A Silent Cause of Chronic Disease
Inflammation seems to be a popular word in current health literature and for good reason. Evidence now supports chronic inflammation as a root cause of several of our common diseases such as cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's, type II diabetes and cancer. The burden of inflammation on our health status has been recognized by the health industry and measures to address the underlying cause has become a topic of focus.
Low-grade chronic or systemic inflammation, unlike acute inflammation, acts as an underlying constant irritant to the body and its cells. Acute inflammation resolves as an injury heals whereas chronic inflammation resides in the tissues on a constant basis leading to dysfunction of cells and eventually organs and vessels.
There are a milieu of immune cells active in the body including macrophages and lymphocytes as well as proteins called cytokines and chemokines directing cellular inflammation(1). Other pro-inflammatory instigators include oxidized LDL, prostaglandins and NF kappa-beta.
Chronic inflammation can be triggered by cellular stress or dysfunction such as from free radicals causing oxidative stress (ie from smoking, stress or pollutants) or elevated blood sugar levels. It is now known that this chronic stress on the cells leads to a silent degeneration and loss of physiologic function.
Assessing your risk
Good markers that are inexpensive to test for inflammation risk include:
Cytokine testing can also be done which is more expensive but provides information on specific factors causing systemic inflammation.
Environmental toxins
The environment contains ever increasing pollutants in the air we breathe, water we drink and soil we grow our food in. Many of these harmful chemicals have been found to be endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins. There are methods to help protect yourself from these harmful chemicals. Make your home a chemical free zone. Choose household products that are chemical free, drink filtered water, choose whole, unprocessed organic or pasture-fed foods and avoid pesticides in your garden and yard.
See the CDCs Healthy House Reference Manual for more details on how to support a healthy home environment and the Multipure water filter which I recommend.
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/books/housing/housing.htm
http://www.multipure.com/
Obesity
Obesity is associated with low grade chronic inflammation which is predominately driven by adipose tissue macrophages(2). Maintaining a Body Mass Index/BMI (a calculation using weight and height to measure body fat) below 25 is a general guide to use for a healthy body weight.
Calculate your BMI here: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
Sleep
Alterations in sleep due to lifestyle factors, the aging process, and disease states have all been associated with increases in a range of inflammatory markers including monocytes, C-Reactive Protein, Natural killer cells (NK), and IL-6(3). Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. See my article on The 4 Pillars for sleep support.
Smoking
Smoking increases inflammation as reflected by the elevation of serum inflammatory markers such as fibrinogen, white blood cells and CRP(4). Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death according to the World Health Organization. Data gathered on over 15,000 smokers in one study showed smoking-associated inflammatory response returned to normal within 5 years after smokers quit thus reducing health risks associated with smoking(5).
View this article for using acupuncture to support smoking cessation.
https://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/Quit+Smoking+with+Acupuncture
Make the Change
Reducing risk factors with lifestyle modification is the best method to decrease inflammatory load in your body. In addition, supplementing with a high quality fish oil, eating or supplementing with spices such as tumeric, ginger and boswellia are a great adjunct to managing chronic inflammation. Make the necessary changes to your lifestyle to affect the inflammatory process and potentially live a longer and healthier life free of chronic illness.
References
1. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in human carcinogenesis. Int J of Cancer. 2007 Dec 1;121(11):2381-6.
2. Obesity, Inflammation, Insulin Resistance. A Mini Review. Gerontology 2009;55:379-386.
3. Sleep and Inflammation. Nutrition Reviews. Dec 2007;65:S244-S252.
4. Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfunction, and Chronic Disease. Arnson et al. 2010;p198-199.
5. PLos Med 2005. June; 2(6):e198.
www.freedigitalphotos.net/images
Low-grade chronic or systemic inflammation, unlike acute inflammation, acts as an underlying constant irritant to the body and its cells. Acute inflammation resolves as an injury heals whereas chronic inflammation resides in the tissues on a constant basis leading to dysfunction of cells and eventually organs and vessels.
There are a milieu of immune cells active in the body including macrophages and lymphocytes as well as proteins called cytokines and chemokines directing cellular inflammation(1). Other pro-inflammatory instigators include oxidized LDL, prostaglandins and NF kappa-beta.
Chronic inflammation can be triggered by cellular stress or dysfunction such as from free radicals causing oxidative stress (ie from smoking, stress or pollutants) or elevated blood sugar levels. It is now known that this chronic stress on the cells leads to a silent degeneration and loss of physiologic function.
Assessing your risk
Good markers that are inexpensive to test for inflammation risk include:
- CRP-hs
- Fibrinogen
Cytokine testing can also be done which is more expensive but provides information on specific factors causing systemic inflammation.
- Tumor necrosis factor alpha
- Interleukin-1 beta
- Interleukin-6
- Interleukin-8
Additionally, testing glucose, lipid panel and homocysteine will add additional information.
Preventing and managing inflammation
Diet
It goes without saying that a healthy diet is mandatory in order to prevent low-grade chronic inflammation in the body. An anti-inflammatory diet has been described in several ways but mainly consists of a whole foods diet, focusing on lean meats, fish, legumes, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It is wise to avoid processed foods, cured meats, sugar, excessive alcohol, caffeine and fried foods. Additionally, an anti-inflammatory diet recommends avoiding foods that may be allergens to you as an individual such as gluten, dairy, soy, nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers etc), eggs or citrus.
Dr. Jessica Black's: The Anti-inflammation Diet and Recipe Book is an easy to use reference book to help you get started.
Environmental toxins
The environment contains ever increasing pollutants in the air we breathe, water we drink and soil we grow our food in. Many of these harmful chemicals have been found to be endocrine disruptors and neurotoxins. There are methods to help protect yourself from these harmful chemicals. Make your home a chemical free zone. Choose household products that are chemical free, drink filtered water, choose whole, unprocessed organic or pasture-fed foods and avoid pesticides in your garden and yard.
See the CDCs Healthy House Reference Manual for more details on how to support a healthy home environment and the Multipure water filter which I recommend.
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/books/housing/housing.htm
http://www.multipure.com/
Obesity
Obesity is associated with low grade chronic inflammation which is predominately driven by adipose tissue macrophages(2). Maintaining a Body Mass Index/BMI (a calculation using weight and height to measure body fat) below 25 is a general guide to use for a healthy body weight.
Calculate your BMI here: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
Sleep
Alterations in sleep due to lifestyle factors, the aging process, and disease states have all been associated with increases in a range of inflammatory markers including monocytes, C-Reactive Protein, Natural killer cells (NK), and IL-6(3). Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep per night. See my article on The 4 Pillars for sleep support.
Smoking
Smoking increases inflammation as reflected by the elevation of serum inflammatory markers such as fibrinogen, white blood cells and CRP(4). Smoking is the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death according to the World Health Organization. Data gathered on over 15,000 smokers in one study showed smoking-associated inflammatory response returned to normal within 5 years after smokers quit thus reducing health risks associated with smoking(5).
View this article for using acupuncture to support smoking cessation.
https://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/Quit+Smoking+with+Acupuncture
Make the Change
Reducing risk factors with lifestyle modification is the best method to decrease inflammatory load in your body. In addition, supplementing with a high quality fish oil, eating or supplementing with spices such as tumeric, ginger and boswellia are a great adjunct to managing chronic inflammation. Make the necessary changes to your lifestyle to affect the inflammatory process and potentially live a longer and healthier life free of chronic illness.
References
1. Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress in human carcinogenesis. Int J of Cancer. 2007 Dec 1;121(11):2381-6.
2. Obesity, Inflammation, Insulin Resistance. A Mini Review. Gerontology 2009;55:379-386.
3. Sleep and Inflammation. Nutrition Reviews. Dec 2007;65:S244-S252.
4. Immunotoxicity, Immune Dysfunction, and Chronic Disease. Arnson et al. 2010;p198-199.
5. PLos Med 2005. June; 2(6):e198.
www.freedigitalphotos.net/images
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