Inflammation, ageing, and disease: What's food got to do with it?

There’s a biological process that we need to stay alive. Yet too much of it leads to disease and a shorter life. Most of us have heard of it, but don’t really understand what it is. When linked to food, you almost certainly have an opinion.

The described process is inflammation, which put simply, is the immune system’s response to an outside event it thinks is dangerous. This stimulus could be an injury, like falling off your bike, or an infection by a virus or bacteria. But inflammation can also be triggered by our food in the hours after we eat. In all these cases, the immune system activates processes designed to heal the body. But if this natural process is required to protect us from infections and injuries, why is inflammation usually cast in a negative light? Is there something behind this, or is the idea that inflammation is bad a lie, designed to sell magic potions with dubious evidence?

As it turns out, if inflammation continues for long periods, it can have a severe negative impact on our health. Long-term inflammation is now linked to many major diseases, from dementia to heart disease. Recent research has shown that what we eat can be an important cause of long-term inflammation. This dietary inflammation can be caused by repeated shocks from the food we eat, month after month, year after year. This long-term inflammation has severe implications for our health: increasing the risk of serious disease, potentially weight gain, and accelerated aging.

In today’s episode, Jonathan speaks to two show regulars to unravel all the information about inflammation:

Dr. Sarah Berry is one of the world's leading experts on human nutrition, who has personally run over 20 randomized clinical trials looking at how humans respond to different fats.
Tim Spector is a co-founder at ZOE and one of the top 100 most cited scientists in the world.

Timecodes:
00:00 - Intro
00:09 - Topic Introduction
02:27 - Quickfire questions
04:40 - What is inflammation, why does it happen, and why it’s not always bad
11:42 - How is diet related to inflammation?
15:27 - Microbiome and inflammation
21:44 - What does prolonged inflammation do to your health?
25:39 - Can inflammation affect our weight?
28:12 - How does inflammation affect aging and menopause?
32:51 - How do we reduce our dietary inflammation?
37:34 - Should we exclude foods to reduce inflammation?
41:47 - Summary
43:40 - Goodbyes
43:44 - Outro

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.

[michmw]

I have been avoiding processed foods for 39 years now I always thought chemicals preservatives and artificial flavours would have a bad effect on the body. Cook from scratch with natural foods. Know what goes in your body 😋

[georgiatyler_]

The first time I've ever really understood inflammation, disease and how our diet plays a key role. Thank you ZOE!

[sjordan]

After changing from a vegetarian diet to eating whole food, organic, non-GMO. Plant-based, high fiber, low fat, lowprotein, no sugar, no flour, no alchohol, and using filtered water. I eat Ezekiel bread which is organic sprouted grain. No more inappropriate inflammation, how wonderful is that? I feel so much more comfortable.

[laurajones]

I started intermittent fasting nearly 3 years ago, having discovered the work of Dr Jason Fung. I've barely had a menopause symptom since. Now age 53, and I was getting some hot flushes and mood swings beforehand. I am also in control of my weight for the first time in my whole life, despite always eating loads of plant based things and barely touching ultra processed food. For me fasting has been a real 'magic bullet'.

[kevinlindsay]

Would love to see more pod casts on food for the older generation who already have heart conditions

[erint]

I have endometriosis, which a lot of evidence suggests is very linked to/affects immune function. I have struggled for years with extreme inflammation, pain, seemingly able to catch every virus/bacteria going, tiredness and multiple cysts and infections (all of this after 3 ops and years of treatment). Every time I would get an infection my GP would prescribe antibiotics, sometimes several at once as they seem to linger. My immune system would take several months to recover, by which time I would have another infection. Last year, out of desperation I started taking probiotics every day(I now make it at home-way cheaper!), making sourdough bread at home, cutting out processed foods, increasing veg in my diet, cut out excessive alcohol. Now I can go several months before an infection, and have managed to recover myself via diet rather than over relying on antibiotics. My endo will always be difficult to manage but treating it like an auto immune disease has really helped cut down on the symptoms and control it! Obv listen to your Dr and seek treatment if you need it, but also listen to your body and do all you can to stack the cards to help it ❤

[maaurorauyod]

Thank you for all your educational videos. There is wisdom in your recommendation to eat about 30 types of plant-based food. That gives much room for local produce consumption. Like you said, rather than stressing myself looking for kale which is foreign in my country (Philippines), I can happily content myself with bitter gourd leaves, saluyot, pako, moringa fruit and leaves, camote tops, etc.
Blessings to you for your evidence-based wisdom that confirms the wisdom of our ancestors who looked to Mother Earth for health and medicine.

[paulalee]

I saw a thread about lack of specifics. The specifics that I heard were: Some inflammation is caused by diseases that cause an adverse reactions within the body. Some inflammation, even diseases can be partially reversed with improved gut health (microbiome). “I don’t want people to go away and feel like they have to look up a list of foods.” TS. “Eating a diverse diet (30 plants per week) of non-processed food.” There’s no magic bullet. Chronic inflammation has been linked to weight gain. They don’t know how it works but losing weight can improve inflammation. Your immunity is based in gut and your microbiome changes with age (around 70s). Don’t look to individual foods but to the overall pattern of eating. My personal conclusion was: eat lots of different fruit, veg, nuts pulses, herbs, fish. Lose some weight, reduce sugar/carb spikes. Understand how to improve gut microbiome. Happy to be corrected.

[christopherellis]

June 2022, any listeners who were 'surprised to hear this' must be out of the loop.

[ziadbaroudi]

The information is gold! May I be so bold as to suggest that someone who does as much podcastimg as Prof Spector needs a good microphone?

[miketranfaglia]

Can't believe they didn't mention sugar and refined carbs as inherently pro-inflammatory. They seem to be preoccupied with so many micronutrients, but ignore the macros. I'm not even talking solely about processed foods here, as honey or starchy veggies are likely just as bad.
Just cutting out the sugar in my morning coffee completely cured me of teno-synovitis and arthritis in my hands in less than 2 weeks! If I ever cheat and have a donut or any other sugary treat, I feel it right away. That worked so well that I've gone low(er) carb and intermittent fasting; this not only resulted in a permanent 10 pound weight loss, but got rid of all my aches and pains. Recovery time from injury or exercise is also about 1/3 what it was just before the change. My diet before LC/IF was actually very good by most standards, as I cooked all my own food, didn't eat any processed foods or fast foods, and ate a wide variety of things (I basically like everything, esp. cruciferous vegetables) and lost interest in most sugary foods a long time ago. That morning coffee was my last little bit of sugar intake, and cutting it out made all the difference in the world.

[phunkymind]

I've been led to believe I need to have a high-fat, low-carb diet, but since joining Zoe and reducing my fats, I've found surprising improvements. My lockjaw went away overnight, my acid reflux disappeared without the need for apple cider vinegar, and my focus has skyrocketed. I cannot thank Zoe enough.

[sallyvennard]

It’s simple Processed food causes dietary inflammation and eating a diet rich in a good mix of unprocessed food fish, Vegetables, Fruit, nuts, seeds etc will help to lower inflammation in our bodies. A very informative discussion from people who know.

[farlacohen]

I am addicted to your podcasts. They are so informative and helpful. You get to the bottom of the issues with your excellent guests and your intelligent summaries. Thank you

[drdornesowerby]

This information should be part of the national school curriculum. Many thanks Zoe!

[sheilaknight]

Thanks ZOE for giving a clear understanding of inflammation effects on our health and how to improve.

[annedecothi]

Fantastic program - essentially the message is to eat a wide variety of natural foods with to include vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, fish - and to avoid processed foods and excess alcohol. The later is difficult for those for whom consuming processed food is normalised.

[peterdollins]

I lived on a Geek Island, Sifnos, for 7 years. I was amazed at how healthy the old people and people in general were. Look at the traditional Greek diet if you want to live a long healthy life. Also other elements, for this go the Blue areas and the Isle of Ikaria documenaries on You Tube. As to tomatoes when I have IBS i cut a lot of things out and added many others to my diet. Cutting tomatoes helped me with many other tips. The final straw for hitting IBS over the head was onions soup. (Needs a lot of herbs etc to make it palatable.) It is NOT needed to understand every plant it only needs to see what works that goes beyond food to fresh air to regular socialising to fresh sea food to picking your own herbs and wild veg and teas and growing your own veg etc-etc. As to never telling somebody to stop eating a food because they like it? What kind of babies are you? See if they like death & disability, try that first. The modern diet kills and disables. The head heart surgeon of Greece was commentating to his wife, my then friend, of how heart attacks and failures and other ailments had increased SO dramatically in Greece since the introduction of the modern diet with heavy meat eating, processed foods etc. This is in the early 80's.

[oldplucker]

These are my thoughts after 30 years investigating for my own health. Inflammation results from almost every disease or injury if not all and mostly DIET. Without inflammation most diseases would most likely not even be noticed.
Inflammation from diet is a major factor. The problem is that most people have no will power and continue to eat foods that cause inflammation.
Wheat, bread, pastry, ham and bacon processed with Nitrites, other processed foods, sugar, milk/lactose, Brasicas like broccoli and kale, nuts etc all cause inflammation. Every plant is toxic but certain populations cannot cope with certain food toxins. So all our food is toxic but to varying degrees depending on genetic make up. I found avoiding all ingredients marked in Bold and Brassicas and other foods rich in Vitamin K solved my very serious health problems.
My symptoms ranged from severe joint problems, heart attack, thrombosis, memory and brain function, thread veins, varicose veins, migraines, visual anomalies, severe fatigue and multiple other problems.
All caused by food.
So thanks, Zoe, for highlighting this issue which I have proved myself for years.
Can we have a list of good and bad foods please. The Olive oil was not one I had considered.
The problem is that most people do not have the income to buy the ‘Clean’ foods. Maybe Zoe should work with the WHO to get processed foods outlawed.

👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[emmagrennall]

I wish I'd know all this years ago. I've been told by an immunologist that my body is constantly attacking itself - underactive thyroid; high levels of histamine and poor guts. Hearing these podcasts makes me realise I'm not mad - several operations and antibiotics later, I have now had my gut microbiomes tested by Zoe and found almost no good bacteria, lots of bad. Shame this sort of science hasn't filtered into mainstream knowledge. How come I'm 4 and only now just understanding what we should eat and why I've been so ill! Thank you Zoe team for these amazing podcasts.