Neuroinflammation & Gut-Brain Crosstalk

Why your mood, focus, and stress response are more than just mental.

Inflammation isn’t failure. It isn’t your body working against you. It’s a response, a signal that something isn’t right.

And that response isn’t always loud or obvious.

Sometimes it sounds like forgetfulness. Sometimes it feels like brain fog, mood swings, or a strange, heavy irritation. Sometimes it’s anxiety in your chest before you’ve even had a thought.

This is neuroinflammation, a quiet, internal fire. Not a fever. Not a headache. But a change in how your brain and body talk to each other.

And it often starts far away from your brain, in your gut.

The gut isn’t just about digestion

It’s a conversation hub.

Your gut is lined with nerves, immune cells, and trillions of microbes that communicate with your brain constantly. Through the vagus nerve. Through hormones. Through immune signals. This isn’t just a channel. It’s a loop, called the gut-brain axis.

The gut tells the brain what’s happening. The brain tells the gut how to respond. Back and forth, every day, all day.

So when your gut is calm, your brain tends to be calm. When your gut is inflamed, your brain picks up on that, and starts preparing for threat.

It doesn’t always feel like belly pain. It often shows up as irritability. Restlessness. Fatigue. A brain that won’t focus and a body that feels… overstimulated by life.

So what drives the inflammation?

Not one thing. But many small things, often over time. These are some of the key drivers that feed into cellular pathways:

• Eating food that inflames the gut lining or feeds the wrong microbes.

• Chronic stress that increases permeability (aka “leaky gut”).

• Poor sleep, blood sugar spikes, overtraining, under-repairing.

• Bacterial overgrowth, hidden pathogens, or microbial imbalance.

• Additives, alcohol, environmental toxins.

• A nervous system stuck in bracing mode, telling your body to stay on guard.

Each of these may seem small. But together, they tip the immune system into a persistent, low-grade alarm state. And when that alarm reaches the brain, everything starts to feel louder.

Your threshold shrinks. Your fuse shortens. Your clarity fades.

Food That Feeds the Loop

Support for the gut-brain-inflammation connection

Food can calm this loop. Not as a fix, but as a form of feedback. It’s one of the clearest signals you send to your immune system, your microbes, and your nervous system, multiple times a day.

These foods don’t erase inflammation. But they help create an environment where inflammation doesn’t have to shout.

Food Group	Examples	Why They Help
Omega-3 rich foods	Wild salmon, sardines, walnuts, chia seeds, flaxseeds	Reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, support brain cell membrane health
Polyphenol-rich plants	Blueberries, pomegranate, cacao, green tea, rosemary, turmeric	Modulate inflammation, support gut microbes, protect neurons from oxidative damage
Bitter + leafy greens	Rocket, dandelion, kale, radicchio, parsley	Support liver detox and gut resilience, offer minerals and immune-regulating compounds
Collagen + gut support	Bone broth, gelatin, slow-cooked meats, cabbage, cooked carrots	Soothe gut lining, lower immune activation from “leaky” gut
Fermented (if tolerated)	Sauerkraut, kefir, miso, yoghurt, lacto-fermented pickles	Enhance microbial diversity, produce neuroactive metabolites (e.g., GABA, SCFAs)
Root veg + resistant starch	Cooked and cooled potatoes, sweet potato, parsnips, green banana flour	Feed short-chain fatty acid production, support gut lining and microbial calm
Mineral-rich foods	Pumpkin seeds, shellfish, seaweed, avocado, beet greens	Provide magnesium, zinc, iodine—key cofactors in calming inflammation and supporting nervous tone
Hydrating + soothing	Herbal teas (chamomile, ginger, fennel), cucumber, coconut water	Reduce nervous system “heat,” support digestive motility and electrolyte balance

Food That Fuels the Fire

When your body’s just trying to protect you.

This list isn’t about restriction. It’s about awareness.

If your system is already inflamed, sensitive, or dysregulated, these foods may be turning up the volume, especially on gut-derived signals that your brain is forced to interpret as stress.

Knowing this can help you make choices that support regulation, not reaction.

Category	Examples	Why They Can Be Inflammatory
Ultra-processed foods	Packaged snacks, frozen meals, flavoured chips, protein bars with additives	Low in nutrients, high in preservatives and additives that confuse immune cells + irritate the gut
Refined sugars	Sugary cereals, pastries, soft drinks, hidden sugars in sauces	Feed pro-inflammatory gut bacteria, trigger blood sugar crashes that activate stress responses
Industrial seed oils	Soybean oil, canola, corn, cottonseed oils (especially in fried foods)	High in omega-6s that promote inflammatory cytokine production, especially when oxidised
Artificial additives	Emulsifiers, flavour enhancers, colours, thickeners	Disrupt gut barrier, alter microbiota, increase gut permeability
Alcohol (esp. frequent)	Wine, spirits, beer	Disrupts gut lining, alters microbial balance, increases permeability + neuroinflammatory response
Food sensitivities (bio-individual)	Gluten, dairy, histamines, eggs, soy, nightshades	Can act as immune triggers for some individuals, especially with leaky gut or autoimmune issues
Overconsumption of caffeine	Energy drinks, multiple coffees, especially on empty stomach	Stimulates cortisol, irritates gut lining, masks fatigue that’s asking for rest
Low-fibre, low-polyphenol diet	White bread, processed meat, beige diet with few plants	Starves protective gut bacteria, allows inflammatory strains to dominate

The bottom line

You’re not overreacting. You’re not too sensitive. You’re inflamed, and your brain is trying to make sense of it.

That doesn't mean you're broken. It means your body is responding, the only way it knows how.

And food, in all its simplicity, gives you a way to respond back.

Not with control. Not with perfection. But with attention.

When the gut gets support, the brain doesn’t have to brace. When the fire calms down, your clarity starts to return. Your emotions soften. Your nervous system can shift out of defence.

This isn’t about fixing yourself. It’s about creating conditions for your system to come home.