A landmark study from Paris, France came to the conclusion that an inflammatory diet causes high mortality.
The initial trial occurred between 1994 and 2002. This checked whether low dose antioxidants were helpful in improving survival. This trial involved 8089 participants with an average age of 49 years, when they started the trial. The researchers followed the original participants from 1994 to 2007. This is a mean follow-up of 12.4 years. They calculated the dietary Inflammatory Index for each participant. This enabled the researchers to estimate the overall inflammatory potential of the diet.
The goal of the study was to determine the prospective association between an inflammatory diet and mortality.
Result shows that inflammatory diet causes high mortality
- The cardiovascular and cancer mortality was 53% higher in the highest third of the inflammatory diet. This was compared to the lowest dietary inflammatory scores.
- All cause mortality was 110% higher in the upper third when compared to the lower third of the inflammatory diet index.
- There was a group that took low dose vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc from 1994 to 2002. This group was protected from this high mortality effect under point 2.
- When cancer alone was tested, the higher third had 83% more cancer mortality. This was compared to the low inflammatory dietary index score.
The authors concluded that people who consume a pro-inflammatory diet are at a higher health risk. They have higher all-cause mortality, a higher cardiovascular mortality and a higher cancer mortality than individuals who consume a low-inflammatory diet.
The study also showed that low dose antioxidant supplementation may alleviate the effects of a pro-inflammatory diet to a certain extent.
Inflammatory Diet Causes High Mortality
Conclusion
The authors of this study explained that inflammation is the cause for the majority of illnesses. These include cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. All these illnesses are responsible for the majority of mankind’s premature mortality.
This means we can modify what we eat by concentrating on eating as much fresh food as possible. It is especially necessary to minimize our consumption of processed food and fast food. We also need to incorporate a wide variety of fruits and vegetables into our daily diet. For omega-3 fatty acids we eat salmon (preferably fresh or frozen wild or canned sockeye), sardines (in water or olive oil) and herring. Now you have the essence of a low-inflammatory diet. In addition you can lower your risk of mortality by the supplements mentioned before. These were low dose vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc.
