Inflammation is a natural process that happens in our body whenever it suffers from an injury or infection. Nonetheless, long term or chronic inflammation is not good for our body and mainly happen because of our diet, bad sleeping schedule, extreme stress level, obesity, diabetes, cancer, etc.

If you are facing chronic inflammation, then you do not have to worry because there are some studies which concludes that with the help cultural foods coming from the Caribbean region along with better lifestyle has shown positive impact against inflammation.

Here are some foods which are common in Caribbean culture that can help against inflammation:

Cocoa and Dark Chocolate

We cannot talk about Caribbean food items without mentioning products made from cocoa. Cocoa products also have flavanols which is an antioxidant that comes with an anti-inflammatory property that can be beneficial for the health of our blood vessel and can help in reducing the risk of heart diseases.

Apart from this cocoa and dark chocolate that are high in flavanol will protect your blood vessels from oxidative stress that happens when you get old or do smoking. Cocoa also helps in producing nitric oxide which is important when it comes reducing inflammation and enhances your blood flow.

The more cocoa in your dark chocolate, more flavanols it will have thus better antioxidants properties. The sweetness will be a bit on the lower side considering the amount of cocoa it comes with. You can use dark chocolate as a snack or just have them with your cup of tea.

Acerola

Acerola is also known as the West Indian cherry and comes with some great level of ascorbic acid and amazing source of vitamin C as well. In one cup of acerola, we can get 1650 mg of vitamin C which is even more than your daily income recommended that is 75mg for women and 90mg for men.  Vitamin C is beneficial against inflammation by fighting against free radicals.

Acerola also comes with other compounds as well like flavonoids, carotenoids, etc. that can have anti-inflammatory and anti-aging properties. This fruit mainly blooms during spring and autumn. 

Pimento Pepper

Peppers belong to the family of capsicum and one of the peppers is pimento pepper that come with phytochemical compounds which consists of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.

There was a study done which concludes that capsaicin which is found in hot peppers can help in releasing compounds that can reduce the production of inflammations.

Pimento pepper is a bit like habanero pepper but has less spice and heat to it. This pepper is mainly used in adding flavours to myriad dishes.

Roselle

Roselle is also known as red sorrel which is considered as natural medicine. There are many studies which says that roselle are beneficial in reducing cholesterol and blood pressure. Apart from this roselle are beneficial for reducing weight, resistant against insulin, etc. Advantages of red sorrel comes with great level of anthocyanins along withs some other polyphenols. You can try getting some roselle tea as well which you can have as cold or hold. If you want to try something new and unique you can go with the traditional Christmastime drink sorrel juice which is very popular in the Caribbean. Beverages made from roselle will be beneficial when it comes to reducing inflammation. Apart from this it can also help when it comes to reducing blood pressure, weight, resistance against insulin, etc.

Passion Fruit

There are different extracts coming from Passiflora and one of them is passion fruit and is scientifically known as Passiflora edulis. Passion fruit has been used for different herbal medicines that are beneficial when it comes to treating anxiety and convulsive disorders. This fruit comes with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties because of flavonoids, piceatannol, and triterpenoids which can also help in reducing your blood pressure, cholesterol, and sugar level.

There was a study done on passion fruit which concludes that it can help when it comes to enhancing your insulin sensitivity, blood pressure, heart rate, etc. especially when it comes to men who are overweight. The results are not the same when we are talking about women who are overweight.

You can consume passion fruit just raw or try making juice which is a popular breakfast option in the Hawaiian region.

Conclusion

When normal inflammation turns into chronic inflammation it can get a bit dangerous because it increases the chances of getting different health issues like diabetes, heart problems, cancer, etc.

Having some cultural foods like passion fruit, red sorrel, cocoa, etc. can help in fighting against chronic inflammation because of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties it comes with.