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Unravelling the Mystery of Inflammation: The Body's Powerful Response | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
Dr. Richie Kirwan explains to Myprotein just "what is inflammation?" What is it? How does it happen? And what you can do to prevent it. Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/MyproteinUK?sub_confirmation=1 Download the Myprotein app: https://bit.ly/3dhVVUE 📱 *** 1. Medzhitov R. Origin and physiological roles of inflammation. Nature. 2008;454(7203):428-35. 2. Ahmed AU. An overview of inflammation: mechanism and consequences. Frontiers in Biology. 2011;6(4):274-81. 3. Minari ALA, Thomatieli-Santos RV. From skeletal muscle damage and regeneration to the hypertrophy induced by exercise: what is the role of different macrophage subsets? American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology. 2022;322(1):R41-R54. 4. Lilja M, Mandić M, Apró W, Melin M, Olsson K, Rosenborg S, et al. High doses of anti-inflammatory drugs compromise muscle strength and hypertrophic adaptations to resistance training in young adults. Acta Physiologica. 2018;222(2):e12948. 5. Ahluwalia N, Albers R, Bosco N, Bourdet-Sicard R, Calder PC, Haller D, et al. A Consideration of Biomarkers to be Used for Evaluation of Inflammation in Human Nutritional Studies. Br J Nutr. 2013;109(S1):S1-S34. 6. Djalali M, Eshraghyan MR, Ghavipour M, Moghadam AM, Saedisomeolia A, Sotoudeh G, et al. Tomato juice consumption reduces systemic inflammation in overweight and obese females. Br J Nutr. 2013;109(11):2031-5. 7. Widjaja G, doewes Ri, Rudiansyah M, Sultan MQ, Ansari MJ, Izzat SE, et al. Effect of tomato consumption on inflammatory markers in health and disease status: A systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials. Clinical Nutrition ESPEN. 2022;50:93-100.
View Video Transcript
0:01
inflammation what is it and is it
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something you should worry about let's
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talk about
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[Music]
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that how's it going guys I'm Richie kwin
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and today we're going to talk about
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probably one of the biggest buzzwords in
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the health and fitness World
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inflammation we'll talk about what it is
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what it does in your body how it happens
0:21
and what you can do to make sure it's
0:23
not a problem for you this may come as a
0:25
surprise but we need inflammation to
0:27
survive inflammation is a vital process
0:30
in the body that we need to keep
0:31
everything working exactly as it should
0:34
you see inflammation is part of our
0:35
body's immune system and because of that
0:37
our immune cells like macrophages
0:39
neutrophils and lymphocytes play a major
0:41
role in starting it and controlling it
0:43
we use inflammation to help us fight
0:45
infection from bacteria and viruses and
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we also use it to help repair tissues
0:49
that are stressed injured or damaged a
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classic example of this is what happens
0:53
when you exercise every time you
0:55
exercise this induces a small
0:58
inflammatory response in your muscles
0:59
and and this inflammation is absolutely
1:01
essential for exercise adaptation and
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muscle growth we even have studies
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showing that if young healthy people
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take high doses of anti-inflammatory
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medicines like ibuprofen it reduces
1:11
muscle growth over a period of 8 weeks
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so if inflammation is so important why
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do we hear so many bad things about it
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online well the thing is we can divide
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the inflammatory response into two main
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types the first type is what we call the
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acute inflammatory response and it means
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a response that happens right now over a
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short period time a good example of this
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is if you get a splinter in your finger
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that splinter will cause tissue damage
1:35
and probably introduce some bacteria
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into the area around it your body will
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send immune cells which will start the
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inflammatory response the area around
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the wound will probably get red and warm
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because part of the inflammatory
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response is increased blood flow to a
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particular area of the body to bring
1:49
more immune cells this acute response is
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usually really short-lived and can be
1:53
over in a matter of hours or days and
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it's usually localized to the area
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around the wound it kills the BAC Bia
2:00
and helps repair the damaged tissue and
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once that happens the immune system
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helps to control the inflammation and
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bring the area around the wound back to
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normal it's pretty similar to what
2:09
happens when we exercise and it's a
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perfect example of what your body can do
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and how cool it really is the other type
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of inflammation however is called
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chronic systemic inflammation chronic
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means it goes on continuously for a long
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time without being properly controlled
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by the immune system and systemic means
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that its effect is spread out over a lot
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of the body and isn't localized to a
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small area like a wound or a muscle
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after exercise chronic systemic
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inflammation can be a problem because
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elevated levels of markers of
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inflammation in the blood are linked
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with a lot of chronic diseases like
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atherosclerosis which is a type of heart
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disease type 2 diabetes asthma
2:47
inflammatory bowel disease rheumatiod
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and even cancer but before we talk about
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how our lifestyle affects inflammation
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we need to know how inflammation is
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measured and that brings up a bit of a
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problem you see inflammation is
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controlled by by signaling chemicals in
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our body called cyto kindes and there
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are a lot of different cyto kindes that
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are thought to be pro-inflammatory most
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studies that investigate inflammation
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measure a number of different cyto
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kindes or markers of inflammation which
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means it can be sometimes really
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difficult to compare studies if they use
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different markers that said some of the
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most common inflammatory markers that
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are measured in research are substances
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like C reactive protein CRP tumor
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necrosis Factor alpha tnf alpha and
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Inter lucans especially interlan 6 or
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il6 but the truth is there are so many
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more and the markers can even be
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specific to specific conditions like
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rheumatoid factor in rheumatoid
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arthritis and monite chemot attractant
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protein mcp1 in heart disease you don't
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need to know all of these but it's good
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to know that there are lots which can
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make comparing research a little bit
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harder now that that's out of the way
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let's talk about how our lifestyle and
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especially our diet can affect chronic
3:53
inflammation so most people want to know
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if specific foods cause inflammation and
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the answer is no but let's use a few
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examples here nightshades for example
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are a group of vegetables that include
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Tomatoes orine potatoes and peppers and
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they get a lot of bad press from some
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people in the wellness industry who
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claim that they cause inflammation the
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thing is if you look at the scientific
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research on night shades that doesn't
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seem to be the case at all in one trial
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of 106 female students who were
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overweight or obese participants were
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given either 330 Ms per day of tomato
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juice or water for 20 days at the end
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the group drinking the tomato juice
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showed lower levels of inflammatory
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markers specifically il6 il8 and tumor
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necrosis Factor Alpha depending on their
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degree of overweight or obesity on top
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of that a systematic review and
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metaanalysis of randomized control
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trials which combined and analyzed the
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results of seven studies with 465
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participants found that while eating
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tomatoes didn't reduce CRP or il6 it can
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reduce tnf Alpha One of the possible
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reasons for this is that tomatoes are
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rich in lopine a polyphenol that has
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powerful antioxidant and anti
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anti-inflammatory properties even
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potatoes which get so much bad press
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these days don't seem to be a problem
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for inflammation in a 6 we study they
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gave men 150 gr of either cooked white
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potatoes yellow potatoes or purple
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potatoes once per day and measured blood
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levels of a number of markers of
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inflammation after the 6 weeks the
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levels of inflammation didn't increase
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and in fact levels of CRP were
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significantly lower in the group eating
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the purple potatoes levels of oxidative
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damage were also lower in the groups
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eating yellow and purple potatoes
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compared to the white potatoes again
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probably due to the higher levels of
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polyphenols in the more colorful spots
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now earlier when I said specific Foods
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don't cause inflammation I also said But
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the thing is that's the truth in the
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vast majority of people but some people
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just don't react well to certain foods
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and that can be for a number of reasons
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like allergies or intolerances and if
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you know that you don't react well to a
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certain food for example if it causes
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you stomach pain or you notice a rash
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developing after you eat it avoid these
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foods and speak to your GP but that
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doesn't mean that that is going to be a
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problem for everyone else so in most
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cases if it's not specific foods that
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are causing issues with inflammation
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what's the actual culprit well that's a
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much more complicated question but in
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essence a big part of the problem is
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probably the overall dietary pattern
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that people follow these days almost 60%
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of the calories eaten in countries like
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the UK and the United States come from
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Ultra processed foods or
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upfsf4mggas but we do know that eating
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more
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upfsi overall and more calories overall
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leads to weight gain you see higher
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levels of body fat actually lead to
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stress in our atopos or fatty tissue
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usually due to a lack of delivery of
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oxygen to the tissue this stress
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triggers the beginning of an
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inflammatory response that doesn't come
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under control as long as body fat levels
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are still high this chronic systemic
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inflammation leads to major problems
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like insulin resistance and diabetes
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metabolic syndrome and heart disease we
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also have a lot of studies that show
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that intentional weight loss actually
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leads to drops in inflammatory markers
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like C reactor protein tum necrosis
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Factor Alpha and il6 and even leads to
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increases in anti-inflammatory markers
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like adaptin interestingly doing a high
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fat low carb diet or a high carb lowfat
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diet doesn't have any effect on the
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benefits of weight loss no matter if
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someone is eating lots of carbs or lots
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of fat if they lose body weight they'll
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reduce their markers of inflammation so
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instead in of it being the consumption
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of specific Foods it may actually be the
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overc consumption of food in general
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that leads to increases in body fat and
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markers of inflammation losing excess
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body weight is one way to effectively
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reduce levels of chronic inflammation
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but on top of the extra calories that
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people get from
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upfsi and generally diets that are
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higher in processed and ultr processed
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foods are lower in Whole Foods like
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fruit vegetables whole grains nuts seeds
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and legumes
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these foods are full of beneficial
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nutrients such as vitamins minerals
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essential fatty acids fiber and
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polyphenols which may actually help
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lower our body's inflammation levels
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these foods are full of beneficial
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nutrients such as vitamins minerals
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essential fatty acids fiber and
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polyphenols which may actually help our
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bodies to control inflammation levels
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this is why dietary patterns that are
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high in Whole Foods like I just
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mentioned are often associated with
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lower levels of inflammation all of
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these nutrients affect inflammation in
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different ways essential fatty acids for
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example are directly involved in
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anti-inflammatory or resolving Cascades
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that actually help to reduce the
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inflammatory process polyphenols is a
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wide group of substances but some of the
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ways that they can affect inflammation
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is by activating the body's own
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antioxidant defense systems which brings
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inflammation down dietary fiber might
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reduce inflammation by helping people
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with weight loss by helping people feel
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Fuller and eat less overall and by
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promoting a healthier gut microbiome
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leading to less production of markers of
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inflammation in the gut so as you can
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see what you're not eating can also have
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a a big impact on levels of inflammation
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so making sure you get plenty of
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nutrient dense Whole Foods especially
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whole plant Foods is a very healthy
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dietary approach this goes hand inhand
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with eating less Ultra processed and
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refined foods which tend to be devoid of
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those beneficial nutrients and really
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just provide calories now just before I
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finish up it's worth pointing out there
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are other non-diet lifesty factors that
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can influence inflammation too and one
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of the most important ones is regular
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exercise like I said earlier immediately
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after about of exercise we normally see
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a shortterm increase in markers of
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inflammation but in the long term higher
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levels of exercise are associated with
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lower levels of chronic or long-term
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inflammation now some of that effect is
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probably caused by exercise leading to
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lower levels of body fat but there is
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plenty of evidence to suggest that the
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Metabolic Effect of exercise especially
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at higher intensities and especially a
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mixture of cardio and strength training
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seems to have the biggest effect on
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lowering inflammation so if we're going
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to summarize everything we've just
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discussed here are some of the key
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points for avoiding chronic inflammation
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maintain a healthy body weight or
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specifically avoiding excess body fat
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control calorie intake and avoid excess
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especially excess ultr processed foods
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focus on nutrient-dense whole foods rich
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in vitamins minerals essential fats
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fiber and polyphenols basically eat lots
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of colorful plants avoid Foods you know
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you have a definite negative reaction to
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like allergies get plenty of regular
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exercise including cardio and resistance
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exercise for the vast majority of people
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following an all around healthy
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lifestyle is exactly what you need to do
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to avoid excess inflammation so should
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you focus on trying to reduce
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inflammation with your diet absolutely
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not you don't need to just eat well now
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obviously I haven't covered everything
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to do with food diet and inflammation
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it's a huge topic with lots of nuances
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especially how it relates to individuals
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instead of the general population but I
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do hope this video is giv you a much
10:55
better understanding of inflammation and
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diet as always if you have any more
10:59
questions let me know in the comments
11:01
below and remember to like And subscribe
11:02
to my protein YouTube channel for more
11:04
great evidence-based nutrition
11:08
[Music]
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