If you could take just one step to create a healthier future full of vitality and free from both acute and chronic diseases, it would be to fight inflammageing. While this hybrid term has been picked up by the beauty industry because of the clear-cut connection between inflammation and the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, inflammageing is more than skin deep.
In fact, inflammation is being recognized as a major driver of the chronic disease epidemic. That’s because heart disease, diabetes, dementia, macular degeneration, chronic lung and kidney disease, muscle and bone loss and cancer all result from the embers of chronic inflammation smoldering over time. (1)
But isn’t inflammation normal?
Acute inflammation is our body’s natural, healing response to tissue injury or infection. It repairs damaged tissue by releasing a cascade of chemical messengers (cytokines) that increase blood flow, causing the pain, redness, heat, and swelling characteristic of inflammation. In the short run, that’s good. It mobilizes your army of immune cells to fight infection and heal the damaged tissue. The process should be short-lived and clear within a few hours to days.
But chronic inflammation is destructive. It results when those inflammatory cytokines don’t turn off and spread out of control, fanning the flames to smolder indefinitely. The result is an array of conditions ending in “itis”: arthritis, dermatitis, gastritis, hepatitis, neuritis, and even autoimmune disease. All of these conditions are associated with altered immune system function and chronic inflammation.
Now with the advent of COVID-19, the term “cytokine storm” has entered the public domain. Again, the analogy of a storm illustrates the loss of control of the immune system as an overwhelming inflammatory response spirals out of control, similar to that which occurs in septic shock. It is this underlying elevated level of chronic inflammation that is the fire at the core of chronic disease, and sets the stage for a more aggressive immune response that can be life-threatening.
How do you know if you have higher levels of inflammation? Ask your doctor to check your blood levels of hs-CRP, or highly sensitive C-Reactive Protein. If levels are between 1.0-3.00, then a moderate level of inflammation is present; levels higher than 3.00 suggest the urgent need to identify the cause and address it.
So what can we do to lower chronic inflammation? The delicious news is that there is an array of dietary and lifestyle shifts that stamp out the fires of chronic inflammation.
EAT AN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DIET
This means ditching sugar and refined carbs, which we know contribute to inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia. Replace soda, candy, chips and pastries with a Mediterranean-style diet of berries, olives, salmon, nuts and spices like turmeric and ginger. It’s easy and delicious and it feels so good to get that toxic food out of your system, doesn’t it?
Know that an anti-inflammatory diet naturally includes an array of brightly colored fruits and veggies. Strive to eat each of the colors every day, as the pigments in spices, berries, citrus, greens and tomatoes contain phytonutrients that activate the genes that fight inflammation. Plus, they taste great!
A study from Columbia University linked an inflammatory diet pattern to brain aging. They found that a Mediterranean-style diet, rich in greens and omega-3 fatty acids from fish and nuts is associated with a lower risk for Alzheimer’s and better brain function as we age. (2)
GIVE YOURSELF AN OIL CHANGE
After years of being told that soy oil is safe to eat and cook with, new research suggests that it’s playing a central role in dementia, obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance and fatty liver (at least in our mice friends)! (3)
Soy oil activates genes involved in inflammation, obesity, diabetes, dementia and cancer. You’ll find it in margarine, mayonnaise, fried and packaged foods and livestock feed. By the way, this doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy soy sauce, tofu or edamame; just seriously cut back on those foods made with and fried in soy oil. Read labels! (4)
Instead, eat olives and avocados, use extra-virgin olive oil and avocado oils, as well as nuts and fish, all of which are prevalent in the Mediterranean diet. For more on how to give yourself an oil change, click here:
CULTIVATE YOUR ”INNER ZOO”
We each have an “inner zoo” filled with microbes that live in symbiosis: we provide our little critters with a warm, moist, nutrient-rich environment in which to live, and they provide us an array of health benefits. But it turns out that the balance of our gut microbes plays a key role in inflammageing. Decades of poor diet, recurrent infections, the overuse of antibiotics, a sedentary lifestyle, and reduced gut function promote dysbiosis and inflammation, which plays right into the aging process. (6)
Luckily, you can optimize your gut function! Here are 10 tips to help you cultivate a healthy microbiome.
SPICE UP YOUR LIFE
Spices have been our food and our medicine for thousands of years and have been used in Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine to treat heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, pain, and arthritis. Turmeric, the bright orange curry spice contains curcumin and a growing body of research is confirming that curcumin (and the other phytochemicals in turmeric) are the most potent anti-inflammatories found in Nature. It is found in my recipe for Red Lentil Dahl. Ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom are other delicious anti-inflammatory spices.
To warm your soul, tickle your taste buds and help you age with grace, here’s one of my favorite inflammation-fighting recipes for Chai Tea. It takes minutes to prepare and will become one of your favorite cold-weather treats!
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A santé (to your health)
(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6146930/
(2) https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/796556
(3) ) https://academic.oup.com/endo/advance-article/doi/10.1210/endocr/bqz044/5698148?searchresult=1
(4) https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132672
(5) https://academic.oup.com/endo/article/161/2/bqz044/5698148
(6) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6004897/
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