What Is Inflammation, Anyway?

Published by Lois on October 2nd, 2008

This question is often asked and it’s a very important one. We all understand inflammation when we see redness around a cut or the darkening bruise we can see with our eyes or feel in discomfort. It is the body’s natural defense system against infection rushing in to heal just as it was intended to do. With low-level chronic inflammation, it swirls swirl throughout the body going unnoticed by pain or symptoms until it erupts into a disease. For this reason, inflammation is often referred to as “the silent killer.”

It begins when the immune system detects an invader by way of bacteria, irritation, toxins and other foreign molecules, and the white cells, good guys in the army of defense and cytokines mobilize to mount an attack against the invaders. This is their job and under normal circumstances, they do it very well.

Cytokines rush in to the infected area doing their job perfectly until the natural balance of the immune system becomes disrupted. When that occurs, the immune system shifts to a state of alarm and the natural process becomes inflammation spreading a fire throughout the body. Fire in the heart causes heart disease; in the brain brings dementia and Alzheimer’s; and throughout the body, cancers and diseases develop while Inflammation in the eyes brings blindness.

The system has shifted from protective to amok resulting in inflammatory diseases in otherwise healthy individuals. The causes are a combination of inflammatory foods we eat such as processed foods with an abundance of Omega-6, sugars, starches and not enough Omega-3 foods. For many reasons, the immune system that was doing a grand job of healing is unable to turn off the switch. Some time ago science discovered Lupus, Graves disease and fibromyalgia emerge when the immune systems fails to turn itself off.

For several decades, science has been connecting the dots between inflammation and disease. With heart disease it is now known that the arteries are not smooth pipes lined with deposits of a glue-type fat; rather, they are multi-layered tissues structures. Arteries do absorb LDL (bad cholesterol) from the blood stream but instead of sticking to the arterial wall, LDL seeps between the tissue layers and festers creating angry plaque-filled blisters.

The body sees that as an invader to be attacked triggering an inflammatory response to contain the damage resulting in the artery swelling and constricting blood flow to the heart. Disaster sets in when the plaque bursts and floods the artery.

Diabetes is now linked to inflammation. It involves how much fat a person carries around their frame-fat cells ooze inflammation-boosting proteins called cytokines which means that more fat equals more inflammation. Over an extended period, too many circulating cytokines dampen the body’s ability to monitor insulin production. When the body loses that ability, the gate swings open for Type 2 diabetes.

There are numerous, simple and pleasurable ways to reduce inflammation.Â Wholesome, natural, real foods that provide nutrients the body needs is the first step. Exercise is, as always, important in every aspect of good health. Most foods either fuel the fires of inflammation or help put them out like turning water on a raging fire. The goal is to eat a good balance of both inflammatory and anti-inflammatory fats however, the western diet has been drastically out of balance for many decades from the abundance of Omega-6s found in safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, soybean and corn oil high in manufactured and processed foods.

The advent of processed foods, fast foods, unhealthy snacks, sugars, and the low-fat dieting craze all combined together to create an epidemic of inflammation. The human body was never designed to process chemicals, manufactured preservatives, nutrition-less food wrapped in package and plastic. Until we eliminate those foods, we can be assured inflammation will be our fate.

We are consuming from 25 to 35 times more Omega-6s than we are Omega-3s. It was never more important than right now to return to the way our ancestors ate to restore the body’s natural balance to eliminate inflammation and disease.

To Your Health!

Lois Smithers