NHS surgeon explains real reason you can’t shake off inflammation: ‘Simply the types of foods that you’re…’
Most people believe that inflammation is primarily caused by stress, sleep, or diet, but the real culprit is often an imbalanced microbiome. When those good bacteria go rogue, it’s like a fire alarm goes off, and inflammation spreads throughout your body. The culprit could be a diet low in fibre, polyphenols, and antioxidants. The bottom line? According to Dr Karan Rajan, an NHS surgeon, feeding your gut the good stuff may help reduce your inflammation levels. Also read | Feeling sluggish and bloated? These anti-inflammatory tips will change your life
Gut check: the hidden cause of inflammation?
In an Instagram clip from the November 19, 2025 episode of Dr Darshan Shah’s Extend series, which dropped on YouTube, Dr Karan discussed the connection between an unhealthy gut microbiome and systemic inflammation within the body.
Dr Rajan explained that this inflammatory response can be triggered through several key mechanisms, primarily related to diet. For instance, insufficiently feeding beneficial gut bacteria with necessary nutrients can cause them to become pro-inflammatory. Additionally, a lack of antioxidant-rich foods like fibre and polyphenols deprives the body of direct anti-inflammatory benefits that extend beyond the gut.
He also shared that when the balance shifts away from healthy bacteria, pathogenic species thrive — often by fermenting substances like sugars or meats — leading these ‘bad’ bacteria to initiate the inflammatory cascade. Dr Rajan highlighted three key ways an unhealthy microbiome leads to inflammation:
Not feeding good bacteria enough
Dr Rajan said: “There’s multiple routes by which this unhealthy microbiome leads to inflammation. One is that you’re not feeding the bacteria well enough. And just simply not feeding them, as we suggested, it causes them to sort of just go rogue and start to switch on this pro-inflammatory cascade.”
Missing out on antioxidant-rich foods
He added, “Another thing would be that simply the types of foods that you’re likely not eating, right? Fibre, polyphenols, all of those things are antioxidant-rich foods. So those types of foods are directly driving down inflammation in roots beyond the microbiome as well. Gut liver access, gut-immune axis, gut-hormone axis.”
Allowing pathogenic bacteria to thrive
He further shared: “Also, the third thing would be if you’re not taking care of those good bacterial species, you get an like you know the equilibrium is shifted and the sort of pathogenic bacteria, which are likely hardier, don’t need certain things to thrive or prefer to ferment things like meats and red meats and things like that, or sugars, they start to thrive. And then those sort of bad bacteria start to pump out.”
Note to readers: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice.
