Inflammation is effective 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 be a
factor in a variety of chronic diseases: cardiovascular,
gastrointestinal, lung, mental, metabolic, neurodegenerative, and more. (1)
Johnson Chiropractic works to lessen inflammation’s
influence on the health of our Richmond
chiropractic patients experiencing issues like
back pain, headache/migraine, depression and even cognitive issues related to 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 current
medical studies regarding the role of inflammation and
depression discovered that a pro-inflammatory diet was associated with a higher risk of depression symptoms
and diagnosis contrasted with those who chose an
anti-inflammatory diet. (2) Another study recommended a link
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) Links 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
demonstrate just how extensive inflammation can be.
…EVEN MIGRAINE
Migraine as primary headache is projected to
impact 14.4% of people and ranked as the largest
contributor to disability in people over 50 years of age. Migraine is studied
a lot as to what its mechanism is but still remains a bit of a mystery. Researchers summarized
that many factors play a role: vascular function,
trigeminovascular pathway activation, pro-inflammatory and oxidative stats may impact migraine pain. Studies associating migraine 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 better 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 (migraines too) may be linked. The inflammatory link emerged in the published papers. Dietary interventions like supplementing
with essential fatty acids (decreasing omega-6
and increasing omega-3 which were documented to affect inflammation)
were discussed as helpful. (5) Johnson Chiropractic
knows the power diet and nutrition may have in disease issues
like migraine, back pain, depression, and cognition.
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
Johnson Chiropractic also knows many of us do not like
the word diet. It often reminds us of things 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 manage this kind of diet!
CONTACT Johnson Chiropractic
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 interact and how
chiropractic care and the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management may well help.
Make your next Richmond
chiropractic appointment with Johnson Chiropractic. If inflammation has hung
around past its good and normal welcome, let’s set
up a path toward a more beneficial
anti-inflammatory diet.