The Good News: What You Eat Can Help

Our understanding of inflammation is evolving. Of course, there are some factors we cannot change about our health and the risks of chronic inflammation. However, there is something within our control, something ­that we know affects inflammation: what we eat! An anti-inflammatory pattern of eating may help reduce the risk for—or lessen the effects of—chronic inflammation. There are many different patterns of eating considered to be anti-inflammatory, but they have the following characteristics in common:

• An emphasis on foods with anti-inflammatory properties:
  • Plant foods: fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, seeds
  • Foods with omega-3s (e.g., seafood)
  • Olive oil
• A limited amount of foods with inflammatory potential:
  • Ultra-processed foods with low nutritional value
  • Foods with excess saturated fats, added sugars or sodium

What might surprise you is that there is no single “anti-inflammatory diet,” and no one list of foods to entirely avoid. It’s all about the overall pattern! Examples of anti-inflammatory eating patterns include the Mediterranean Diet, plant-forward eating approaches, and our Wegmans Healthy Eating Guidelines.

Other lifestyle factors that have been shown to help reduce chronic inflammation include physical activity, dental hygiene, and restorative sleep.

How to Get Started

It is tempting to think that one or two foods can help you fight inflammation, but it is your overall pattern of eating—what you eat most of the time—that has the most potential for impact. So, while an individual food may not be considered inflammatory or anti-inflammatory on its own, think about where you might start to make small shifts in your food choices that will move you toward a more anti-inflammatory eating pattern.