Number of things you can do to reduce inflammation: Study

Many foods, supplements and even workouts nowadays claim to have anti-inflammatory properties.

- Harry Bullmore, The Independent

This certainly sounds like a good thing, adding to a product's allure, but what does it actually mean? In appropriate doses, inflammation is a good thing, senior biomedical sciences lecturer and immunology specialist Dr Owen Kavanagh tells me. It is simply the body's first line of defence against invaders such as certain harmful bacteria — combating the common cold, for example.

However, this process has a habit of going too far. By staying switched on beyond the point of usefulness, chronic low-level inflammation can damage the body's internal systems, making it a “primary driver of age-related diseases” such as heart disease and some cancers. This has long been considered a hallmark of ageing, but recent research published in the Nature Aging journal challenged the notion. It suggests that lifestyle factors and environment could impact inflammation levels, as well as the way they influence our bodies as we grow older. These interventions could also have varying impacts on different populations. Below, Dr Kavanagh explains the implications of this research, as well as his four free and actionable tips for limiting unwanted inflammation in the body.