Hacker News Reader

Comment by datameta | Hacker News Reader

Fatty fish, most nuts (that don't have high omega-6, which is inflammatory), fruits high in antioxidants like berries and dark fruit in general, colorful vegetable, cooking with olive/avocado/sunflower oil, *kefir* which is the champion of all good microbiota inducers

As for avoiding: red meat (high in omega-6), gluten (chickpea, rice, lentil pasta instead of wheat), cooking with hydrogenated oils, preservatives, processed food, refined sugar

The lists could be much longer. Look up anti-inflammatory diet aka mediterranean diet. What I will say is adhering to this diet has done as much for my inflammatory condition as all the medication. With some foods I feel their effect right away (pork, too much sugar), with some it sneaks up as I let it slip for a few days. So I stand by it.

View on HN

Red meat is not necessarily high in omega 6, and on the contrary grass fed meat can be high in omega 3. Also the debate is still out on whether or not omega 6 is inflammatory or not, and even omega 6 rich nuts are probably health promoting in typical quantities. From my understanding gluten is probably fine for those that don’t have a sensitivity. I think you should caveat your claims about diet since we don’t totally know to an absolute manner yet.

Fair enough, I'll rephrase it this way: most large mammal meat causes inflammation for me and my partner, whereas chicken, turkey, fish, rabbit, etc are all fine (and I should say I used to basically eat meat with carbs). As far as omega fatty acids are concerned, I believe one shouldn't let their omega-6 and omega-9 levels be much higher than omega-3. Gluten is associated with all sorts of issues that I think we will be learning more about in the next few years. There are plenty of alternatives so that one is easy for me. I can still make pasta (chickpea, lentil, brown rice), and use tortillas (almond, chickpea, cassava).

How can you possibly measure inflammation much less attribute it to a single variable?

> How can you possibly measure inflammation

There’s a number of inflammation markers in the blood that can be measured directly via lab test (cRP, ESR, blood cell counts, ...).

Exactly this, I get regular blood work. On top of that, I can feel the inflammation. It is pressure, or warmth. It's a very obvious bodily reaction. Now of course for the average immune system the effects would be more subtle, but could still be noticed in energy levels, focus/attention, etc. And even if not noticeable, low-grade inflammation long term is one of the main factors of age-related decline.

As for attributing a body's reaction to a single food, there's something called the elimination diet where one isolates the variables one at a time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_diet?wprov=sfla1

My understanding is that you need a balance between omega 6 and omega 3 and omega 6 is not necessarily bad if its the right ratio between 6 and 3

Among inflammatory substances, alcohol is the elephant in the room. Cutting out alcohol is the lowest hanging fruit in this garden. Unfortunately, people convince themselves that it is perfectly healthy when consumed in small quantities every day. Anybody who monitors their health/fitness parameters with a smart watch will notice how damaging alcohol is.

Yes, 100%. At some point I started to feel negative bodily reaction from a single beer. I also quit smoking cigarettes for the same reason.

I'm a fermentation freak so I have to highlight how uncooked fermented foods like sauerkraut and the aforementioned kefir play into anti-inflammation [0].

[0]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8147091/

What about Ayran (that salty turkish thing)?

What about pickles? Do pickles fit into the nutrition profile we're looking at (Please, think of the pickles.)

Good news, pickles are fermented, so they are good for your gut!

Ayran, on the other hand, contains a lot of salt which probably isn't the best.

kimchi too?

yes. I had to heal my gut and kimchi and sauerkraut plus the occasional Kefir are great. I also take from time to time zinc L-carnosine and L-glutamine, great for the gut as well.

It's also a good idea to get tested for H Pilory.

Sour red cherries are pretty good anti-inflamatory.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/food-health-you-asked/it-t...

Most of this is conjecture though and should taken with a huge grain of salt (if we’re focusing on Alzheimers specifically)

If we're focusing on effects of diet on immune systems, especially those not functioning nominally, it is quite readily available information now. Was not so half a decade ago. The immune system is affected strongly by gut microbiota health, therefore it is a solid base to assume the same applies dietary considerations apply for Alzheimer's.

I'm going to plug a health model rapidly gaining mainstream acceptance by healthcare providers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biopsychosocial_model?wprov=sf... It posits that all factors of life are important for overall good health. The TL;DR is that one needs to consider diet, exercise, socialization, hobbies, etc in addition to whatever medication regimen is helping.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com