A Healthy Diet Could Help Ease Chronic Pain

Chronic pain can affect all aspects of a person’s daily life and overall health. But new research suggests embracing a healthy diet might be one way to lower the intensity of that pain, regardless of a person’s weight.

The new study, published in Nutrition Research in October, could offer an accessible, readily available tool for tackling chronic pain.

The implications could be especially significant given just how many people live with this “common and disabling health problem,” said study author Sue Ward, a researcher and PhD candidate at the University of South Australia. Nearly 52 million Americans and one in five people globally experience chronic pain.

“Those who experience chronic pain often have a higher weight compared to the general population,” Ward told Health. “Food choices that influence the overall quality of a person’s diet may contribute to an individual’s pain by affecting their weight or triggering bodily processes such as inflammation.”

Here’s what experts had to say about the new study, plus why the food you eat may be able to ease chronic pain.

For this study, Ward and her colleagues looked at data on 654 Australians who had their weight, body mass index (BMI), waist size, and other measurements recorded in a clinical setting. They also answered surveys that touched on a range of topics, including socioeconomic status, lifestyle behaviors, pain levels, and regular diets. The study participants were an average of 50 years old, and 96% were white.

Using the official Australian Dietary Guidelines as a benchmark, Ward and her team defined a healthy diet as one that incorporated “core foods” such as vegetables and fruits, grains, dairy and its alternatives, and lean meats.

They analyzed the data and found that participants who reported less chronic pain also adhered more closely to this healthy diet. This was true regardless of their BMI, waist circumference, and body fat.

“Many participants had high levels of body fat and did not adhere to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, so [they] had the low diet quality. However, people who followed the guidelines more closely had lower levels of bodily pain,” said Ward. “A healthy diet may help with pain management no matter a person’s size.”

The research team also found that the relationship between chronic pain and diet was different among men and women. Overall, women reported experiencing more pain and had a higher adherence to healthy eating. But eating healthy seemed to have a more significant effect on their pain.

“Women who consumed a higher quality diet reported lower pain and had better physical function,” Ward explained. “This effect was less pronounced in men.”

Experts still aren’t 100% sure why this might be the case, said Larissa Strath, PhD, assistant professor at the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics (HOBI) at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

Strath is currently conducting research on whether women consume more dietary fiber than men, which could have a domino effect on gut health and pain. Essentially, a healthier gut can help “prevent blood sugar spikes, which are related to inflammation and pain,” she told Health.

“There may be differences in the way men and women are metabolizing their food, as well as differences in the gut microbiome that could be influencing this relationship,” Strath added.

Strath said she and her colleagues have noticed that “poor diet quality seems to be associated with negative pain outcomes.” Now, researchers are digging into how and why.

For one, poor-quality diets can oftentimes cause weight gain, which can sometimes cause joint or other types of pain, Robert Sorge, PhD, professor of psychology and pain researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Health.

Inflammation is another likely culprit, experts agreed. Poor-quality foods can trigger low-grade inflammation throughout the body, Sorge explained. Researchers are still investigating why this is the case. But it’s possible that eating excess ultraprocessed foods or refined sugars can “wake up our immune system” in the same way bacteria or viruses might, Strath said. This releases pro-inflammatory chemicals throughout the body, she added.

Inflammation is linked to tissue damage, nervous system excitability, and persistent chronic pain, said Ward.

High consumption of sugar, saturated fats, and animal protein has also been linked to oxidative stress, which is quite similar to inflammation.

“Oxidative stress—a phenomenon where the number of free radicals is greater than the antioxidants we consume and [those that] are naturally found in our body—can lead to nerve damage [and pain],” said Strath.

Conversely, nutrient-rich foods can enhance the gut microbiome, plus “provide antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties” that protect the cells in the body from damage, Ward explained. All of these “combined effects help reduce oxidate stress and chronic inflammation,” she said.

The issue of inflammation and oxidative stress may, in part, explain why the new research found healthy diets were associated with less chronic pain, regardless of a person’s weight.

“I have interacted with plenty of individuals who are at a healthy BMI who still experience chronic pain, so there is obviously more to the story,” said Strath. “We need to look beyond a person’s body composition and take a whole-person approach when assessing, researching, and treating chronic pain conditions.”

It could also be another indicator that BMI simply “isn’t a great measure of health,” added Sorge.

This new research can’t definitively say that an unhealthy diet causes chronic pain or vice versa, said Ward. But for people living with chronic pain, experts agreed this research supports the idea that healthy eating could be a tool for some relief.

Strath said that it’s important to “take a good, honest look” at your diet and figure out if “being in pain is or is not worth making the behavior change” to alter the foods you eat.

There isn’t one specific, universal food that people should avoid to get rid of chronic pain, Strath stressed. It is highly tied to the individual.

That being said, generally prioritizing foods such as leafy greens, vegetables, berries, and nuts over processed foods and sugary drinks is a good place to start, said Sorge. With that kind of a well-balanced diet, “it is not unexpected that inflammation and subsequent pain would be reduced,” he explained.

However, being consistent is key, Strath said. Adopting a healthier diet and more exercise are “two of the most meaningful ways to manage chronic pain,” added Sorge, though they require long-term lifestyle changes.

To make sure you’re doing that safely and successfully, it can be helpful to have proper nutrition education from a dietitian or other healthcare professional, said Strath. “Discussing your diet change with your doctor, so they can make sure it will not interact with your care plan, is also ideal,” she said.

But making dietary changes isn’t always an option, she added, particularly for people living in food deserts or for those with a lower socioeconomic status.

“Those [issues] need to be addressed on a personal and societal level if we want to make meaningful change,” Strath stressed.

Diet aside, there are other things people can do to manage their chronic pain, too.

“[Having] supportive friends and family, a healthy lifestyle, and getting good sleep can have dramatic effects on chronic pain and many other aspects of physical and mental health,” said Sorge. “When compared to pharmaceuticals, these lifestyle changes are the only ones with primarily positive side effects.”