health topics

Everyone is familiar with inflammation. Usually we associate it as our body’s response to a wound or infection and we experience it as pain, swelling or redness. There is another type of inflammation that is not so well known – chronic, systemic inflammation. It is a silent phenomenon that increases as we age and that may well be responsible for some of the most serious health disorders we face. Some researchers feel that chronic inflammation is the single most important contributor to premature aging. There is a growing body of evidence that chronic, systemic inflammation may be a key promoter of cardiovascular disease, arthritis, diabetes, metabolic syndromes, Alzheimers and cancers of the prostate and colon.

Much of chronic inflammation is considered to be diet-driven. Cooking foods at high temperatures results in a "browning" effect, where sugars and certain oxidized fats react with proteins to damage the proteins and form tissue-damaging protein-sugar compounds called "glycotoxins." These destructive glycation reactions render proteins in the body "cross-linked" and barely functional. As these degraded proteins accumulate, they also emit damaging free radicals – at about 50 times the rate found in normal proteins – as well as signals that induce the production of pro-inflammatory messenger chemicals called cytokines.

Foods that are considered to contribute to inflammation include:

• Fast foods (often cooked at high temperatures, including French fries, hamburgers, potato chips, fried food and other snacks)
• Sugars and foods high in starches
• High fat meats
• Dairy products
• Foods high in Omega 6 fatty acids

Counteracting inflammation

Fortunately, there are a wide range of solutions to that are ‘anti-inflammatory’. These include such basics as exercise, weight maintenance and other physical therapy. Pharmaceutical approaches are seen in corticosteroids and non-steroildal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen, naproxen and COX-2 inhibitors like Celebrex. Many of these drugs have side effects.

Fortunately, there are a wide range of foods and nutraceutical preparations that have excellent potential as anti-inflammatories. Fish, vegetables, beans, fruits and teas are all excellent sources of anti-inflammatory activity.

In the nutraceutical area, the most widely studied botanicals include:

• Plant-based Omega 3 fatty acides (chia seed oil, flaxseed oil, etc.)
• Spices: ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, clove
• Carotenoids (as antioxidants): astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, etc.