Inflammation is good and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is damaging...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)
Executive Chiropractic of Iowa strives to decrease inflammation’s
effect on the health of our West Des Moines
chiropractic patients experiencing issues like
back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues associated
with Alzheimer’s. An anti-inflammatory diet plays 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 greater risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis compared to 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 who said they followed a 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 described. 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 projected 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 its mechanism is but still remains 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 newer
data search found that Ketogenic diet, modified Atkins diets, and low glycemic
diets may improve mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, decrease
CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, balance serotonin,
and subdue neuroinflammation. Via inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (including
migraines) may be related. The inflammatory link came
out in the published papers. Dietary interventions like supplementing
with essential fatty acids (decreasing omega-6
and boosting omega-3 which were documented to affect inflammation)
were discussed as helpful. (5) Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
knows the power diet and nutrition may have in disease issues
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Executive Chiropractic of Iowa 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 include eating
lean meat, eggs, fish, fruit,
legumes, coffee, tea, honey, vegetables 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 Executive Chiropractic of Iowa
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.
Make your next West Des Moines
chiropractic visit with Executive Chiropractic of Iowa. If inflammation has overstayed its good and normal welcome, let’s set
up a path toward a better
anti-inflammatory diet.