The best anti-inflammatory foods, ranked by the data
Inflammation is the slow fire behind most modern disease. These foods put it out — and the data says which ones do it best.
Short-term inflammation is how you heal — it’s the redness around a cut, the fever that fights an infection. The problem is the other kind: low-grade, chronic inflammation that never switches off. It’s now tied to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cognitive decline and the general wear of ageing. And more than almost anything else, what you eat turns that fire up or down.
Anti-inflammatory potential is one of the twelve dimensions the Healthy Body Index scores directly, measured against the Dietary Inflammatory Index — a validated scale built from hundreds of studies on how specific foods and nutrients shift inflammation in the body. Here’s what rises to the top.
How inflammation gets scored
The Dietary Inflammatory Index assigns foods and nutrients an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory value based on the weight of published evidence. Fibre, magnesium, omega-3 fats, and a long list of plant polyphenols pull the score in the anti-inflammatory direction. Refined carbohydrates, excess saturated fat, and ultra-processing pull it the other way. HBI folds that into each food’s overall number, so an anti-inflammatory food tends to score well without you having to do the maths.
The top anti-inflammatory foods
Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables
Kale, spinach and broccoli — and especially broccoli sprouts — combine fibre, magnesium and sulforaphane, a compound that activates your body’s own antioxidant defences via the NRF2 pathway. They’re about as anti-inflammatory as food gets.
Fatty fish
The long-chain omega-3s (EPA and DHA) in wild salmon and sardines are among the most reliably anti-inflammatory nutrients in the diet — they’re the raw material your body uses to build its inflammation-resolving signals.
Berries
The deep blue-purple of blueberries comes from anthocyanins, polyphenols repeatedly linked to lower inflammatory markers. Colour, in fruit, is a rough readout of anti-inflammatory power.
Extra-virgin olive oil
Extra-virgin olive oil contains oleocanthal, a compound whose anti-inflammatory action has been compared, mechanistically, to a mild dose of ibuprofen. It’s a cornerstone of the Mediterranean pattern for good reason.
Turmeric and other spices
Turmeric’s curcumin is one of the most studied anti-inflammatory compounds in food. Absorption is the catch — pair it with black pepper and a little fat to get meaningfully more of it into your system.
No one food resolves chronic inflammation. What moves the needle is the overall pattern — lots of plants, colour and omega-3s; far less refined starch, sugar and ultra-processed fat. HBI’s daily score is built to reward exactly that pattern.
The foods quietly turning the fire up
- Refined carbohydrates — white bread, pastries and sugary drinks spike blood sugar and drive inflammatory signalling.
- Processed and charred meats — high in compounds (AGEs) that promote inflammation.
- Ultra-processed foods — NOVA class 4 products combine refined starch, industrial fats and additives; they score low on HBI largely because of this.
- Excess omega-6 seed oils — not inflammatory in isolation, but the modern imbalance of omega-6 to omega-3 tilts the body toward inflammation.
Turn it into a plate
- 01Build meals around plants and colour — aim to hit several colour groups a day.
- 02Eat oily fish a couple of times a week, or a plant omega-3 source daily.
- 03Cook with extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and turmeric as your defaults.
- 04Treat refined starch and ultra-processed food as occasional, not foundational.
You don’t have to memorise the index. Look up any food in the HBI catalogue and its anti-inflammatory contribution is already baked into the score — or jump straight to the best foods for an anti-inflammatory diet.
Frequently asked
What are the best anti-inflammatory foods?
Leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables, fatty fish like salmon and sardines, berries, extra-virgin olive oil, and spices such as turmeric consistently rank highest. They supply fibre, omega-3 fats and plant polyphenols that lower inflammatory signalling.
How is a food’s anti-inflammatory effect measured?
The Healthy Body Index scores it against the Dietary Inflammatory Index, a validated scale built from hundreds of studies that rates foods and nutrients as inflammatory or anti-inflammatory. That value is one of the twelve dimensions in each food’s overall score.
Which foods are most inflammatory?
Refined carbohydrates and sugary drinks, processed and charred meats, and ultra-processed (NOVA class 4) foods are the main pro-inflammatory culprits. An imbalance of omega-6 to omega-3 fats also tilts the body toward inflammation.
Written by the team behind the Healthy Body Index. Every nutrition claim is checked against our scored food database and the published literature, and labelled by evidence strength — human trials aren’t treated the same as lab findings. More about why we built this.
Healthy Body Index provides general nutrition education. It does not diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Scores and claims describe how foods support normal healthy function, based on published research.
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