Inflammation, aging and disease. What's food got to do with it?

It’s a biological process that we need to stay alive. Yet too much of it leads to disease and a shorter life. 

Inflammation 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. 

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? 

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.

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

Timecodes:

00:00 - Intro

00:09 - Topic Introduction

02:30 - Quickfire questions

04:27 - What is inflammation, why does it happen, and why it’s not always bad

10:38 - How is diet related to inflammation?

14:15 - Microbiome and inflammation

19:31 - What does prolonged inflammation do to your health?

23:06 - Can inflammation affect our weight?

25:24 - How does inflammation affect aging and menopause?

29:21 - How do we reduce our dietary inflammation?

33:26 - Should we exclude foods to reduce inflammation?

37:06 - Summary

38:49 - Goodbyes

38:52 - Outro

Episode transcripts are available here.

Follow Sarah: https://twitter.com/saraheeberry

Follow Tim: https://twitter.com/timspector

Follow ZOE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoe/

This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions