Fish and Inflammation

Inflammation is becoming a hot topic in nutrition these days. With diets like The Zone, The Paleo Diet, Atkins, South Beach, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, McDonalds every day, and the list goes on and on, it seems that most are picking up on the idea that chronic low grade inflammation is almost an epidemic in the US and by controlling it, the diet can be far more successful.

So what is chronic low grade inflammation? It is an inflammation of the tissues (organ and muscle tissues) that is nearly constant (chronic) and not extremely noticable (low grade) so it is often unnoticed, and untreated. It matters because constant low grade inflammation has been linked to heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, several cancers and several other diseases. Heart disease is a major issue in western health and will be the basis for our discussion from here on out. When tissues are constantly inflamed over long periods of time (we're talking years) the actual genetic expression of the heart cells will be altered, which often causes the immune system to respond by attacking the new genetic expression. Unfortunately, the altered gene is not attacking the tissues in every case, but the immune system just views it as foreign body that needs to be attacked. From there a cascade of several physiological changes eventually results in heart disease.

Most runners are unconcerned with heart disease, because of the health of the heart tissues resulting from long term training effects of aerobic exercise. Inflammation, however, is not limited to the heart, it can also manifest itself in the muscular tissues and tendons which can result in pain or discomfort. Most runners attribute this to training effects and treat it with icing and other anti-inflammatory remedies. Inflammation can also manifest in the digestive system, which is much harder to apply ice to. If you've ever been on a run and had a digestive problem, you see the seriousness of this topic.

Controlling inflammation can be simplified into managing your ratios of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fats. Omega-3's are the good, Omega-6's are the bad. The current western diet results in a ratio of approximately 12:1 of Omega-6:Omega-3. A great diet will have a 3-4:1, an ideal diet will be 2:1. The abundance of Omega-6's is unavoidable, but there are some relatively simple ways to manage the ratio.

Fish oil supplementation is the easiest and fastest remedy outside of completely cleaning up the diet. Adding several grams of fish oil (yes, grams - that's 1,000mg) to your daily diet will help manage inflammatory responses. If you know you're going out to a restaurant, or you simply can't say no to a high sugar, refined, or processed food, throw down a couple grams of fish oil before you consume.

Making sure you have plenty of lean meats in your diet will help as well. Turkey, chicken, fish, and any type of shell-fish contain plenty of omega-3's. You can also find eggs with Omega-3 added to them.

The most effective way to manage your inflammation is to clean up your diet. Lean meats, fruits, vegetables and some nuts (not peanuts) as the main staples in your diet will allow you to achieve anti-inflammatory nirvana.

For more information on nutrient timing and nutrition for endurance athletes, come to Dick Pond Athletics in Lisle, IL this Thursday at 6pm for a fun run and then a quick nutrition seminar.

Base Phase Workout:

3k-5k:
30 minutes easy
            +
10 x 100m strides (jog back recovery)

5k-21k
30-50 minutes easy (depending on feel and distance training for)
            +
2 x (300, 200, 100m strides)

21k+
4-6 miles easy

All: complete 100m of lunges after strides

Post distance run, times, comments, feeling, recovery to the comments