Nutrition and Inflammation

[tiramisu]

I've started reading around the paleo and zone camps lately and have noticed a lot of emphasis on whether food are "inflammatory" or not.

This seems to be a great deal of the justification in the paleo diet for grains and dairy are bad. Although red meat, omega-6's and saturated fat are inflammatory so it seems a little inconsistent. (?)

I'm not sure I understand what is meant by "inflammation". What tissues are being inflamed by the consumption of these food items? I can say in the 40 years of eating just about anything the only thing I might suspect is inflammatory is coffee.

I'm having a hard time figuring out what this inflammation actually is.

While the articles that I can find seem to promote good eating practices they seem to do so for some fairly odd and inconsistent reasons.

Does anyone have a good blog, articles link on this subject?

thanks.

[kloan]

Well, it must have some merit to it since nutritiondata.com has a 'Inflammation Factor' on their food pages, however I don't fully understand what it means.

I'm more interested in what keeps the body in a healthy acid/alkaline balance than I am with inflammatory foods.

[Memo]

I think the release of certain hormone like Histamine and Prostaglandin might be linked to those types of food. Trans or rancid fats cause inflammation due to the nature of byproduct created during processing, some being toxins I believe.

I will try to find so data tomorrow.

[ta-kid]

tiramisu,I am surprised you have not found some definitive info on this subject.You are usually pretty good at finding info on Nutritional issues.

[tiramisu]

Just starting to do the reading. There is an awful lot of secondary sources / opinion articles. Finding lectures and research papers takes a little longer.

I'm just listening to a fascinating lecture on behavior and nutrition
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/russell-blaylock-nutrition-and-behavior-aspartame/

It's amazing how little I know about nutrition.