10 Foods That Trigger Inflammation

9. Saturated Fats

UC San Francisco researchers have discovered an unexpected new avenue for prospective therapeutics to minimize the risk of type 2 diabetes and other metabolic illnesses related with chronic tissue inflammation in obesity. According to the researchers, inflammation in obesity may be induced, at least in part, by a system that is fundamentally distinct from the one that controls normal immune responses. The findings, published in the journal Cell Reports on March 10, reveal that saturated fats “short-circuit” both mouse and human immune cells, resulting in an incorrect inflammatory response. This new pathway to inflammation can be blocked without interfering with immune cells’ normal response to infection-like signals, implying that medications that reduce inflammation and diabetes risk in obesity without inhibiting the immune system could be developed. “This provides us with a completely new way to think about how to avoid metabolic problems connected to excess dietary fat from occurring,” said Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in UCSF’s School of Medicine’s Diabetes Center and senior author on the new research. Researchers have known for many years that diet-induced obesity is frequently associated by inflammation in metabolic tissues such as fat, liver, and muscle. This inflammation affects the tissues over time and may predispose certain people to diabetes. There are currently few anti-inflammatory medications in development to minimize this risk in obese people because such drugs also damage patients’ immune systems overall, interfering with their ability to generate an inflammatory response in the aftermath of an injury or infection. “These medications are useful for alleviating symptoms of diseases such as arthritis and may be able to delay the progression of diabetes,” Koliwad explained. “The trouble is that every time you have a cold, you’d have to stop taking the medicine right away.”