The relationship between dietary patterns and neuroinflammation.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing mechanistic, preclinical, and early clinical literature without systematic review methodology.
PubMed 41854289 · doi:10.1080/10408398.2026.2645262
What was done
This narrative review synthesized preclinical and early clinical evidence regarding the influence of dietary patterns (including Western, plant-based, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, DASH, MIND, and time-restricted eating) on neuroinflammation, microglial activation, intestinal permeability, gut microbiota, and CNS immune homeostasis in neurological and psychiatric conditions.
What was found
The abstract reports qualitative narrative findings and includes no quantitative data, odds ratios, or effect estimates. It concludes that Western diets high in saturated fats and refined sugars disrupt systemic and neuroimmune homeostasis, whereas plant-based, DASH, MIND, and time-restricted diets reduce microgliosis, suppress inflammasome signaling, and improve gut-brain axis communication.
Why it matters
It highlights actionable dietary frameworks that may help mitigate chronic neuroinflammation implicated in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and major depressive disorder.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review without structured search criteria, study quality appraisal, or meta-analytic data. Much of the underlying evidence is preclinical or derived from early clinical studies, and the abstract explicitly notes that large-scale clinical validation in humans is still lacking.
Cited by
- supports Consuming a high-sugar diet disrupts the gut microbiome and leads to brain inflammation.