The Delicious Diet That Tames Inflammation

You know you want to avoid it like you do Kyle Sandilands’ Burning Man photos, because inflammation has been linked with depression, weight gain, skin issues, Alzheimer’s and heart disease. Now, a new book declares the anti-inflammatory diet a game changer. WH investigates

- Helen Foster

Overpromising and underdelivering. True of politicians and eating plans that pledge to overhaul your life, body or general future happiness. How often, back in the day, did you embark on a diet that guaranteed a quick fix, only to be left just two weeks later with nothing to show for it but kitchen cupboards full of bizarre ingredients never to be used again? In these happier times of balanced eating and tuning in to your hunger, there is, however, a new kid on the block. A diet plan that promises to overhaul your health and happiness, based on solid science with no downsides. The woman behind it is Swedish science journalist Maria Borelius, whose book Health Revolution claims that anti-inflammatory eating can deliver on the promise. In it, she says that following an anti-inflammatory diet – albeit by accident – transformed her physical and mental health, changing her body composition, yes, but also banishing her backache and depression. Heard the claims before? Probably. However, while the foods in this diet are anything but revolutionary, what anti-inflammatory eating can actually teach you could be.

INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE

First, a little science. Inflammation is more than something that happens to your toe when you stub it. Normally, it’s a positive thing; the process by which your immune system fights infection and repairs damage. It switches on when it’s needed, and off when it’s done. But inflammation has a murkier side, one that scientists refer to as low-grade or chronic inflammation – the kind that doesn’t switch off. “The effects of low-grade inflammation are being linked to practically all major diseases in the Western world,” says Borelius. “So you have increased inflammatory markers connected to certain cancers, heart disease, lung disease, skin disease, joint disease and mental health.”