The Better Way To Build An Anti-Inflammatory Diet? Add This One Food

Trying to eat for lower inflammation can feel like a game of subtraction. Less sugar, less ultra-processed food, less saturated fat.

Before long, even a healthy diet can start to feel like a list of things you shouldn't eat.

But there may be another way to approach it: add something. A recent 2-year randomized trial1 looked at what happened when older adults added one food to their daily routine while otherwise sticking with their usual diets.

The research came from the Walnuts and Healthy Aging (WAHA) trial and included 319 healthy adults with an average age of 69; 66% were women.

Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

One ate 1 to 2 ounces of walnuts daily, about 15% of their calories, while the other avoided walnuts and limited other nuts to fewer than two servings a week. Both groups otherwise continued their usual diets for two years.

Researchers collected five 24-hour food recalls throughout the trial and used them to calculate each participant's Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII).

After two years, the walnut group had a more anti-inflammatory DII score than the control group. The overall nutritional makeup of their diets had shifted in a more favorable direction.

Researchers also found that higher intakes of omega-3 fats, magnesium, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein were associated with more anti-inflammatory scores.

Higher total fat and saturated fat intake were associated with scores in the opposite direction.

Walnuts contain several of the nutrients associated with more favorable scores, including fiber, magnesium, plant-based omega-3 fats, and plant protein.

That may help explain why the walnut group's overall dietary score shifted.

There's an important distinction here. The DII does not measure inflammation in the body. Instead, it estimates the inflammatory potential of a person's diet based on its nutritional makeup.

So, this trial doesn't show that walnuts lowered inflammation in participants' blood or reduced their risk of an inflammation-related disease.

It also can't tell us exactly what the walnuts replaced, since participants weren't instructed to swap them for a particular food.

If you want to try the approach used in the trial, aim for 1 to 2 ounces of walnuts a day, or roughly a small handful. Add them to foods you already eat, such as oatmeal, yogurt, smoothies, or salads, or keep them on hand for a snack.

You can also build on the same nutritional pattern with other whole foods.

Vegetables, beans, whole grains, chia seeds, ground flaxseed, and fatty fish provide dietary fiber, healthy fats, and other nutrients associated with a more favorable dietary pattern.

This trial doesn't prove that walnuts reduce inflammation, but it suggests they can help shift the overall nutritional makeup of your diet.