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 concerning the role of inflammation and
depression found that a pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a greater risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis compared to those who chose an
anti-inflammatory diet. (2) Another study recommended a connection
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 reporting
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 modulate
the immune system and even modify 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 projected to
affect 14.4% of people and ranked as the greatest
contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is studied
a great deal as to what its mechanism is but still continues
to be somewhat of a mystery. Researchers summarized
that many factors play a role: 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 improve mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, reduce
CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, balance serotonin,
and suppress neuroinflammation. Via inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (migraines too) may be linked. The inflammatory link came
out 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 helpful. (5) Amelia Chiropractic Clinic
knows the power diet and nutrition may have in disease processes
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Amelia Chiropractic Clinic also knows many of us do not like
the word diet. It often reminds us of things what we can’t
eat. 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 avoiding canned/processed
food, sweetened drinks, and alcohol. (6) We are confident our
chiropractic patients can manage this kind of diet!
CONTACT Amelia Chiropractic 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 be
beneficial.
Schedule your next Fernandina Beach
chiropractic appointment with Amelia Chiropractic Clinic. If inflammation has overstayed its good and normal welcome, let’s talk about taking some steps toward a better
anti-inflammatory diet.