Connection Between Inflammation and Weight Loss?

I've always been confused by the anti-inflammation diets because I'm not sure what, exactly, becomes inflamed when the "bad" foods are eaten. Is is the blood vessels or all the body's tissues? Specific organs?

I'm not trying to be combative, but doesn't the quick and dirty guide boil down to the healthy eating tenets we hear from everywhere? I agree with the prior commenter too-I'm a little fuzzy on the theory behind this. That said, the exact theory of why refined sugar and saturated fats are bad for us is not so important is it? If one is trying to lose weight, isn't one already doing these things?

Hmnmn. My "eat often" and "eat moderately" categories are switched in terms of my actual diet. But all the satisfying, happy foods are in the second group! Why is that always so??

I pretty much eat mainly from the "enjoy often/eat freely" list. I agree with psychsarah...these seem to be the foods that we think of as "healthy". Most of the inflammation that I've heard of is in the arteries, although I'm sure it can occur anywhere. I could see arterial inflammation being the most dangerous kind, since it could cause constriction and possibly blockage. I guess the message is pretty much the same old thing: lose weight, don't eat fried foods, and don't smoke. Is this supposed to be new info?

What's so special about veal that it should be avoided in this context? how is it different from other red meats?

Veal tends to be more fatty, than older beef.

I would like to hear her response regarding organ meat, for example liver. Although offal tends to be high in fat, they are also extremely high in vitamins and minerals - specifically the ones she lists.

For example, beef liver, an organ, is very low in fat (1g in 1 oz), but has but has 95% of the daily suggest Vitamin A, 45% of Riboflavin, 227% of Vitamin B12, 20% Pantothenic Acid, etc. etc.

Although there are definitely some good points regarding this "diet", the FUD around anti-inflammatory diets is just too much. It distracts from the value of the regiment.

Alarms go off in my head when most ailments are attributed to a specific action, and can be resolved by a 'simplistic' solution. There is just no such magic result.

I believe the biggest thing in my life I have to worry about is stress. With so many things to worry about it is no wonder why I am stressed out about so many things. Taking things slow and not overwhelming myself is something I need to make sure I do or else health problems will come.

Hey, where's the mention that this only holds up if you are eating the products of corn-fattened ruminants?

Because if you're buying grass-fed veal and beef, including organ meats and "high-fat dairy" from grass-fed cattle, then put that in the "enjoy often" category!

Why? Because it has the anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats found in grass and other vegetable greens.

This book better make note, otherwise they are guilty of assuming everyone is eating corn and soy fed beef, which is very much not true. In fact, only a small minority of the world's ranchers feed their cattle on such an unnatural diet.

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You know what: Forget this book. It's absurd to give a list of foods, marking which are bad or good. Instead, can't we give people the facts?

Omega 6 = pro-inflammatory
Omega 3 = anti-inflammatory
Saturated fat = neutral

Ok, first of all, you need some inflammation. It's a vital part of the body's reconstructive processes. And it is possible to take enough anti-inflammatory drugs to curtail that process. It's also possible to eat too many omega 3's, and retard the body's cell repair.

And that is why omega 3 and omega 6 should ideally be in a 1:1 ratio. So you'll have just enough inflammation, not too little or too much.

Now, saturated fat has taken the rap for a whole host of health problems, every one of them diseases of inflammation. Some erroneously believe that saturated fat itself is pro-inflammatory, because surveys have been conducted which showed a correlation between saturated fat intake and heart disease, cancer, asthma, etc.

The fact is, though, that those people with a higher saturated fat intake also had a higher omega 6 intake, because they were getting the sat fats from eating corn-fed animal sources. Saturated fat itself is neutral! And if the studies observed people who were eating animals fed on grass and other greens, they'd find a negative correlation between disease and saturated fat intake.

Leave it to scientists to completely fudge it all up!

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If one really wants to help people, they would encourage them to think. Giving people the tools, the understanding, to do their own thinking goes a long way toward this.

And what needs to be thought about, considered in this case, is "What fats exactly am I eating?" and "Does this food choice promote a balance in my fat intake?"

Because all fats are good. Omega 3, 6 and 9 are essential. Saturated fats promote healthy hormone levels. Natural trans fats, like CLA, can have an adaptogenic effect on the human body. Monounsaturated, polyunsaturates; I love them all!

I also have no problems with allergies or low hormone levels, and no diseases of inflammation whatsoever, unlike most people in the industrialized US today.

And that's the result of applied understanding, not adhering to a list in a book, written by someone who doesn't even know you might eat grass-fed beef!

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(Note: "All fats are good!" I don't consider hydrogenated fats to be fats, per se, but rather a denatured toxin created by science. To call that product a fat would be like burning a chicken breast into pure charcoal and still calling it meat.)

Many good points brought up here. A few thoughts in response: Yes, a lot of the guidelines for reducing inflammation are redundant with generic guidelines for healthy eating, but there are some nuances...some of which are noted by commenters here. For example, young animals (veal and lamb) as well as organ meats (liver), and farm-raised salmon are extremely high in arachidonic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid that is preferentially metabolized to inflammatory compounds. So, while these foods might usually be thought of as healthy or at least neutral, they are much more inflammatory than other types of meat.

That doesn't mean that they should never be consumed. But if you are trying to reduce inflammation, you may want to limit your consumption of them, or at least be sure that your diet is balanced with anti-inflammatory foods.

Another example is that nuts and seeds, generally thought of as healthful, have a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Even walnuts, which are often listed as good sources of omega-3 fats have a 4:1 O-6 to O-3 ratio. Although omega-6 fats are in and of themselves not unhealthy, a high omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in the diet can be a major source of low-level inflammation in those who eat otherwise "healthy" diets.

If the IF Ratings had simply ratified the conventional nutritional wisdom about foods, you're absolutely right: There'd be no need for them. Because they shed a slightly different light on how foods behave individually and in combinations, I believe that they add something new and valuable to how we evaluate foods and diets.

A thorough examination of the intricacies of this issue takes more space than we have here. Boiling it all down to a "Quick and Dirty" list is problematic because these types of over-simplified summaries necessarily gloss over a lot of the fine points (many of which have been pointed out by commenters here). I guess you have to take (or leave) such summaries for what they are!

Grass-fed livestock will indeed have a lower inflammatory factor than corn and soy fed beef (for the reasons you point out)--although quantifying this has been somewhat hampered by scarce and conflicting data regarding their nutritional composition. (And recent tightening of USDA labeling rules for "grass-fed" will mean that more grass-fed meat is actually grass-fed.)

And finally, the mechanism behind systemic inflammation is cellular, so it affects all organs and tissues, not just arteries. While some inflammation is indeed necessary for immune defense, we're talking about chronic inappropriate inflammatory response (that is, an immune response when no threat is present, similar to an allergy or auto-immune condition).

Thanks for all the interesting discussion around a topic I think has major significance for human health! If you're interested in digging a bit deeper into the research, I maintain an archive of inflammation/diet-related research at www.inflammationfactor.com.

Thanks for the link. I have fibromyalgia and an anti-inflammatory diet has been helpful for keeping my symptoms/pain minimal. Sometimes it's difficult finding up to date information. Thanks again!

It pays to be aware of what foods are likely to be inflammatory and what not. Meats are known to be inflammatory due to the feed that the animals take in. Poultry are vaccinated and injected with hormones,etc to promote faster growth for commercial reasons. If cattle are fed with grass, there shouldn't be a problem. If fish we eat comes from the sea (provided the sea water is not contaminated), it shouldn't be a problem. Certain organ meats contain high contents of B vitamins and eating them may cause an overdose toxicity condition in our body. The best advice is to eat more greens and fruits (citrus)and moderation is the key.

excellent article, very informative.

citrus? anti-inflammatory? are you kidding? oranges?

grapefruits, maybe, lemons, maybe, but the glycemic index on oranges is very high and will increase insulin which will increase inflammation.

Low level inflammation has been changing our over weight.
Thanks for this informative article.

'Quick and Dirty' is not good enough.. Thankfully posters like Kailash are able to correct what otherwise is an over simplified and in-accurate piece.
I hope people delve deeper into things instead of taking this at face value.