More evidence that certain foods will reduce inflammation.

There has been a lot of debate and also confusion when it comes to different types of diets, as it relates to weight loss and health. There are however more and more research providing evidence that what the diet consists of (where the calories are coming from) is very important. It makes a big difference where the calories are coming from, both as it relates to losing weight and certainly when it relates to health. One thing everybody agrees on is that if we reduce chronic inflammation our health will improve. The research reviewed compared two different diets, one was low glycemic load, the other one was high glycemic load, and the researchers evaluated the effect they had on the inflammatory marker highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and some other markers (Neuhouser, ML,et al. 2012). The participants were healthy adults; one group had normal weight while one group was overweight. All participants completed two 28 days periods. After finishing one period eating low glycemic load food, they were switched to a high glycemic load period. The diets had identical macronutrient content as percentage calorie count, which means they had equal amounts of carbohydrates, fat and protein. All food was provided and the participants maintained weight and usual physical activity. The results were interesting. The low glycemic load diet reduced hs-CRP for the participants with a high body fat percentage. The researchers concluded that carbohydrate quality independent of energy is important, and low glycemic load foods may improve inflammation. This is especially interesting since these participants did not lose any weight, the weight was purposely kept the same, but inflammation still decreased. The program you find at Learn to Eat is a very effective approach to reduce inflammation, and you will also lose weight if you need to.