There’s a current trend in trying to eliminate “inflammatory foods” or triggers in the environment. What exactly is being inflamed in the body? Is it the tissues getting bigger ? People say “oh try this detox blah blah it will help with inflammation “ but I’m wondering what exactly that means. Is it just a nonsen
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Someone is trying to sell you an expensive supplement, diet, or program.
> What exactly is being inflamed in the body? Is it the tissues getting bigger?
Inflammation is a process that involves many things. It’s caused by increased blood flow and white cell traffic to an area. Swelling is one of the things it can cause. It’s called inflammation because, well, it makes the temperature go up as a result of all the local cell activity – basically it makes the area feel hot.
> People say “oh try this detox blah blah it will help with inflammation “ but I’m wondering what exactly that means. Is it just a nonsen
Detoxing recommended by a person who is not medically trained is generally nonsensical, or as you so aptly put it, a nonsen. The body has a natural way of detoxing itself; it’s called your kidneys.
Imagine your body is like a superhero team, and when something bad happens, like a bad guy trying to hurt it, the superheroes (your immune system) rush in to help. Sometimes, certain foods are like sneaky bad guys that make the superheroes think there’s trouble even when there isn’t.
When that happens, the superheroes start to fight, and that’s called inflammation. It can make you feel ouchy or tired. Some foods, like too much sugar or junk food, can make the superheroes a bit confused and cause more fighting than usual. Eating healthy foods helps keep the superheroes calm and happy!
Inflammation is an immune response. It’s the reason why your ankle swells and gets hot when you twist it. Inflammation got kind of trendy in the science research world because is some scientific evidence that prolonged inflammation can lead to various issues like cancer, but there is almost no evidence that any particular diet is going to cure inflammation.
Phrases like “detox” and “reduce inflammation” are used very frequently in the pseudo-nutrition world to convince people to buy particular supplements or eat particular foods. They’re using science jargon without having any real data to back up why their diet prevents inflammation or any longterm health benefits.
Eat a balanced diet, drink water, and see the doctor regularly. The body will take care of itself.
Inflammation itself is when your body thinks something is wrong/damaged in the area and sends an extra supply of blood and specific cells like immune cells to the area, which causes it to swell and in some cases become red and tender. Infections, allergic reactions, irritants, and injuries all regularly cause inflammation.
For the most part, inflammation is harmless and usually not noticeable. But in some cases inflammation can be very uncomfortable or outright painful, and in rarer cases can become life threatening if the swelling threatens to cause damage to the afflicted tissue or is pushing against something delicate. Anti-inflammatory drugs and a few other remedies can be used to try and alleviate the swelling in those circumstances.
Generally most diets are a fad or snake oil, particularly anything that uses the words “cleanse” or “detox”. While some foods for some people can irritate the bowels or other parts of your body, generally its something you will very obviously notice on your own after eating it, and is best checked with an actual doctor as everyone will be different.
So broadly its taking a very real concept and trying to sell something that isn’t a real cure. First of all inflammation refers to the generalized immune response of your body to various stressors, environmental, psychological, metabolic etc. It’s a non specific response and refers to various compounds that are released usually in response to a microbial threat, but because your body cannot actually differentiate the source of the threat that’s why inflammatory mediators are released to promote a non specific response. It’s an issue if it doesn’t subside.
The thing is, existing is pro inflammatory. Smoking can induce it, diabetes can worsen it, uncontrolled hypertension can, air pollution, work and environmental hazards, auto immune diseases and cancers also promote it, but the point being the body is primed to fight something constantly under these conditions. Being under chronic psychological stress can also induce it. Over time, this does worsen immune response to actual external threats and consequently people with these other constant stressors are more likely to be susceptible to viral and bacterial illness for example.
Generally, the “cure” is stop exposing yourself to these things. Stop smoking, drinking, control your diabetes, get diagnosed and treated for a real autoimmune disesse, move away from the pollution, get a different job, etc. There is no tincture or compound you can drink or consume to deal with this.
Inflammation is your body moving more blood, or fluid, to an area. Your blood carries all the good stuff you might need if you’re infected (white blood cells), but also things that help if you’re bleeding or otherwise injured. It even works as a little pillow around the area, which can avoid further injury.
Hence, pretty much regardless of what happened, if your body thinks something is wrong somewhere, it sends more blood. Whatever you need, blood probably helps.
All of this is well and good if you’ve got a cut, or a sprained ankle, or even an infection. However, it can be a problem if it goes on for too long – this usually happens for one of two reasons: either your body is being exposed to something that’s annoying it constantly (like smoking) or your body is out of whack and overreacting to a perceived issue that isn’t there (rheumatoid arthritis being a common example.)
In those situations, especially the latter, there are diets that reduce inflammation significantly. This is usually something your doctor suggests.
TL;Dr: yes, inflammation can be bad, and your diet and lifestyle can help reduce inflammation (or cause it!) – but unless you’re sick, you don’t need to worry about reducing your inflammation. Unless something is wrong, your body knows how to control it just fine.
Ps: whenever someone says “detox,” they’re either purposely or unknowingly saying things that don’t make sense. Your body has several organs whose job is to flush out toxins, juice isn’t going to help.
Inflammation is part of your body’s response to damage or infection. Blood vessels expand to bring in extra blood to remove infection and repair damage. This makes the area swell and feel hot and look pink. Inflammation can be triggered by allergens or certain toxins as well—for allergens, it’s because the body mistakenly thinks they’re an infection and for toxins the cause can vary.
Eliminating foods that your body is allergic to or otherwise sensitive to can be helpful for calming your body’s inflammatory response, but it’s not a cure-all that will work for people without allergies or other food sensitivities.
Detox diets are a scam and rely on the placebo effect.
Inflammation is often involved chronic illnesses, which can only be solved by “detox” in cases where the person is consuming something that makes them sick, E.G., someone with a peanut allergy will experience less inflammation if they stop eating peanuts.
People inaccurately apply this logic to all kinds of diseases and foods it doesn’t apply to, e.g., eating less bread will not reduce your inflammation unless you’re allergic to something in the bread.
There is a whole body inflammatory state caused by the excess adipose tissue present in obesity. The adipocytes become dysfunctional and begin to secrete adipokenes and also infiltrate white cells that also begin to secrete cytokines creating a cascade of inflammatory effects, even in distant organs. This also causes various metabolic disturbances.
This is different than the inflammation (increased blood flow and white cell activity) in localized infections.
There is no evidence that various dietary “detoxes” have an impact on either condition.