Inflammation – The Root of All Illness?

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Inflammation – The Root of All Illness?

Roman Bystrianyk, " Inflammation – The Root of All Illness? " , Health

Sentinel, July 27, 2005,

Inflammation is an integral part of the immune system. We’re all

familiar with inflammation. When you’re cut it becomes red and swollen

as a response by the immune system and as the cut heals the

inflammation dies down. A similar underlying, chronic, low-grade

inflammation is now being considered by more and more scientists as a

major cause of diseases not only for obvious diseases like arthritis

and asthma, but also for heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and even

cancer. A recent special edition of Newsweek examines this quiet

hazard.

Years ago oxidation was being considered as the main culprit in many

diseases. Now oxidation is grabbing more of the attention. According to

neuroscientist ph of Tufts University, “Inflammation is the

evil twin of oxidation. Where you find one, you find the other.” This

discovery is solving “medical puzzles” such as people with high blood

pressure have an increased risk for Alzheimer’s or why people with

rheumatoid arthritis have higher rates of sudden cardiac death. All

these conditions are tied with a connecting thread of inflammation.

When your cut heals the inflammation recedes, but constant exposure to

cigarette smoke, excess cholesterol, and low-grade infections can

contribute to a low-grade, chronic inflammation. The inflammation

simmers like, “a low flame on the back burner that we’re unaware of

until the pot burns.”

Diabetes has emerged as a recent example. The connection between type

II diabetes and obesity are so well known that some researchers

consider the two combined into a single disease of “diabesity”.

According to the article, “When you gain weight, fat cells grow more

biochemically active, churning out inflammatory compounds. As obesity

ratchets up inflammation, inflammation in turn promotes insulin

resistance, a central feature of diabetes and the so-called metabolic

syndrome that precedes it.”

Like diabetes, heart disease is linked with obesity. According to Dr.

Libby, chief of cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s

Hospital in Boston, “Inflammation is the alpha and omega of

atherosclerosis. It’s there at every step of the process.” In the

process plaque formation starts when cholesterol sticks to the artery

walls and oxidizes. This triggers an immune response that attempts to

clean up the problem. The inflammatory response is the body’s attempt

to heal, but encourages the formation of larger plaques that can

eventually block the artery and result in a heart attack or stroke.

Certain cancers are also being linked to inflammation. According to

Coussens, a cancer biologist at the University of California in

San Francisco, “people with chronic inflammatory bowel diseases have

tremendously enhanced risk of colon cancer.” Some triggers of

inflammation include, “cigarette smoke in the lungs, persistent

infections like hepatitis C in the liver and chronic heartburn, which

repeatedly irritates the lining of the esophagus with gastric acid.”

The result includes oxidative damage to the DNA which sometimes

cripples the suicide mechanism of the cell that would often allow

abnormal cells to self-destruct.

Although anti-inflammatory medications seem like an obvious answer they

are fraught with problems. Inflammatory chemicals also serve important

functions in the body and stopping their action may have a positive

effect such as decreasing pain, but they can also have serious negative

impacts. Vioxx is an example where inhibiting the COX-2 inflammatory

enzyme relieved pain, but also impeded the process to prevent blood

clots from forming in the arteries. Dr Graham, an employee of the

Food and Drugs Administration, estimated that up to 139,000 Americans

have died or have been seriously injured as a result of taking Vioxx.

Even standard arthritis medications called NSAIDs have serious

consequences. According to a June 1999 New England Journal of Medicine

each year over 16,000 people die from gastrointestinal bleeding because

of the unintended interference in the body’s healing mechanism of the

digestive tract. According the journal, “It has been estimated

conservatively that 16,500 NSAID-related deaths occur among patients

with rheumatoid arthritis or osteoarthritis every year in the United

States. This figure is similar to the number of deaths from the

acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and considerably greater than the

number of deaths from multiple myeloma, asthma, cervical cancer, or

Hodgkin’s disease. If deaths from gastrointestinal toxic effects from

NSAIDs were tabulated separately in the National Vital Statistics

reports, these effects would constitute the 15th most common cause of

death in the United States.”

While drugs block a single target molecule greatly reducing its

activity, natural anti-inflammatories have a wide-ranging, gentler

action. According to Greg Cole a professor of medicine and neurology at

UCLA, “you’ll get a greater safety and efficacy reducing five

inflammatory mediators by 30 percent than by reducing one by 100

percent.”

Aside from avoiding the promoters of inflammation, such as cigarette

smoke, there are approaches that can be used to turn down the heat on

inflammation. Exercise and decreasing weight help reduce inflammation

in the fat and liver cells. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole

grains, and omega-3 fatty acids also turns down inflammation.

The omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in dozens of studies to help

prevent heart attacks by “preventing arrhythmias, making blood less

likely to clot in the arteries, improving the balance of good and bad

cholesterol and limiting inflammation.” The omega-3s are found in

coldwater fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel as well as

walnuts, flaxseeds, and dark leafy greens.

A diet rich in fruits and vegetables also helps. One anti-inflammatory

compound that has been extensively studied is curcumin. Curcumin is the

yellow pigment in the spice turmeric. Professor Cole has found that

small doses of Curcumin reduce a number of inflammatory markers such as

TNF-alpha (Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha) and IL-1 (Interlukin-1).

The article concludes, “The beauty of these lifestyle changes is that

they’re so low tech, affordable and effective. We may all have it

within our grasp to reduce inflammation – if we can just muster the

willpower.”

SOURCE: Newsweek Special Edition, Summer 2005

http://www.healthsentinel.com/org_news.php?

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