Inflammation and Diet: What Actually Helps and What to Watch For
You probably don't think about inflammation until something hurts. A swollen ankle, a sore throat, a cut that goes red and warm. That's your immune system doing exactly what it should: rushing defence cells to the site, cleaning up damage, then standing down.
The trouble starts when that process doesn't switch off. When low-grade inflammation lingers for weeks or months without a clear trigger, your body stays in a quiet state of alert. You won't necessarily feel it. There's no swelling to point at. But your immune system is spending energy it shouldn't need to spend, and that background activity is worth understanding.
Diet is the lever most within your reach, and it is also where the marketing is loudest: turmeric lattes, celery juice, £40 anti-inflammatory blends on the shelf at the health shop. Some of that has real nutritional science behind it. Much of it does not, and the difference is worth several hundred pounds a year to you.
Acute vs Chronic Inflammation: Why the Difference Matters
Acute inflammation is the short-term kind. You cut your finger, it swells, immune cells arrive, repair happens, and the process resolves within days. That's healthy. You want that response to work.
Chronic inflammation is different. It's a persistent, low-level immune response that continues even when there's no injury or infection to fight. Your white blood cells remain active with nothing specific to target. Over time, this background activity can affect tissues that were otherwise healthy.
You won't always know it's happening. Chronic inflammation doesn't announce itself the way a sprained wrist does. That's what makes it worth paying attention to the factors you can actually control, starting with what you eat.
What Drives Chronic Inflammation in Everyday Life
Researchers have identified several factors that contribute to ongoing inflammation. Some you can't change, like age. But many sit squarely within your daily habits:
- A diet high in ultra-processed foods, refined sugars, and saturated fats
- Sedentary routines with little regular movement
- Poor or irregular sleep
- Chronic stress without adequate recovery
- Smoking
- Carrying excess body weight, particularly around the midsection
- Nutrient gaps, especially in the vitamins and minerals immune function relies on
We put nutrient gaps at the bottom of that list on purpose. It is the item people treat as separate from the rest, as something a supplement settles independently of how they sleep or what they eat, and it does not work that way.
If you're reading the list and recognising three or four items, that is the ordinary state of modern life rather than a personal failing. The encouraging part is that dietary changes are among the most direct levers you have.
How Your Diet Influences Your Inflammatory Response
The advice to "eat anti-inflammatory foods" gets repeated so often it's almost lost meaning. Here's what it actually comes down to: your body produces free radicals as a normal part of metabolism. Antioxidants help keep those free radicals in check. When the balance tips, with more free radicals than your antioxidant defences can handle, that oxidative stress contributes to inflammation.
So "anti-inflammatory eating" really means two things at once. You're reducing the inputs that generate excess free radicals (ultra-processed foods, excess sugar, industrial seed oils). And you're increasing the foods that supply antioxidants and other protective compounds (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, oily fish or algae-based omega-3 sources).
We work at the second of those two levers, and we would rather say plainly that it is the smaller one. Adding nutrients to a diet is easier to sell than removing the inputs that generate the problem, which is exactly why so much of this category is sold as addition.
In practice, that looks like building meals around whole foods rather than stripping individual nutrients out of context. If you're checking labels for omega-3 content but your breakfast is a sugary cereal and your lunch comes from a packet, the omega-3 won't do much heavy lifting on its own.
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Anti-Inflammatory Dietary Patterns That Have Evidence Behind Them
Three broad dietary patterns have consistent research backing for reducing markers of inflammation:
Mediterranean-style eating centres on vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, and fish. It's the most studied dietary pattern in relation to inflammatory markers, and the research consistently shows lower levels of C-reactive protein (a standard inflammation marker) in people following this pattern.
Low-carbohydrate approaches have shown particular benefit for people carrying excess weight. By reducing refined carbohydrates and processed sugars, you're removing some of the most common dietary triggers for inflammatory responses.
Plant-based diets (vegetarian and vegan approaches) tend to be naturally high in antioxidants, fibre, and phytonutrients. If you're following a plant-based diet, your main consideration is ensuring you're getting adequate omega-3 fatty acids, B12, and other nutrients that are less abundant in plant foods.
Of the three, the Mediterranean pattern is the one we would put money behind, because it has by far the largest randomised trial base rather than the most enthusiastic write-ups. The low-carbohydrate evidence is narrower and applies mainly to people carrying excess weight.
None of these patterns require perfection. What matters is the overall pattern over weeks and months, not whether you had chips on Saturday.
The Role of Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Managing Inflammation
EPA, DHA, and Their Recognised Health Functions
Omega-3 fatty acids are polyunsaturated fats that your body can't manufacture on its own. The two forms that matter most here are EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
EPA and DHA contribute to the normal function of the heart (EFSA-authorised health claim, Commission Regulation EU No 432/2012, at a daily intake of 250 mg of EPA and DHA). DHA also contributes to the maintenance of normal brain function and normal vision (EFSA-authorised, at a daily intake of 250 mg of DHA).
Beyond these authorised claims, EPA and DHA are involved in the production of resolvins, a class of signalling molecules that help your body wind down inflammatory responses once they've done their job. Think of resolvins as the "stand down" signal. Without enough EPA and DHA, that signal can be weaker than it should be.
Why ALA Conversion Falls Short for Most People
Your body can convert the plant-based omega-3 ALA (found in flaxseed, chia, and walnuts) into EPA and DHA, but the conversion rate is low. Most estimates put it at around 5-10% for EPA and even less for DHA. That's why direct sources of EPA and DHA, whether from fish or from algae-based supplements, matter if you're serious about getting enough.
The spread in those conversion figures is what we kept running into when we set dose targets against the EFSA intake conditions. You cannot build a reliable 250 mg into someone's day out of a conversion step that varies several-fold between people, so we stopped trying and sourced the fatty acids directly.
Vitamins and Minerals That Support Your Immune System
Omega-3 gets the headlines, but it's not working alone. Several vitamins and minerals play recognised roles in normal immune function:
Vitamin C and Oxidative Stress Protection
Vitamin C contributes to the normal function of the immune system and to the protection of cells from oxidative stress (EFSA-authorised health claims, EU No 432/2012). You'll find it in citrus fruits, peppers, broccoli, and berries. Most people eating a varied diet get enough, but if your fruit and vegetable intake is genuinely low, it's worth checking.
B Vitamins, Vitamin D, and Zinc for Immune Function
Vitamin B6, B12, vitamin D and zinc all carry the same authorised claim: each contributes to normal immune function (EFSA-authorised, EU No 432/2012). Zinc carries a second, for protecting cells from oxidative stress, and B12 a third, for reducing tiredness and fatigue.
Where you get them matters more than the claim wording. Zinc comes from shellfish, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains, and you will manage it on most diets. B12 is the exception: if you eat plant-based, supplementing is not optional, because reliable plant sources barely exist.
Vitamin D is the one the British climate decides for you. Government guidance here is that everyone considers a supplement through autumn and winter, when the sun is too weak for your skin to make any.
All of that is support for normal function. None of it is treatment for a diagnosed inflammatory condition, and a product implying otherwise has left the evidence behind.
Where ULTANA Phytoplankton Fits In
Why We Formulated ULTANA Around Nannochloropsis
We formulated ULTANA Phytoplankton around Nannochloropsis, a marine microalgae species that's naturally rich in EPA. We chose this species specifically because it provides EPA in its whole-food matrix rather than as an isolated extract, meaning you're getting the fatty acid alongside the other compounds naturally present in the organism.
ULTANA also contains chlorophyll, zeaxanthin, lutein, B-vitamins, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and minerals including iron, magnesium, and zinc. That nutrient breadth is what sets a whole-food source apart from a single-nutrient supplement: you're not just topping up one thing in isolation.
What ULTANA Does Not Cover
To be straight with you: ULTANA is an EPA source, not a combined EPA and DHA source. If you need DHA as well (and most people do, particularly for brain and eye health), you'll want to pair it with our algae-based DHA supplement or another DHA source. We could have glossed over that, but it wouldn't help you make the right choice.
We also won't call ULTANA a miracle anti-inflammatory product. What we can say is that it provides EPA (which contributes to normal heart function at adequate intakes) alongside a broad spectrum of micronutrients that support normal immune function. Whether that makes a noticeable difference for you depends on your overall diet, your current nutrient status, and how consistent you are with it.
Lifestyle Factors That Work Alongside Diet
Diet isn't the whole picture. If you're eating well but sleeping badly, sitting all day, and running on cortisol, you're undermining your own efforts. These lifestyle factors work alongside dietary choices:
- Regular movement: Even 30 minutes of moderate activity most days makes a measurable difference. You don't need a gym membership; a brisk walk counts.
- Sleep quality: Poor sleep disrupts your immune regulation. If you're consistently getting fewer than seven hours, that's worth addressing before you optimise your supplement stack.
- Stress management: Chronic stress keeps cortisol elevated, which promotes inflammatory signalling. Whatever works for you, whether that's walking, reading, gardening, or switching off your phone, matters more than which specific technique you choose.
- Not smoking: Smoking is one of the strongest modifiable drivers of systemic inflammation. If you're spending money on anti-inflammatory supplements while still smoking, the maths doesn't add up.
The point isn't to do all of these perfectly. It's to recognise that inflammation responds to your overall pattern of living, not to any single food or supplement in isolation.
Sources
- Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J et al. Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. N Engl J Med. 2018;378(25):e34. PubMed
- Calder PC. Omega-3 fatty acids and inflammatory processes. Nutrients. 2010;2(3):355-374. PubMed
- Serhan CN. Pro-resolving lipid mediators are leads for resolution physiology. Nature. 2014;510(7503):92-101. PubMed
- Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012 establishing a list of permitted health claims. Official Journal of the EU. L 136/1. EUR-Lex
Cara Hayes, MSc Nutrition and Dietetics (University of Sydney), writes all content in the Phytality Knowledge Centre. Read our editorial policy.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult your GP or a qualified healthcare professional before starting any supplement.
Methodology and Disclosure
Phytality manufactures algae-based omega-3 supplements and has a commercial interest in the omega-3 section of this article. Nutrient function statements are EFSA-authorised claims cited with their intake conditions under Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012. None of them is a claim to treat, prevent or cure an inflammatory condition.
Statements about dietary patterns and inflammatory markers reflect the published studies listed above. The resolvin mechanism is established in the lipid mediator literature and is described here as biology, not as a product benefit.
Last reviewed: August 2026
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