vitality Dr. Warren Karp ask dr. karp Healthy foods, exercise are still the best diet plan J oy, from West Augusta, asks, “Is the Anti-Inflammation Diet a good diet?” Great question. These days, doesn’t it seem like there’s a special diet for everything, with a book (and usually a product) to go along with it? Writing diet books seems to be very good
for promoting media appearances, making money and having 15 minutes of fame, but is a popular book a good source of nutrition information? Do you honestly have to eat one way for your heart, one for your brain, one for your libido, one for aging, one way for your hormones and, most recently, a
special way to decrease inflammation in your body? The answer to this question is simple – you do not. It turns out that there is one very well-known way of healthful eating and you do not have to buy anything to find out about it. And, it shouldn’t be big news to you, either. You must have heard by now that you need to eat lots of fruits and veggies, have a few nuts here and there, eat more fish and whole grain starches, have a plant-based diet, eat less highfat meats and avoid fried foods, fast foods and foods high in sugar, salt, fat and calories. Honestly, if this is news to you, then you must have just emerged from a World War II bomb shelter. From an economic point-of-view, the problem with this widely- and freely-available information is that you can’t really attract a lot of new interest, excitement and, most importantly, consumer buying power. So, simply throw in some “wishful thinking” among the factual information to stimulate people’s imaginations and their impulses to open their wallets. What are some examples of this “wishful thinking” as it relates to the “anti-inflammatory diet?” One “wish” is that there is a simple, reliable, precise, specific and accurate blood test to “monitor” your inflammation (CRP, C-Reactive Protein); other “wishes” include lists of specific foods to “avoid” and “seek out.” To wrap up this marketing approach, let’s also recommend specific dietary supplements, especially ones that you happen to sell. The CRP blood test, for example, has been around for many years and has
been studied pretty extensively. It is a blood test that has some use in measuring the inflammatory state of an individual, under specific conditions. For example, if you have a bacterial infection, this causes an inflammatory response in your body and you can use CRP to monitor the infection, especially if you want to know if the treatment for the infection is working. In this case, then, the CRP blood test may be used to monitor inflammation which is the result of the bacterial disease. Inflammation is not causing the disease. To jump from this to using CRP as a monitor for inflammation which may be causing diseases such as cardiovascular disease or arthritis...well, it is just a big leap of faith and where “wishful thinking” enters the picture. For this reason, there is no consensus among health scientists that CRP be routinely measured in the general population as an indication of health risk. On the other hand, CRP may be helpful in monitoring the risk of a second cardiovascular event in people who have already had a heart attack. The idea that certain foods and See DR. KARP, page 16 “Ask Dr. Karp” focuses on food, diet, and nutrition. Dr. Warren Karp is a Professor Emeritus at Georgia Regents University. If you have a question you would like answered in this column, post it on his Facebook page, “AskDrKarp”
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