The Link Between Disease and Inflammation

There's a fascinating article in the December 2009 U.S. News & World Report issue entitled, "Quenching the Slow Burn," and subtitled, "The evidence is mounting that chronic inflammation plays a role in diseases from cancer to heart disease to Alzheimer's. Here's how you can stop it."

Most of us have heard that inflammation is at the root cause of diseases like cancer, diabetes and so many more. And evidence keeps pointing in that direction. "Cancer, diabetes, depression, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer's -- these seemingly diverse diseases are increasingly thought to have a common denominator: inflammation." (Quote is from U.S. News & World Report, December 2009, page 32.)

I'm not going to go into the why, although the article talks a bit about that. An interesting side-note in the discussion: what 'kick-starts' the disease? It seems in each person it's different, or unique. It might be smoking, or obesity (due to inflammatory proteins produced by fat cells), or a disease confined to one area (e.g., gum disease). However, what I'm most interested in, and for the purpose of this article we'll confine ourselves to a discussion of: what can we do to prevent inflammation? I will be quoting from the article in the points below.

* Assess yourself. Are you overweight, or even more importantly, is your body fat distribution -- on your waist as opposed to your hips and thighs -- more detrimental to your health? "Having a large waist measurement -- at or above 35 inches for a woman and 40 inches for a man -- means you're likely to have excess inflammation." Also, high blood pressure, high glucose levels (diabetes), and high cholesterol can also trigger inflammatory responses.

* Change to a Mediterranean diet. "Consuming a Mediterranean-style diet -- rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and fish -- is known to protect the heart, and that's probably because it lowers the level of pro-inflammatory chemicals in the body."

* Get active, but don't overdo it. This is pretty interesting. It's obvious that regular exercise can move your metabolism, "but research also suggests that superlong workouts can cause inflammation levels to spike for a day or two afterward."

* Reduce stress and get adequate sleep. An interesting study by Shively "demonstrated that monkeys that were the most subordinate in their social groups -- which means they got less grooming from their peers and were often the target of aggression -- also put on more belly fat when fed a Western-style diet high in fat and cholesterol compared with monkeys that were at the top of the pecking order. Anything that stresses the body, from too little sleep to too much tension, can cause belly fat to accumulate."

* Floss and brush twice every day. "The link between gum disease and heart disease has been well established... The very same bacteria that cause inflammation and swelling in the gums appear to be a source of inflammation and thickening of the arteries."

* Consider probiotics. "...the beneficial bacteria found in yogurt and probiotics supplements can help keep in check the 'bad' bacteria that reside in your gut and generate an inflammatory response. Try a daily serving or two of yogurt and other dairy products containing probiotics.... You can also try the supplement Align."