There are always so many social media claims that certain foods, supplements, or lifestyle hacks can “reduce inflammation,” while others supposedly “cause inflammation.”

Gluten is inflammatory – bye bye bread.

Seed oils are inflammatory – here’s to a boring salad.

Carbohydrates are inflammatory – who needs energy anyway?

Dairy is inflammatory – what is a world without cheese?

But the reality is that much of this conversation is oversimplified, and sometimes misleading.

So, let’s look at what inflammation actually is.

What inflammation really means:

Inflammation is a biological immune response that helps the body repair damage and fight infection. There are two broad types:

Acute inflammation

This is short-term and beneficial. For example, resistance training creates small amounts of muscle damage that trigger inflammatory signalling, which ultimately drives muscle repair and growth.

Chronic low-grade inflammation

This is the type associated with disease. It involves persistent activation of immune signalling pathways and is linked with conditions such as cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

Social media often treats these two things as if they are the same, but they are not.

Our biological goal is to regulated inflammation, not to completely eliminate all inflammatory processes.

The problem with the “anti-inflammation” narrative:

A lot of content has turned inflammation into a catch-all explanation for any uncomfortable physical sensation.

Feeling bloated? You must be inflamed.

Holding water after a salty meal? Inflammation.

Feeling sluggish after a large meal? Inflammation again.

In reality, these experiences are usually explained by normal physiology, including temporary shifts in fluid balance, glycogen storage, normal digestion, fibre intake, and sodium balance.

They are not indicators of systemic inflammation.

Another common issue is the claim that individual foods are inherently inflammatory. While certain foods can cause problems for people with specific intolerances or medical conditions, most healthy individuals do not experience meaningful inflammatory responses to normal foods.

So, we might not want to reduce acute inflammation, but how do we reduce chronic inflammation?

One of the most reliable ways to reduce chronic inflammation is fat loss *(in overweight or obese individuals).

One of the most consistent findings in metabolic health research is that losing excess body fat reduces systemic inflammation.

Obesity is widely recognised as a state of chronic low-grade inflammation.

As fat cells enlarge, they become metabolically stressed and begin to release inflammatory signalling molecules. At the same time, immune cells infiltrate adipose tissue, further increasing the production of inflammatory cytokines such as:

• TNF-α

• IL-6

• C-reactive protein (CRP)

This chronic inflammatory environment is one reason why excess body fat is linked with metabolic disease. The encouraging part is that reducing fat mass generally improves this inflammatory profile.

What the research shows:

Energy-restrictive diets and bariatric surgery consistently reduce inflammatory markers. These interventions typically lead to reductions in circulating levels of the inflammatory cytokines. At the same time, weight loss often increases adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat tissue that:

• Improves insulin sensitivity

• Reduces inflammation

• Increases fatty acid oxidation

A large review of 76 trials involving 6,742 participants found that most weight-loss interventions significantly reduced circulating inflammatory cytokines (Bianchi, 2018).

Long-term dietary trials also suggest that at least 5% body weight loss is typically required to see meaningful reductions in markers such as IL-6 (Bulmer et al., 2025).

The greatest improvements in obesity-related inflammatory markers tend to occur when weight loss reaches 10% or more of body weight (Forsythe et al., 2008).

Some important nuances:

As with most aspects of physiology, the relationship between weight loss and inflammation is not perfectly linear. For example, very rapid or early weight loss can temporarily increase some inflammatory signals. This has been observed following bariatric surgery or during periods of extreme calorie restriction before longer-term improvements occur (Savulescu-Fiedler et al., 2024).

In addition, even after body weight has normalised, inflammation within adipose tissue can persist for some time. Improvements are often gradual rather than immediate (Sougiannis et al., 2020).

These nuances are important, but they do not change the broader pattern seen across the literature.

The bigger picture:

When you see social media chat about reducing inflammation, the conversation often revolves around:

• Turmeric

• Greens powders

• “Detox” protocols

• Eliminating specific foods

Yet the evidence consistently points to something far less glamorous/specific/sellable.

Reducing excess body fat is one of the most reliable ways to lower chronic inflammation.

That doesn’t mean supplements or dietary quality are irrelevant, but their effects are typically much smaller than the impact of sustained changes in body composition and overall lifestyle.

In conclusion…

Inflammation is not something that needs to be “eliminated.” It is a normal and necessary biological process.

The real concern is chronic, dysregulated inflammation, which is strongly associated with metabolic health and body fat levels. While social media often focuses on individual “inflammatory foods,” the evidence suggests that the most consistent improvements occur when people:

• Reduce excess body fat

• Improve overall diet quality

• Sleep well

• Stay physically active

• Manage chronic stressors

In other words, the fundamentals of health still matter far more than any supposed anti-inflammatory superfood.