While food won't replace the power of painkillers, scientists are discovering which foods help reduce pain and why. Research suggests that simply adopting a healthier diet could make a real difference for those suffering from ongoing pain.

The Science at a Glance:

• Eating well may reduce chronic pain.

• The "Western diet" (lots of processed foods, few natural ones) might make chronic pain worse.

• Supplements like grape seed extract and cocoa show promise in easing pain.

   

Can a Healthy Diet Really Help Chronic Pain?

Around the world, many cultures believe that foods like broths, stews, soups, and curries have healing powers. As the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates famously said, "Let food be thy medicine."

Modern science is starting to back up these old ideas, showing that healthy food can indeed help build a stronger, more resilient body.

A new study, published in the journal NutritionResearch, looked into the connections between body fat, diet, and pain.

"In our study, eating more 'core foods'—which means your vegetables, fruits, grains, lean meats, dairy, and alternatives—was linked to less pain, and this was true regardless of body weight," said study author Sue Ward from the University of South Australia.

"It's common knowledge that eating well is good for your health and well-being. But knowing that simple changes to your diet could lessen chronic pain could be life-changing," Ward added.

New Study Connects Food Choices to Pain Levels

"Chronic pain is a common and disabling health problem, affecting an estimated 20-30% of people worldwide. Those with chronic pain often weigh more than the general population," Ward told DW.

This study, involving Australian adults, explored whether diet was directly linked to body pain and if factors like weight or body fat influenced this connection.

"Our study found that many participants had high levels of body fat and didn't follow Australian Dietary Guidelines, meaning their diet quality was low. However, people who followed the guidelines more closely had lower levels of bodily pain," Ward explained.

Interestingly, having more body fat itself wasn't linked to more pain. Instead, pain levels were connected to the types of foods people ate.

However, Paul Durham, a pain and biology expert at Missouri State University, US, was a bit skeptical of these findings.

"The study wasn't very strong because it wasn't designed with enough statistical power to draw firm conclusions. It's more like a pilot study," he said.

How Does Diet Affect Your Pain?

Despite his criticisms of the study, Durham agrees that diet influences chronic pain and migraines.

"It's well known that higher levels of chronic pain are linked to lower intake of fruit, vegetables, dairy, and unsaturated fats," Durham stated.

Durham's main idea is that modern lifestyles, with poor diets and lack of sleep, are working against how our bodies are meant to function healthily.

He believes that most people in countries eating the "Western diet," also known as the SAD (Standard American Diet), are in a state of bodily imbalance.

A Western diet is heavy on processed foods like pizza and sweets, and light on natural produce such as fresh vegetables, fruit, grains, and certain animal products.

Durham explained that eating such an unhealthy diet has many negative effects on the body, creating a "perfect storm to make chronic pain worse."

"With this [Western diet], we're so far off track that we have chronic inflammation going on. You end up with a messed-up metabolism and something like leaky gut syndrome," Durham said.

The problem is that a Western diet doesn't provide the right nutrients your body needs. White bread, for example, has "basically no nutritional value" because the wheat kernel—which contains the minerals, vitamins, and fiber—is removed during the industrial baking process.

Without the right nutrients, our cells and immune system can't break down harmful chemicals that our bodies naturally produce all the time. These chemicals cause inflammation. At high levels, they can worsen chronic pain, heart problems, diabetes—you name it.

An unhealthy diet also affects your gut microbiome (the healthy bacteria in your gut). Diets lacking natural fibers essentially starve these good bacteria, meaning they don't produce important chemicals our bodies need.

"We need gut bacteria to make short-chain fatty acids, which are molecules that break down inflammatory molecules in our bodies. We also need bacteria to produce enough neurotransmitters," Durham explained.

Finding Foods That Reduce Pain and Inflammation

Some researchers are focusing on finding out which compounds in foods have the most beneficial impact on health and how they work.

While this area of research is still new, some early work, like that from Durham's lab, has been promising. They've shown that dietary supplements such as grape seed extract or cocoa can reduce chronic pain and migraine headaches.

These contain compounds called polyphenols, which help break down inflammatory molecules in the body, thereby reducing pain.

However, Durham doesn't believe dietary supplements or healthier eating are strong enough to be painkillers on their own. Grape seed extract won't replace ibuprofen or tramadol.

"[Dietary supplements] work to restore balance in the body, meaning people with chronic pain who take supplements don't have to rely on pharmaceuticals as much," he said.

It's also likely they will have a "ceiling effect," meaning they probably won't benefit people who already have healthy diets.

Researchers are just beginning to explore the links between nutrition and pain outcomes.

Durham's mother once commented on his research: "So what you're doing is spending a lot of money to prove common sense?"

He doesn't disagree.

"That's where I think we're at. A healthy body is about these simple things: a healthy diet, sleep, and exercise," he said.