Inflammation

We are finally beginning to understand that poor mental health is caused by long-term inflammation in the body.

And early in human history depressive symptoms (often incorrectly diagnosed as a chemical imbalance) may have served a purpose. Think of it as an evolutionary survival strategy. Inflammation caused symptoms (identical to depression), that made us lie low (and feel low), so we could use all available resources to heal. We would stay safe at a time where illness was making us both vulnerable to attack and infectious to our tribe. The problem is most of us are inflamed in modern Western culture from an inflammatory food system and stress, and this inflammation is chronic.

In 2013 researchers at Aarhus University, Denmark, examined the health records of nearly 3.6 million people and found that those who had inflammation caused by autoimmune conditions, such as arthritis or Crohn’s disease were 45 per cent more likely to suffer from a depressive condition.Furthermore, those who had ever been in hospital for a serious inflammatory infection, such as sepsis or hepatitis, were 62 per cent more likely than normal to suffer from a depressive disorder, according to the study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry.

There is a plethora of research linking inflammation with poor mental health; including symptoms of depression, bipolar, anxiety and OCD. This is actually good news as we can reduce inflammation in our body (and therefore our mind), by consuming foods that reduce inflammation and promote gut health. We can heal ourselves by using food as medicine, rather than relying on the toxic and harmful drugs dished out to us.

Inflammation that occurs after we injure ourselves is referred to as acute inflammation and is important in the healing process. If we injure ourselves and there is swelling, scabbing, or redness it’s good news because the body is healing itself. But if the immune system gets ramped up and continues, then this is chronic inflammation and is the root of most diseases, including an unwell mind.

In 2014 a review published by Turhan Canli, professor of integrative neuroscience, argued that major depression is birthed in bacterial, viral, or parasitic infection. Canli also suggests reframing major depression as an infectious disease as opposed to an emotional disorder, and this is encouraging as we can remediate inflammation easily.

Even when we have the flu our immune response goes into overdrive. Proteins and pro-inflammatory mediators generate an immune response that promotes symptoms which that make us want to curl up and sleep all day. And importantly, the blood–brain barrier is not as impenetrable as once believed, so inflammatory proteins can enter the brain and create an inflammatory cascade. That’s right; you may have an inflammatory response in your body and that response will reach to your brain and cause inflammation in your mind.

We are often told that mental illness is a chemical imbalance in our brain with no mention of inflammation. But, as I mentioned several times, no human trial has ever indicated any imbalance of serotonin (or other chemical). Rather, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex can be affected by inflammation, and therefore emotions may become dysregulated . And the last thing we need is our emotional health being bulldozed, because emotional health affects everything from our relationships to even our ability to get out of bed in the morning. We have to calm the immune system down by reducing inflammation, but how do we do that? Nature has gifted us powerful anti-inflammatory compounds in foods, however, because we are dumb humans, we have also created several inflammatory foods that are only causing us harm in body and mind.

Click on pro-inflammatory foods button below to learn which foods can trigger inflammation in the body, therefore inflaming the mind.