Inflammation

Inflammation can be a double edge sword; in one instance it is required by the body to help promote tissue repair and recovery, and on the other can cause tissue degeneration and lead to illness and disease.

With the pain associated affecting us all at some stage in our life, from a simple fall and banging your knee to the debilitating effects of osteoarthritis.

Inflammation is our immune systems response that your body activates in order to deal with anything that it perceives as an ‘Attack’ from a foreign invader. Ideally, when you get sick or injured you want a fast and strong inflammatory response that ensures you deal with an infection or injury, usually this response will be short and sharp or ‘acute’ and results in most cases to no harm being done but then settles down.

For example, if you twist your ankle, the body will produce a variety of symptoms including pain, heat and swelling. As after all, you don’t want to walk on the ankle as you may cause more damage.

In another instance, if you get a cold or the flu, the immune system will respond quickly by producing a whole host of different chemicals that will work to do a variety of things from raise your temperature temporarily, make you fell ill so you won’t feel like doing anything, thus allowing the body to heal itself.

Chronic inflammation however is a whole new ball game – it is the process that is associated with every chronic and autoimmune disease. Genetically, some people are more likely to have this overly aggressive inflammatory response.

Chronic inflammation is an immune response that lasts for a long time, elevated levels being linked to depression, cancers, heart disease, diabetes, neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, plus arthritis.

It also increases our sensitivity to pain, accelerates free – radical damage and suppresses healthy immune function, resulting in us being more susceptible to illness and disease.

Symptoms which are associated with higher inflammation levels are as follows:

·       Sore / aching muscles and joints
·       Delayed onset muscle soreness after exercise (DOMS)
·       Prone to injuries when exercising
·       Inflamed Skin
·       Fluid retention / swollen fingers & ankles, especially during or after  exercise
·       Diarrhea
·       Fever, fatigue, and a general feeling of being unwell

What we have found so far is that there are various dietary and other lifestyle factors that help to reduce high levels of systemic inflammation?

• Omega 3 fatty acids from fish (EPA/DHA) at 2+ grams per day have been shown to significantly reduce various inflammation markers such as CRP, IL-6 and IL-1β 🐟
• Zinc deficiency will increase levels of IL-1β 💊
• Sulforaphane + Curcumin has a synergistic effect in down regulating IL-1. This is due to the induction of phase II/antioxidant enzymes including heme-oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 🥦
• Regular exercise helps to decrease CRP both directly by decreasing cytokine production in fat, muscle, and molecular cells, and indirectly by increasing insulin sensitivity, improving endothelial function and decrease bodyweight. 🏋‍♂️