The Use of Immunological Markers Measured from Cell Culture and Blood Serum to Gauge the Antiinflammatory Effect and Therapeutic Application of Food

Abstract

Dietary practice focuses on recommendations for anti-inflammatory foods and their therapeutic effects to treat, correct, or prevent pathological damage from diet and lifestyle. Research has had inconclusive proof of their anti-inflammatory effects by merely clinical correlation between disease and serum antioxidant levels. The purpose of this paper was to examine research that has used advancement in measuring immunological biomarkers to test anti-inflammatory effects and therapeutic uses of these foods. As immunological pathways are directly responsible for inflammation, it seems logical to study and measure anti-inflammatory foods’ impact on these pathways. This paper summarised the results of 9 articles that measured the effect of foods on biomarkers histamine, IgE, FcεRI receptors, among others. Measuring these biomarkers, each article found mostly significant reduction in inflammation. Some studied a step further, using an extract of the food to treat induced inflammation and often found that some applications of the food did have a therapeutic effect. These conclusions are cautionary as there are as yet few articles published on few foods. There is not enough data yet to make recommendations for the ideal application of therapeutic foods. More research needs to be done in this area. Dietetics researchers have an opportunity to get involved in the data collection needed to quantify a food’s anti-inflammatory effect and best therapeutic practice.