4 Ways to Reduce Inflammation

It's thought to be an underlying cause of diabetes, heart disease, and more, but the diet and lifestyle choices you make can help you control it

By Jennifer Cook

November 6, 2024

overhead view of bowl of yogurt with granola, almonds, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberry slices — Berries are among the best anti-inflammatory foods.

Heart disease. Diabetes. Cancer. Dementia. What do these conditions have in common? Chronic inflammation in the body plays a central role in the development of each.

Normally, inflammation is beneficial. When you’re injured or have an infection, the immune system responds by producing various inflammatory cells that promote healing, destroy germs, and remove toxins. Once the threat is eliminated, inflammation subsides.

In this article

Choose the Right Foods
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Boost Your Physical Activity
Increase Sleep, Lower Stress

But sometimes inflammation doesn’t quit, or it’s triggered by a constant irritant present in the body, such as cigarette smoke or the plaque that builds up in arteries. The immune system can also go awry, reacting as though the body is in danger when it isn’t. The result is ongoing, or chronic, inflammation. "This adds a lot of stress and damage to the body’s tissues," says Edward Giovannucci, MD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

About a third of Americans have chronic inflammation, according to researchers at the University of Florida in Gainesville. It tends to be more common in older adults—but it’s not an inevitable consequence of aging. The following steps can help control chronic inflammation.

Choose the Right Foods

What you eat can reduce inflammation and help you stay at a healthy weight, which is also key. One of the best approaches, studies show, is to follow a Mediterranean-style diet. This eating style is rich in whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and unsaturated fats like olive oil, and includes small amounts of lean proteins like fish and chicken. Colorful fruits and vegetables, such as berries and eggplant, are particularly beneficial. Their pigments come from plant nutrients, like flavonoids and anthocyanins, that have strong anti-inflammatory properties. The healthy bacteria in yogurt and other fermented foods can be helpful, too.

Foods that promote inflammation include processed foods, such as refined grains (like white bread), deli meats and hot dogs, deep-fried foods, and sodas and other foods high in added sugars. In a 2020 analysis of 15 studies published in the journal Medicine, researchers found that people who ate the most pro-inflammatory foods had a 41 percent increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

To tweak your eating style, first identify anti-inflammatory foods you like and add more of those to your diet, says James R. Hébert, director of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. This strategy is more likely to succeed than eliminating foods that you love right off the bat, he says. Gradually, cut back on foods that promote inflammation until your diet contains mostly anti-inflammatory foods.

That doesn’t mean replacing all processed foods, says Sarah Hammaker, a registered dietitian in York, Pa. Processed foods with very few ingredients, no preservatives, and little sodium or added sugar (like some brands of peanut butter, canned beans, or jarred pasta sauce) are less inflammatory.

Use herbs and spices liberally, too. They contain many beneficial compounds similar to those in fruits and vegetables. The dietary inflammatory index, a research tool that analyzes how diet might affect inflammatory markers in the blood, includes garlic, ginger, thyme, rosemary, saffron, oregano, and turmeric among ingredients that can have a positive impact. Hébert suggests adding generous amounts of these to foods as you cook.

Other good diet moves include sipping tea or coffee (with just a little sugar, if needed) instead of soft drinks, depending on your caffeine tolerance, of course; these also have flavonoids and polyphenols. If you drink alcohol, have no more than a glass of wine or one beer a day. More than that may crank up inflammation, says Giovannucci. Finally, if you don’t eat a lot of foods with vitamin D—such as milk, fortified cereals, and salmon, sardines, or other seafood—ask your doctor about checking your levels and taking a supplement.

Need more inspiration? Check out this sample daily menu from Hammaker, or our easy anti-inflammatory recipes.

Breakfast: Plain yogurt with fresh blueberries, nectarines, chia seeds, and walnuts.

Lunch: Quinoa salad with dark leafy greens, avocado, chickpeas, tomatoes, and a lemon olive oil dressing.

Snack: Black bean dip with sliced bell peppers, or cottage cheese with raspberries and sunflower seeds.

Dinner: Halibut or rainbow trout with brown rice and roasted summer squash, cauliflower, and carrots.

Maintain a Healthy Weight

Try to keep your BMI (body mass index) below 25. And pay attention to your waist size. "Belly fat is the worst kind of fat for inflammation," Giovannucci says. When abdominal fat cells are enlarged, they can leak or even burst, triggering inflammatory responses. A waist size greater than 35 inches for women or 40 inches for men can raise the risk of obesity-related conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But Giovannucci thinks even lower may be better—30 inches or less for women and 35 inches or less for men. For some ethnic groups, such as those of Asian descent, waist circumference should be even lower than that.

Boost Your Physical Activity

Exercise works hand in hand with an anti-inflammatory diet, says David Nieman, director of the Human Performance Lab at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. "You can’t lower inflammation by exercise alone, but when you exercise enough and control your diet, over the long term inflammation comes way down," he says—within as little as two weeks.

Choose an activity you enjoy, such as brisk walking, which has the "perfect intensity," Nieman says, and do it for 30 to 60 minutes at least five days a week. Don’t worry if that feels like too much at first. According to 2017 research in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, a single 20-minute brisk walk/jog on a treadmill reduced the number of immune cells that produce tumor necrosis factor (TNF)—too much of which can lead to chronic inflammation.

Increase Sleep, Lower Stress

When you’re not sleeping well or you’re under stress, your body makes more cortisol. When the level of this hormone is constantly elevated, it can produce a long-term inflammatory response. Irregular or inadequate sleep, as well as stress, can affect your cardiovascular system, metabolism, and cognitive abilities.

For better rest, avoid having caffeine too late in the day, eat dinner early, use blackout curtains in the bedroom, and turn off electronics at least an hour before bed.

Breathing in and out slowly can help you relax or fall asleep. Being outside is calming too. A 2019 Frontiers in Psychology study found a link between spending at least 20 minutes in nature and lower cortisol. Mindfulness meditation, a practice of observing your thoughts to calm your mind, and keeping a journal also may combat stress and its effects.

Editor’s Note: This article also appeared in the September 2024 issue of Consumer Reports On Health.

Jennifer Cook

Jennifer Cook is an award-winning freelance writer who contributes to Consumer Reports on health, wellness, mind-body, and environmental topics. She lives in New York's Hudson Valley in a farmhouse built in the 1840s. An avid walker and dancer, she feels fortunate to live near wetlands and wild things, and to have easy access to culture and good food.