What is general “inflammation” and why does every single superfood, supplement, and diet claim that it will reduce inflammation as a benefit?

Question

I’ve never heard inflammation used outside of the context of an injury, yet every product out there claims to reduce inflammation.

In: 5

Answer 1

Inflammation is the body’s standard response to damage to cells, organs, etc.

Through most of human history the main threat to our health was infection by microorganisms. The response to this is inflammation which is a rapid influx of immune cells and molecules that cause local destruction to kill the bacteria/virus/parasite, but has collateral damage (pain, redness, swelling, local destruction of your own cells).

With modern medicine, combined with bad health habits and an increase in environmental toxins, non-infectious causes of tissue damage are far more prevalent including chronic diseases. Your body responds the same way, but if the stimulus never goes away, as is what happens in chronic disease, the inflammation is not helping and is in fact detrimental long term for multiple reasons.

Many foods *do* have anti-inflammatory processes ([turmeric](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcpt.12703) is a great example), but using turmeric instead of ibuprofen for knee pain is like using a thimble to transport water instead of a bucket. That said there is likely long term benefit to eating those foods, especially in place of artificial [processed foods](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4841) that contribute to inflammation.

Edit: How much inflammation it reduces and how meaningful that is, I’m sure is probably minimal for 99% of the products espousing that as a benefit.