Do some foods truly have anti-inflammatory properties, or is this just the latest way to ascribe magic powers to foods that have color? Asking here because there’s so much health/weightloss/nutritional bullshit on Google that I have a hard time sorting out the wheat from the chaff.
Definitely - and I’m not one of those new-agey, whole foods kind of guys either.
Normal metabolism produces highly reactive species of a variety of compounds. Anti-oxidants, to the extent that they work, quench the reactive compounds before they cannibalize some part of the cells machinery in an attempt to obtain missing electrons or dump the excess.
Check out resveratrol. A study was published in the past couple of months that provides solid evidence of it reducing inflammation in humans.
Here’s the article - Caregiving for Parents: Healthy Living Tips for Seniors
I can’t add any good knowledge, but it seems the second post totally conflates “inflammation” with “free radicals” which anti-oxidants ought to reduce.
Even if resveratrol is an effective anti-oxidant at the molecular level, that doesn’t (AFAIK) mean it has any effect on inflammation which is a macro-scale effect.
I believe they are supposed to be conflated. Unquenched free radicals cause cellular damage which is one cause of inflammation - and a very important one I believe.
You are probably thinking of inflammation mediated primarily by the immune system as, for example, when it detects an antigen.
The article correlated reservatrol supplements to anti-inflammatory response. AFAICT the research didn’t connect the anti-inflammatory action to anti-oxidative action, though the author mentioned it in an aside as if it were a settled question. I’m still not sure.
Resveratrol probably wasn’t the best example. It is believed to work by up regulating a group of enzymes known as sirtuins (similar to heat stress proteins in yeast). Under conditions like starvation, the sirtuins prevent interference with the expression of other proteins that enhance cell survival. Here is an article talking about the exact mechanism in the brain - MIT researchers find that Sirtuin1 may boost memory and learning ability | (e) Science News
A better example might be the relationship between macrophage cells (a type of white blood cell) and trans-fatty acids. I’m doing this from memory so it should be generally correct but don’t rely on the details.
Trans molecules are easily oxidized - which when talking about fat, that means they become rancid. IIRC, when macrophages clear these molecules from the blood, the cells are unable to break them down. Eventually the cells are stuffed with rancid trans-fats. For whatever reason (not sure if anyone has figured this out yet or not), at the point, the macrophages drop out of the blood vessels and infiltrate the endothelium (inner wall) of the vessels. As they accumulate, the form the plaques associated with coronary artery disease.
That was a long way to go, but the point is (assuming I’m correct) that you can have inflammation without the involvment of the immune system. Although that might be somewhat debatable since white blood cells are part of the immune system.
Also, any chemical which protects trans-fats from oxidation would at least slow the death of macrophages and the arterial inflammation associated with the process just described.
Hopefully we have at least one or 2 doctors here who can come in and slap me around if I got anything wrong.
I think that this is the anti-inflammation that the op references.
The science behind these sorts of claims are still works in progress. The hype (referenced in that link) about the importance of the ration of omega 6 to 3’s seems to be not panning out. The hope that antioxidants would protect from various neurodegenerative diseases has so far not yielded much in human trials, despite good preclinical data. Still there are good studies that show diets high in antioxidants are associated with a variety of positive health outcomes along with less signs of inflammation. (That article might be what you are looking for.)
Bottom line is that oxidative stress and inflammation appear to be significant factors in a variety of disease processes and that diets high in foods that reduce oxidative stress and inflammation are definitely associated with less risk for those diseases. I am personally convinced enough of a causation relationship that in addition to eating a diet moderately high in fruits and veggies overall I will also start my day off with a post exercise drink that includes carrot, orange, and some berry (acai or cranberry or whatever) or pomegranate juices, a supplement of turmeric (or curcumin), and a fish oil supplement.
FWIW.
All this pre-supposes that both inflammation and oxidants - whether connected or not - are unilaterally Bad Things. They are not, and have their place in our lives. In any given circumstance they may or may not be beneficial, but if any food or foods suppressed either or both of them irrelevant of circumstance they should not be used as a matter of course.
I think it’s pretty clear that the free radical type of oxidant is considered universally damaging, at least to animals. Oxidants in the wrong place in the tissue are universally damaging. We even have an enzyme dedicated to neutralizing free radicals (glutathione peroxidase). We know that free radicals cause cellular damage and aging.
However, I’m with you on the whole anti-inflammatory thing… it seems suspect that overnight, every food that used to advertise a trendy ‘antioxidant’ label now bears an ‘anti-inflammatory’ label. It seems like cynical food merchants are exploiting some magic-by-association perceptions on the part of uninformed consumers.