Which foods have anti-inflammatory properties?

• A long-term lifestyle, not a short-term diet: Changing your eating habits can help reduce chronic inflammation in the body.
• Eat the Mediterranean way: Include plenty of colourful vegetables, low-sugar fruit, nuts, herbs and healthy fats in your daily diet.
• Limit foods that promote inflammation: Cut down on highly processed foods, sugar, white flour and red meat.

Many diseases are associated with inflammatory processes, including osteoarthritis, rheumatism and type 2 diabetes. An anti-inflammatory diet aims to regulate these reactions. Certain foods are particularly suitable, says rheumatologist Dr Django Russo, senior consultant at Stadtspital Zürich Triemli.

These should feature prominently in your diet. “This isn’t a diet based on specific recipes,” says Russo. “It is a way of eating that prioritises anti-inflammatory foods.”

One thing is clear: we need to eat. However, eating triggers complex metabolic and immune processes. ​ Blood sugar and blood fat levels rise. If reactive oxygen compounds are produced during this process, they cause oxidative stress in the cells.

At the same time, immune cells respond to food and any pathogens consumed with it by releasing neurotransmitters. These short-term responses are normal and beneficial, helping to protect us.

Chronic inflammation develops when these protective inflammatory responses fail to subside. This may happen because inflammation doesn’t resolve fully or because the immune system overreacts.

This type of chronic inflammation occurs in various conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease and certain autoimmune diseases.

“Visceral fat – the fatty tissue surrounding the internal organs in the abdominal cavity – can also promote inflammation,” says Russo 

Although diet cannot cure inflammation, it can have a positive effect on it. Firstly, some foods have a direct effect. “Certain dietary components have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, including omega-3 fatty acids and plant compounds known as polyphenols,” says Russo.

What we eat also indirectly affects which microorganisms live in our gut. Changing your diet may also help suppress unfavourable metabolic processes caused by gut microorganisms. “A balanced, plant-based diet can also help reduce visceral fat, particularly if it leads to weight loss.”

An anti-inflammatory diet focuses primarily on plant-based foods: Vegetables, pulses and low-sugar fruit. “Half your plate should be ‘green’. It is also important to eat plenty of fibre,” says Russo. Good sources include brown rice and pseudocereals such as quinoa and buckwheat.

The sugar in high-fibre foods enters the bloodstream more slowly. Fibre also supports the gut flora. Sugar and white flour, by contrast, cause sharp rises in blood sugar. The same principle applies to meat and meat products: less is more.

In many respects, the anti-inflammatory diet is similar to the much-lauded Mediterranean diet. This doesn’t mean pasta, pizza and ice cream but rather the traditionally simple diet of southern Italy and Greece, especially Crete. The Mediterranean diet includes:

• Vegetables 
• Fresh fruit
• Fish and seafood
• Olive oil
• Nuts and seeds
• Many herbs
• Garlic

Meat is rare, and dairy products are consumed in moderate quantities. Honey is the preferred sweetener.

“An anti-inflammatory diet is less about strict rules and more about making conscious food choices and reducing unhelpful eating habits,” says rheumatologist Russo.

Processed foods, for example, contain very little dietary fibre but usually a lot of sugar and rapidly digestible carbohydrates and trans fats, which promote inflammation. 

Numerous studies suggest that red meat, such as pork, beef and lamb, can promote inflammation. One reason for this is arachidonic acid. This essential omega-6 fatty acid can contribute to inflammation when present in high concentrations.

Red and processed meats also contain unhealthy saturated fats and trans fats. This doesn’t mean that an anti-inflammatory diet has to be purely vegetarian. Meat should simply be eaten in small quantities and not every day.

Its quality and preparation also matter. Sausages and ready-made products in particular have a high proportion of unhealthy, inflammation-promoting fats and often also a high salt content.

It’s a fact that milk and dairy products contain arachidonic acid. However, while many studies indicate that milk does not trigger inflammation and may even have anti-inflammatory properties, others reach the opposite conclusion.

The problem in this discussion is that most of the studies were funded by the dairy industry. In his book “The Diet Compass”, science journalist Bas Kast also argues that critics of milk sometimes distort data to support claims that it is harmful. According to Kast, this makes it difficult to form an objective overview.

Whether dairy products promote inflammation remains unclear and hotly debated. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. A dairy-free diet can certainly be balanced and healthy, and most of the world’s population does not consume milk.

“There are healthier sources of calcium than milk,” writes Bas Kast, “such as yoghurt and cheese, as well as wholemeal products and green vegetables, especially kale and broccoli.” However, people who enjoy milk do not necessarily need to give it up.

There is no clear evidence against moderate milk consumption – ideally organic milk from pasture-fed cows.

Studies show that diet can positively affect the course of various chronic diseases. The benefits have been studied most extensively in rheumatoid arthritis. The evidence for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes is similarly strong. 

The benefits are less well documented for intestinal diseases such as Crohn’s disease. However, a high-fibre diet based on unprocessed foods appears to have a positive effect on these conditions.

The same applies to psoriasis and its associated joint inflammation, psoriatic arthritis. Foods high in arachidonic acid and other omega-6 fatty acids appear to have an unfavourable effect. Fish and seafood are exceptions because they are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids.  

An anti-inflammatory diet is a valuable complement to conventional medicine and may help relieve symptoms.

“However, it cannot replace necessary medication,” says Dr Russo. Combined with stress reduction and exercise, it can offer considerable benefits. This is true for healthy people, too.