I’ve never heard inflammation used outside of the context of an injury, yet every product out there claims to reduce inflammation.
In: 5
Imagine Times Square, New York City, on an average day. Suddenly someone yells “hey, there’s a fight going on over there, check it out!”
This causes people to pause, and either look to where the action is happening, or possibly head over there out of curiosity to get a better view of the fight. Eventually, the cops are called, who break up the fight and arrest the instigators, and tell the crowd to disperse, which they slowly do.
Inflammation is similar to the crowd in the example above: it calls attention to a particular spot where infection has been detected by nearby cells. This is a good thing, because you want harmful pathogens like bacteria and viruses to be killed by your immune system as quickly as possible. Inflammation can be a bad thing if it doesn’t stop after the immune system has been alerted and responds, such as if the crowd suddenly turned into a riot, or if inflammation causes your body to start attacking itself (auto-immune disorders), such as if the cops suddenly started arresting everyone regardless if they had any role in the fight.
Claims that superfoods reduce inflammation is a tricky one for ELI5, because the rationales for the claims can vary. One example is superfoods may contain things like Vitamin C which can reduce inflammation, but this is similar to claiming Vitamin C is a cure for the common cold: it can help treat and prevent a cold, but it’s not a miracle cure, and taking a lot of Vitamin C in itself won’t cure or prevent you from catching a cold. A healthy diet that includes things you need like vitamin C will be a better prevention for catching a cold and recovering from one than taking handfuls of Vitamin C tablets the moment you sneeze.
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