Link between inflammation and mental sluggishness shown in new study

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/latest/2019/11/link-between-inflammation-and-mental-sluggishness-shown-in-new-study.aspx

by conse_lad • 7 years ago

143 87 7 years ago

birmingham.ac.uk

TurkishPoptart• 7 years ago

What's the solution? I've felt brain fog for 15 years.

mixmastamyk• 7 years ago

Look into reducing inflammation. There are a number of foods that are supposed to be beneficial. I believe avoiding corporate grain products may also help.

OneGuy1232• 7 years ago

I've had issues like that:

Buy hydrolyzed collagen supplements (take 30g per day at start for 1 week) and increase fat intake, simplest is beef tallow (ideally grassfed), eat 2x 5 table spoons of it per day for 5 days at start.

And cut all processed sugar and sweets.

Replace table sugar and fructose with glucose.

kyuudou• 7 years ago

A whole (organic) chicken in a pot, cooked until the cartilage liquefies, is similar to this suggestion IMO

loceng3• 7 years ago

Ketogenic (including carnivore) diet will greatly reduce inflammation. You'll also want to do an Igg food sensitivity test to see what specific foods your body is creating inflammatory markers for, and a microbiome test can also let you know if bacterial/yeast infections that could be adding to brain fog.

Fasting is useful for seeing how your mental state is while limiting external food resources (you're using internal fat reserves otherwise), otherwise intermittent fasting is the best option.

OneGuy1232• 7 years ago

It seems that in practice the issue is not keto vs vegan vs omnivore but that all of those proponents of extreme diets like full vegan or full carnivore usually measure their food intake carefully to ensure they get enough of all macros (carbs, fat, protein).

This measuring alone ensures that they get enough fats, which seem to be the main reason for brain fog in most people (combined with too much artifical sweets).

Also because of this extreme diet they completely throw all all processed food & artifical sugar/sweets.

zadler• 7 years ago

Seems like IGG doesn’t have the best reputation...

tayo42• 7 years ago

Fasting would just make me irritable and hungry. I don't think I'm the only one that would experience that

asterix_pano• 7 years ago

Are animal proteins not a source of inflammation? It's quite well studied.

djohnston• 7 years ago

Obviously this is anecdotal, but I've been fasting for about a month, and I've noticed a significant difference between the days I fast and the days I don't (FRIDAYS!!!). After about 16-18 hours of not eating I feel quite sharp. There seems to be preliminary clinical evidence to support this, but I'll leave the googling to you.

alpaca128• 7 years ago

I've experienced similar effects with intermittent fasting. I started cutting out the breakfast and after a while my mind was super clear in the morning. Eating lunch caused that to flip around drastically, though.

jfrbfbreudh2• 7 years ago

I’ve had the same experience, but feeling sharper doesn’t mean actually being sharper. If you look at traffic accident rates in Muslim majority countries, there’s a sharp rise in incidents during the fasting months of Ramadan.

AnimalMuppet• 7 years ago

Without going to a "name brand" diet (keto, vegan, or whatever), just pay attention to what you eat and what your brain feels like a few hours afterword. I found some foods (certain chocolates, unfortunately) where, somewhat less than an hour after I ate it, it felt like someone had kicked my brain.

When you notice something like that, stop eating it. You may be able to add it back in small quantities later, but for now, just stop.

When you've identified the major ones and stopped eating them, then take stock of where you are. Is it enough? Or do you want to go further?

We started being very careful what we eat because one of my daughters had extreme food sensitivities. I said "Nah, not me, I'm good". But I felt a lot better/less mentally foggy as well.

lambdaba• 7 years ago

High (10g+) doses of omega-3 (mostly as EPA) are extremely effective and clinically proven.

Standard doses are way too small to be effective, and most of the science and anecdotes refer to small (1-3g) doses.

Broken_Hippo3• 7 years ago

talk to a doctor and, if you are lucky, they find something they can cure. If you are unlucky, they find nothing. If you are really unlucky, you find something like an autoimmune disorder - lots of autoimmune disorders get both some inflammation and 'brain fog' or other cognitive issues.

All the diets folks recommend are not really proven to help with things like autoimmune disorders (even though some folks swear by them). If it were that simple, it would be standard treatment and no one would go through the side effects that some of the medicines for autoimmune disorders have. I don't know how effective the diets and supplements are for other things, but I'd not trust it unless it came from the mouth of a medical doctor I trusted.

MrBuddyCasino3• 7 years ago

No. Docs have no clue about these sort of things. They are good for "leg broken, must fix leg". They suck at chronic and ambiguous illnesses. In the US, you can try the Mayo Clinic, they have specialists. Otherwise, help yourself.

rorykoehler2• 7 years ago

I have conclusive evidence (sample size 1)that keto reduces inflammation from my AS. The blood tests don't lie but its far from being a cure.

goodname• 7 years ago

Have you been tested for celiac disease?

ScoobleDoodle• 7 years ago

Unrelated to diet but still could be helpful with brain fog: Have you ever been tested for sleep apnea? I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea over a decade ago and was prescribed a CPAP machine. Although it took some getting used to. Getting effective sleep has helped me.

MrBuddyCasino3• 7 years ago

Keto worked for me. The difference is remarkable.

Asooka• 7 years ago

I had vitamin D deficiency that was the cause of my brain fog. I'm not yet back to full power, but the last 3 months of taking it have definitely been better than before.

m463• 7 years ago

nobody has mentioned exercise.

I remember the study with the "rats in a sterile environment" vs "rats in a rich environment" where the latter group formed many more brain connections.

In the end, they found it wasn't the rich environment that caused the brain growth, it was the exercise wheel in it.

Bizarro3• 7 years ago

Be careful with the exercise remedy. It's easy to overdue it and cause more inflammation and stress via elevated cortisols, etc..

DenisM• 7 years ago

Before trying various changes which takes a long time to se through consider measuring things you can actually test:

1. Sleep study.

2. Vitamin D blood test.

3. Generally a conversation with your doctor who might suggest other tests.

nimvlaj30• 7 years ago

I would try intermittent fasting for a while. If you feel better, it means it could be exacerbated by something you're eating. Then it's a just a process of elimination.

flybrand• 7 years ago

It was another set of symptoms - skin rash like chicken pox - that helped me find my celiac / gluten free diagnosis.

However, the brain fog went away. Brain fog is a common reason people try gluten free or low carb (keto, Meng, etc).

Good luck.

bitL2• 7 years ago

I use sauna; 10-15 minutes in hot, followed by a short break (1-2 minutes), then up to 2 minutes immersed in cold water. Repeat 5-6x. I feel like a new person afterwards, total mental clarity and many ideas immediately. Also removes stress. It might take you a few months to get adapted to that cycle though (2-minute cold immersion is not trivial at first). If you start feeling bad, abort, you can try next time.

Buttons840• 7 years ago

If knowingly taking a placebo can affect a person, I have no doubt that the ritual you described can also have an effect.

thomk• 7 years ago

This is no joke. After a shower, I turn off the hot water and just stand there under the cold water for a while. It makes a big difference for me. So does not eating late.

belltaco2• 7 years ago

Curcumin supplements and/or consuming a lot of turmeric with a little pepper can help.

virtuallynathan3• 7 years ago

No randomized clinical trials of curcumin have shown benefit. Fixing the source of the inflammation is a better idea than taking anti-inflammatory compounds of dubious benefit.

viburnum• 7 years ago

I stopped eating anything with added sugar and my brain fog lifted after about a week. Now I get headaches if I eat sugar (Berries are good, it’s just stuff with sugar added to it that messes me up).

Cougher2• 7 years ago

One thing would be to get rid of as many fragranced products as you can. It's amazing how many people live 24/7 without ever truly breathing fresh air. This would be especially had with fragranced dryer sheets, as the residual fragrance will last through many washings. New mattresses are also notoriously toxic.

matheusmoreira• 7 years ago

The actual published study:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S10538...

N = 20 healthy males.

Vomzor3• 7 years ago

I've become convinced a lot of what we now consider mental illnesses are actually symptoms caused by unknown pathogens. Inflammation plays a big part in this.

monological• 7 years ago

There’s a strong link between the common cold sore (Herpes simplex virus type 1) and amyloid beta buildup in the brain, which accumulates and severely impacts cognition. It’s estimated that around 67% of the entire world’s population has HSV-1. When your immune system weakens and the virus activates and comes out of dormancy, your body starts to pump out these amyloids to “protect” itself against the virus. The issue is that high levels of this peptide buildup leads to Alzheimers like symptoms. Over time, if you have poor sleep hygiene or under a lot of stress, the buildup reaches a point of significant aggregation causing “brain fog,” even without a confirmed diagnosis of Alzheimers. This is just my theory though. I’m not a doctor. It’s just my 2 cents.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2953363/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1586/14787210.2014.8...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/26836158/

Vomzor3• 7 years ago

To add on this. I believe Alzheimer’s is a set of symptoms causes by different bacteria and viruses. Not a disease in itself. And not one single virus or bacteria. See also the recent found link between Alzheimer's and dental bacteria. Or the link between Alzheimer’s and Lyme disease. Like this misdiagnosis: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kris-kristofferson-misdiagnosed...

And this:

In Miklossy’s work, Borrelia burgdorferi—the species of spirochete that causes Lyme, was identified in 451 out of the 495 Alzheimer’s-riddled brains they examined. Yet, her work at the time was derived by other researchers and until recently, she had difficulty securing funding.

https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/could-a-pathogen-be-the-ca...

rcconf• 7 years ago

I'm also convinced of the same thing, I don't know enough about biology, but I have days where I feel like the only thing that could be causing certain emotions is an infection that I don't know about.

For example, I use to feel tired all the time, and I would get sick all the time. I swear I could "feel" that my immune system sucked and I constantly had to fight things off.

Now I feel like my immune system is stronger, and it shows because I get sick so less often. My brain fog is basically gone and my energy levels are a lot higher. Every now and then it comes back, but recently I always wondered:

Is there a set of anti-biotics, anti-parasitical, anti-viral drugs that you could take in a row to try to flush the body of any infections? There's been similar comments about HSV1, that a lot of people have, but there's also Toxoplasmosis. If you look into it, so many people have both of these infections, but what are the side effects on the body?

I think immune system is one part of the picture. I also think your bodies natural response to the environment has something to do with this. I've been way more social and have gotten WAY better social feedback from all angles in my life (positive feedback loop) and that has helped immensely with mood and feeling good all the time.

When you combine a lot of these things, such as: poor immune system, conflicted social life, bad diet, and lack of exercise, I could see how the combination could manifest its self into mental illness.

I'm still convinced pathogens have a high ranking in the cause of brain fog and emotional issues tho, social life being second, diet third and surprisingly exercise being last even though I initially thought it was number 1. It just made me feel good, but it didn't really get to the root of any issue for some reason.

therein• 7 years ago

Flushing your body with antibiotics will have a lot more side effects and lead to way more significant brainfog.

Many even go as far as associating the onset of their "idiopathic chronic fatigue" with a specific instance they used an antibiotic.

carlmr2• 7 years ago

Is there a set of anti-biotics, anti-parasitical, anti-viral drugs that you could take in a row to try to flush the body of any infections?

My uninformed guess is no, they probably lower your immune systems defenses.

What you can do is work on your sleep hygiene, work out more, and eat lots of vegetables. Reduce milk, red meat, alcohol and caffeine. Basically anything that's known to cause inflammation (milk and meat) and bad sleep (alcohol and caffeine).

thebean11• 7 years ago

The issue with the antibiotics is that they will screw up your microbiome which will have negative effects on its own until it naturally builds back up

Cougher2• 7 years ago

I've long been convinced that it's due to the routine chemical exposures that we accept as normal. It's difficult to go anywhere in the US without being exposed to hundreds of chemicals offgasing from products and people.

netwanderer3• 7 years ago

The human body just cannot get sick by itself without the impacts coming from external agents. In that sense, all illnesses are linked to some pathogens, and inflammation is simply a reaction of our immune system fighting them off. In my opinion, a lot of illnesses are really just a form of autoimmune disease. Our body must have been fighting some unknown pathogens for a really long time and without our awareness, eventually it just succumbed and triggered those conditions.

ben_w• 7 years ago

Possibly dumb question: could NSAID painkiller’s like ibuprofen counter this type of inflammation? Or is that unknown at this time?

Vomzor3• 7 years ago

An analysis of 30 studies involving 1,610 people has concluded that NSAIDS were 79 per cent more effective at fighting major depression than a placebo. https://jnnp.bmj.com/content/early/2019/08/29/jnnp-2019-3209...

dreamcompiler• 7 years ago

NSAIDs are by definition anti-inflammatory, so yes. But there are potential downsides to their long-term use, e.g. ibuprofen is linked with increased risk of heart attack and aspirin is ototoxic. Both can cause gastric problems.

rashkov• 7 years ago

I’ve found that turmeric extract in capsules can help quite a bit with inflammation and even brain fog

dvfjsdhgfv• 7 years ago

There exists a very safe alternative to NSAIDs, with quite a few other beneficial side-effects:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21443487

ceres• 7 years ago

What does inflammation mean in this case (i.e., what part of the body is being inflamed)?

kekebo• 7 years ago

Inflammation can occur all over the body, it's a central part of the immune response, triggered for example by pathogens, damaged cells or toxic compounds. The type of inflammation that correlates with more and more (mental) disease is usually in relation to chronic inflammation, meaning the normally healthy immune response doesn't return to baseline and starts harming the body. This can occur because of chronic stress, obesity, a dysfunctional gut microbiome, chronic infections or as side effect of medical treatments, amongst other, and probably a lot of unknown, causes.

Dowwie• 7 years ago

Asian cultures have known about this link for a long time and their diets reflect that. Hot and cold foods aren't just related to temperature.

sslayer• 7 years ago

Can you clarify and quantify that statement? I'm not sure what you mean by Hot and Cold foods and temperature? And how are each integrated into the overall diet? Is there any information you could point us too?

wahern• 7 years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_food_therapy

Of course, the notion that there's a correlation between what you consume and what your body exhibits is common to pretty much every culture, including modern culture. Likewise for classes of foods correlating with classes of ailments.

The devil is in the details--what's the particular effect, if any, of a particular ingredient or mix or ingredients. Rarely do the claims and the reality line up in a rigorous, medically significant manner. But like with religion, the classes of foods and ailments are susceptible to very liberal interpretation, and lend themselves to equivocation with whatever correlation may actually exist. And because foods obviously can and do have significant health effects, opportunities for coincidental relationships abound.

That said, modern food science isn't particularly rigorous either, relies on its own gross generalizations and fallacies, and even shares some with folk medicine--most infamously, the supposed relationship of salt and saturated fat consumption to hypertension and cholesterol, respectively, exhibit many of the same classic errors you see in folk medicine.

grawprog• 7 years ago

Probably this?

https://dw.com/en/healthy-eating-in-traditional-chinese-medi...

csours• 7 years ago

As someone with sinus allergies, I wonder if this could be partially attributed to things like airflow.

aitchnyu• 7 years ago

I felt mildly feverish and had aches. I also slept poorly because of narrow passages causing brain fog. Then I had FESS which cleared the chronic infection. Now I sleep better and almost got rid of brain fog.

xvilka• 7 years ago

To everyone who wants to do keto - keep an eye on your renal function and acidity. Keto in general is good, but may damage your kidneys in some (uncommon) cases.

chiefalchemist• 7 years ago

"For example, people living with a medical condition or being very overweight might complain of cognitive impairment, but it’s hard to tell if that’s due to the inflammation associated with these conditions or if there are other reasons.”"

Is this study proof inflammation is the root cause, or that it correlates with other symptom.

I can here it now, "Obesity isn't my problem, inflammation is." Or "It's not my lifestyle. I don't need to exercise and/or eat well. My problem is inflammation."

rorykoehler2• 7 years ago

Exercise and diet are proven to reduce inflammation.

louis87992• 7 years ago

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315255.php

Good news is, just 20 minutes of exercise is enough to reduce inflammation.

Bizarro3• 7 years ago

Exercise might help, but a change of diet will help a lot more.

bob1029• 7 years ago

Both of these are equally important. Diet and exercise are 2 sides of the same coin. This is why they are usually mentioned together using a conjunction when one gives health advice.

Exercise has direct impact on inflammation markers (initially increases them, but suppresses them over longer timescales), and also helps substantially with nutrient uptake + digestion. You may also find that you crave healthier food options immediately after having just completed an arduous workout.

In my experience, the best approach for keeping inflammation under control and generally being in the best mental state possible is to exercise every morning while fasted, and then eat 1 big meal sometime in the afternoon. This approach ensures your body experiences a shift in metabolic modes on a daily basis, and makes it a much more seamless experience as you shift between them (assuming you stay consistent). I feel that being in a ketogenic state (i.e. right after you complete your fasted exercise session and before you eat your big meal) yields countless health benefits. And, if you can essentially guarantee that you experience this mode for 4+ hours every day, whatever benefits it may confer should be substantially realized.

Link between inflammation and mental sluggishness shown in new study

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