Food that Promotes Inflammation May Take Heart Failure to the Next Level

According to the American Health Association (AHA), eating food that tends to cause inflammation may have a negative impact on people who experience heart failure. In fact, according to a recent study, eating pro-inflammatory food can make you twice as likely to be admitted to hospital if you suffer heart failure. This is significant, since according to AHA, 6.2 million adults in the US have suffered heart failure.

“If people with heart failure can reduce the amount of pro-inflammatory foods that they eat, it might help with their survival,” said JungHee Kang, a nursing research assistant and PhD student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

In the study referenced by Kang, 213 participants who have suffered heart failure were asked to keep a food diary for four days, after which their diets were categorized in accordance to whether they decreased or increased inflammation. The year-long study found that individuals with a high-inflammation diet were twice more likely to be admitted to hospital.

So what types of food can increase inflammation? A source of information from www.supplementscouts.com states that people who consume a lot of processed meat, high-fat dairy products and refined carbohydrates have been shown to experience higher inflammation than individuals whose diet consists of whole grains, and fruit and vegetables.

Heart-health diets have a lot in common, with the Mediterranean diet leading the way as a good example. People in countries on the Mediterranean sea tend to eat a lot of olive oil, grains, beans, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. They also limit their consumption of fish, meat and dairy.

Dr. Amit Khera, professor of medicine and director of the preventive cardiology program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas said: “It’s well known that diet plays a critically important role in the development of heart disease and stroke. This [study] is a reminder that diet is important. The only surprise to me was the magnitude of the effect.”

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