Inflammation is effective and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is not good...like when it hangs
around 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)
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic works to decrease inflammation’s
impact on the health of our McHenry
chiropractic patients suffering with 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 found that a pro-inflammatory diet was related
to a greater risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis contrasted with those who ate 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 revealed that those reporting
the highest inflammatory diet had higher risk of saying they have
low back pain, too. (3) Links between diet, nutrition and Alzheimer’s
disease have been published. The good news is that
nutrition was described as being able to control
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 estimated to
affect 14.4% of people and rated as the biggest
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 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 improve mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, reduce
CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, stabilize serotonin,
and subdue neuroinflammation. Through inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (migraines too) may be related. The inflammatory link emerged in the published papers. Dietary interventions like the intake of essential fatty acids (reducing omega-6
and increasing omega-3 which were documented to affect inflammation)
were described as helpful. (5) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
understands the power diet and nutrition may have in disease issues
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic 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 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 staying away from canned/processed
food, sweetened drinks, and alcohol. (6) We are sure our
chiropractic patients can manage this type of diet!
CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
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 work and how
chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may be
beneficial.
Schedule your next McHenry
chiropractic visit with OrthoIllinois Chiropractic. If inflammation has hung
around past its good and normal welcome, let’s set
up a path toward a better
anti-inflammatory diet.