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.

If you want to uncover the right foods for your body, head to joinzoe.com/podcast and get 10% off your personalized nutrition program.

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

Episode transcripts are available here: https://joinzoe.com/learn/category/nu...

Follow Sarah:   / saraheeberry  

Follow Tim:   / timspector  

Follow ZOE on Instagram:   / zoe  

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions.