Inflammation is effective and normal…in certain
circumstances like defending a part of the body that is injured or infected.
Inflammation is bad...like when it hangs
around too long. Inflammation is a cellular level event and may be a
factor in a variety of chronic diseases: cardiovascular,
gastrointestinal, lung, mental, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and more. (1)
Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn works to reduce inflammation’s
influence on the health of our Ashburn
chiropractic patients experiencing issues like
back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues related to 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 reported that a pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a bigger 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 reporting
low back pain, too. (3) Connections between diet, nutrition and Alzheimer’s
disease have been published. The good news is that
nutrition was described as being able to modulate
the immune system and even modify the neuroinflammatory processes
related to Alzheimer’s and age-related cognition issues. (4) These descriptions
show just how extensive inflammation can be.
…EVEN MIGRAINE
Migraine as primary headache is estimated to
impact 14.4% of people and ranked as the greatest
contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is examined
a lot as to what causes it but still remains a bit of a mystery. Researchers summarized
that many factors are involved: vascular function,
trigeminovascular pathway activation, pro-inflammatory and oxidative stats may contribute to migraine pain. Studies related
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 better mitochondrial function and energy metabolism, decrease
CGRP (calcitonin gene related peptide) level, stabilize serotonin,
and suppress neuroinflammation. Via inflammation and
irregular hypothalamic function, obesity and headaches (including
migraines) 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 discussed as beneficial. (5) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
understands the power diet and nutrition may have in disease processes
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn also knows many of us do not like
the word diet. It often brings to mind what we can’t
eat. 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 avoiding canned/processed
food, sweetened drinks, and alcohol. (6) We are confident our
chiropractic patients can handle this type of diet!
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
Listen to the PODCAST
with Dr. James Cox on the Back
Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he explains how inflammation and the immune system interact and how
chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may be
beneficial.
Make your next Ashburn
chiropractic appointment with Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn. If inflammation has hung
around past its good and normal welcome, let’s set
up a path toward a more beneficial
anti-inflammatory diet.