Inflammation is a reaction to tissue damage. It’s a normal response and is there to defend against additional damage. In some situations however, if this response is heightened it results in long-lasting damage.
Quite a few conditions involve inflammation in some form or another:
- rheumatoid arthritis
- Crohn’s disease
- ulcerative colitis
- psoriasis
- lupus
- type-I diabetes
- cardiovascular disease
- some cancers
- adult asthma
and, it is thought, obesity
Some of these conditions such as arthritis and asthma may be helped through tweaking the daily diet. Researchers Backer and colleagues (2004) have found that populations that naturally consume large amounts of Omega-3 fish oils such as Inuit and Japanese, have low rates of these diseases. But surprisingly, researchers (Shoda, 1996) have also found that increased rates of Crohn’s disease in Japan were associated with increased amounts of Omega-6 in the diet.
It seems Omega-6 is converted to a compound that is thought to promote inflammation. This may sound very confusing and disappointing given that Omega-6 helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. However, we are back to the old argument about ratios. Omega-3 helps reduce inflammation - it is the ratio between Omega-3 and -6 that is important.
Quite simply, this means more Omega-3, particularly in the form of fatty fish, needs to be incorporated in our daily diet, and excessive amounts of Omega-6 which is in vegetable oils may lead to diseases that involve inflammatory elements.