The short list that survives review
After the claims fail and the levers are ranked, one dietary finding holds at the top grade. It is shorter than any food list for sale, and that is the finding.
This is the shortest chapter in the publication, and that is the finding, not an apology. When 2% of a field reaches high certainty, a long “what works” list would have to be manufactured.
The one top-grade dietary finding
AStrong evidenceA Mediterranean-style pattern lowers CRP and hs-CRP in adults with at least one chronic condition: −0.37 to −1.04 mg/L.
Three independent syntheses with different methods, databases and populations agree — including a 2026 meta-analysis of 33 randomised trials, n = 3,476.
Source: PMID 40657695, 39364652, 41211687
It has three explicit boundaries: the population is adults with an existing condition, the effect is largest where the markers start highest, and trials ran for weeks to months, not days. It does not lower TNF-α. Everything else in the chapter sits below it.