Health:How an Anti-Inflammatory Diet Can Relieve Pain /scientists teach rats hide-and-seek

How an Anti-Inflammatory Diet Can Relieve Pain as You Age If you suffer from chronic pain, experts say a diet makeover with a focus on vegetables can have a dramatic effect. Patients who follow strict vegan or Mediterranean diets have seen a complete turnaround in their pain symptoms, according to pain management specialist William Welches, DO, PhD. He says getting regular exercise, controlling stress and eating healthy foods all work together to reduce inflammation and chronic pain. “Research shows that diet should be an integral part of a pain management program — especially as patients age,” says Dr. Welches. “A vegan or Mediterranean diet — or healthier eating inspired by these diets — can control insulin and cholesterol levels and reduce inflammation — which is the pain culprit.” Painful inflammation is body’s response to toxins Inflammation is the body’s immune response to toxins as it works to “purify” itself. The resulting inflammation not only causes pain in the body. Over time, it also can trigger chronic diseases, such as heart disease and strokes, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and even depression. There are many ways to treat and manage chronic pain. One of the most exciting approaches, however — because it is all natural — is adopting an anti-inflammatory diet. The other options for pain don’t always work. Many patients don’t benefit from neural (nerve) blocks, and medication therapy often leads to undesired side effects. An anti-inflammatory diet, however, often eliminates the unpleasant side effects of some medications that cause fogginess, memory loss and sleepiness. “Following an anti-inflammatory diet is powerful therapy for pain control with many beneficial side effects,” Dr. Welches says. “The anti-inflammatory diet is considered an integrative approach to pain management, along with exercise, stress management, osteopathic manipulation therapy and acupuncture.” A good amount of research also shows that an anti-inflammatory diet can ease fibromyalgia and chronic pain symptoms. The 3 diet basics you need to know Dr. Welches advocates the following three basic diet guidelines, noting that physicians should encourage all of their patients to consider them: . Eat the rainbow: Consume eight to nine servings of vegetables each day — make a couple of those servings fruit, if you like. Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower are best. . Restrict dairy and grains: Eat dairy products in limited quantities. When choosing grains, stay away from simple carbohydrates with refined sugar. Opt for whole grains, including barley, buckwheat, oats, quinoa, brown rice, rye, spelt and wheat. . Avoid red meat: Eat red meat the way most of us eat turkey right now — twice a year, Dr. Welches says. Have it on very special occasions, very infrequently. Instead, include fish as the “meat” or eat vegetarian main dishes. Chicken is neutral — not harmful but not beneficial in the anti-inflammatory sense. Take these additional steps to enhance your results To make your diet part of an integrative lifestyle built to reduce chronic pain and reduce or eliminate inflammation, Dr. Welches recommends these additional priorities: • Get down to your ideal weight. Weight loss on its own is anti-inflammatory. • Get daily exercise in the form of walking. • Manage stress. It is the diet, not the individual foods, that control inflammation, he says. “For a chronic pain patient who is suffering, I recommend the extreme form of the diet — so that is no red meat, no flour or sugar or simple carbohydrate and no dairy,” he says. Exercise is an added benefit, particularly if people are overweight. “If there is any extra weight, you will need to lose it,” he says. Ultimately, what you need to know is that inflammation comes from a biochemical reaction initiated by your immune system or wound-healing coagulation system, Dr. Welches says. Specific foods can promote or shut down the inflammatory cycle. For instance, simple carbohydrates promote it, while vegetables shut it down. “Nutrition that supports a diet rich in anti-inflammatory foods is the key to anti-inflammation and chronic pain management,” Dr. Welches says. “Although there are no magic foods, putting the right combination of foods into your diet can produce remarkable results.” In a study on playing, scientists teach rats hide-and-seek Scientists played hide-and-seek with rats who seemed to love the game. The rats were really good at it. The experiment was published in the journal Science. It was published on September 13. The study showed that the rodents have a sophisticated sense of play with complex mechanisms at work in their brains. It also hints at the evolutionary usefulness of this type of play. "I thought it was a major scientific contribution to the field," said Jeffrey Burgdorf. He is a neuroscientist at Northwestern University. A neuroscientist studies the neurons and the brain. They study how these impact behavior and learning. Burgdorf was not involved in the study. In recent years, scientists have started to study the neural, behavioral and evolutionary roots of play. Play is confusing because it is done with no obvious goal other than to just play. However, all kinds of animals play. Play seems to be a key part of young mammalian development. Playing Helps Train The Brain Michael Brecht was the study's senior author. He said the playful behaviors probably help train the brain. "Many people think play and fun and all of these things are kind of trivial behaviors, but I think the opposite is the case," Brecht said. Scientists have studied simple types of play in all kinds of mammals including laboratory rats. These rats even emitted ultrasonic "giggles" when they were tickled.  Hide-and-seek is more complex than something like playful wrestling. There are several reasons for that.  To play hide-and-seek, you have to understand the rules and different players' roles. You also need to be able to hide or seek. The scientists taught six teenage male rats how to play hide-and-seek one-on-one. There was a large room with cardboard barriers for scientists and small containers for the rats to hide in. Seeker Rats Made Victory Sounds The game started when the rat was placed in a small box in the middle of the room. If the rat was the "seeker," the scientist would hide. If the rat was the "hider," the scientist would wait for the rodent to hide.  All six rats learned how to be the seeker. Five of them were able to be the hider as well. The rats would be rewarded when the scientist found a hiding rat or was found by a seeking rat. They were rewarded with petting, tickling or playing before the game started again. The rats were smart. If their opponent had a favorite hiding spot, they would check there. The rats even made ultrasonic calls in a victory cry when they found the hider.  The rats also had different strategies when they hid. They often switched up their hiding spots. They also preferred to hide in opaque boxes rather than transparent ones. They did not make the same victory cry when they were found. That shows they were trying to stay hidden. The rats would even try to extend playtime. They would run away from the scientist to go hide again. This showed that the rats were playing for fun rather than the reward. Hide-And-Seek Might Be A Very Old Game Scientists could tell the rats were enjoying themselves because they did "joy jumps." They also made lots of calls when the game ended and when it began. While the rats played, the scientists measured their brain activity from neurons in the medial prefrontal cortex. That region of the brain is linked to rules and social ties.  The scientists think that hide-and-seek might be a very old game because of how good the rats were.  Why do rats and other animals engage in different forms of play?  One possible answer is that games like hide-and-seek help small animals like rats learn to hide from predators. Playing also can help young animals learn how to interact socially with other animals. Scientists think hide-and-seek can also help test whether rats have "Theory of Mind" skills. That would mean rats can perceive others' perspectives like humans and other primat