Inflammation

What is inflammation?

Symptoms of acute inflammation

Symptoms of chronic inflammation

Causes of inflammation

Outcomes of inflammation

Prevention / remedies / treatment for inflammation

References

What is inflammation?

Inflammation is a healing process. It is caused by assault, injury, infection, poison, trauma or stress to some part of the body. Inflammation is not the cause of any diseases, rather it is the result of these traumas.

Inflammation is a protective response involving immune cells, blood vessels, and molecular mediators. Its purpose is to stop the initial cause of cell injury, clear out cells and tissues damaged by the original insult and the inflammatory process, and initiate tissue repair.

Inflammation is the hot, red, swollen, sometimes painful evidence of the immune system at work when there is a toxin, injury or infection. The injured cells send out a variety of chemical hormones that tell white blood cells to come and destroy the invader. They also stimulate the production of various proteins such as fibrin, which wall off the damaged areas. Other white blood cells called phagocytes and macrophages swallow and digest the invaders and damaged cells. After the injury is rapidly cleaned up, the acute inflammation stops and the repair process begins.

The main protein involved with repair is collagen. Collagen is a strong yet flexible protein that provides the structure for firm healthy skin, as well as many other body parts.

Too little inflammation can lead to progressive tissue destruction by the harmful stimulus, and eventually to death. In contrast, too much inflammation is associated with various diseases such as those listed below. For many people today, inflammation is continually stimulated, and it continues as chronic inflammation that lasts for months or years, rather than just being a quick and temporary healing phase.

Symptoms of acute inflammation

• Redness.
• Swelling, oedema.
• Pain.
• Loss of function.

Symptoms of chronic inflammation

• Body pain, arthralgia (joint pain), myalgia (muscle pain).
• Allergies.
• Atherosclerosis.
• Chronic fatigue.
• Depression, anxiety and mood disorders.
• Hay fever.
• Insomnia.
• Gastrointestinal ailments like Celiac disease, Inflammatory bowel disease, constipation, diarrhea and acid reflux.
• Frequent infections.
• Osteoarthritis.
• Periodontal (gum) disease.
• Weight gain or loss.

Causes of inflammation

• Processed and sweet food. The modern diet is high in sugar, refined carbohydrates and food additives. This sweet factory-food diet causes metabolic syndrome (pre-diabetes), when your blood glucose level is too high, and your blood insulin, which is unsuccessfully trying to control it, is also too high. If this diet continues, in addition to inflammation it can cause diabetes, obesity (1), atherosclerosis, rapid aging, eye disease, kidney failure, impotence, Alzheimer's disease and many other degenerative diseases.
• Lack of sunlight and vitamin D. Insufficient sunlight into the eyes and onto the skin. People with chronic inflammation are nearly always low in vitamin D. They live indoors most of the time, exposed to artificial light, primariy in the blue spectrum. (4)
• Diet high in omega-6 oils made from grains and seeds, sold as "golden" polyunsaturated vegetable oils and margarine.
• Toxins that occur in foods. A major food source of toxins that produces inflammation is plant lectins. Lectins are most concentrated in the skins and seeds of nightshades (like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants). However, there are also high levels in legumes, pulses, seeds and grains.
• Stress, ongoing and unresolved. The most common severe stress is the loss of a loved one. Other stressful events include job loss or insecurity, relationship problems (spouse, family, co-workers), health threats and loss of meaning in life and unresolved psychological issues.
• Hypoxia (low levels of oxygen). Chronic inflammation lowers the levels of oxygen in the body, although perversely the level of reactive oxygen species (highly reactive oxygen molecules) increases.
• Sedentary lifestyle. A lack of ongoing exercise (inactivity) increases inflammation. (1)
• Nutritional deficiencies in a wide range of micronutrients. Glutamine is a key nutrient likely to be deficient. Simply improving the diet can correct this - see Remedies below.
• Blocked bile duct, sluggish gallbladder or thick and reduced bile production.
• Toxic chemicals in your food, environment and personal care products.
• Hypercalcemia, calcium buildup, biofilms.
• Bacteria such as Chlamydia pneumoniae, Helicobacter pylori, Bacterioides gingivalis getting out of balance. (5, 8)
• Viruses such as Cytomegalovirus, Herpes zoster.
• Parasites.
• Drugs, both pharmaceutical and recreational. Vaccines.
• Chronic high levels of cortisol which eventually cause cortisol resistance.
• High levels of iron in the body. This is more of a problem for men, and for women who do not menstruate (the blood lost through menstruation keeps the iron level down.) The body tightly holds onto iron, and the only practical way to lower you iron level is to donate blood.

Outcomes of inflammation

• Chronic and systemic inflammation problem affects the majority of modern Westernised people. It speeds up your aging and makes you sicker and weaker. It affects people of all ages.
• Chronic inflammation is closely associated with autoimmune diseases. In a circular manner, it is probably both a cause and an effect.
• Chronic inflammation (over-active immune system) can cause tissue damage that eventually leads a wide variety of problems such as atherosclerosis, autism, compromised behavioural development, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn's disease, psoriasis and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. In particular, there is a risk of damage to a foetus during pregnancy. Studies in experimental mice show that stimulating the mother's immune system during pregnancy causes offspring with altered gene expression in the brain, problems with behavioural development, and immune system changes and autoimmune disorders. (2)

Prevention / remedies / treatment for inflammation

• Stop eating processed foods and all the chemicals they contain, artificial sweeteners (3), "golden" polyunsaturated supermarket cooking oils; soy products; man-made personal care products like toothpastes, deodorants, sunscreens, perfumes, shampoos and most soaps; household cleaning, laundry and chemicals; drugs; smoke; pollution and the chemicals in new carpets, new cars, swimming pools and municipal tap water. Keep your home as chemical-free as possible, and buy products made from natural ingredients that you understand.
  
  Avoid sugar, refined carbohydrates and sweet foods and drinks like breakfast cereal, fruit juice, cola, soft drink, sports drink, bread, cake, crisps, crackers, biscuits, popcorn, pasta, sweets, pastry, batter, jam, condiments, dried fruit, preserved fruit, sweet fruit, products made from wheat and flour, and virtually all processed foods because they have added sugar. The Grow Youthful Recipe Book helps you to enjoy an anti-inflammatory diet with a variety of living food and traditional recipes.
• Get more sunlight and vitamin D. Get out in the sun, get lots of natural sunlight into your eyes and onto your skin all over your body for hours every day. Eat in the sunlight. Walk and exercise in the sunlight. If you are living in a high latitude and suffering badly from your illness, you may have to move to a location closer to the equator (less than 20 degrees latitude). To test how successful sunlight is, try to have your next holiday or vacation in a place close to the equator. Spend your days outdoors. Get up and out of bed so you can watch the sunrise. Do not wear sunglasses. Do not use sunscreens. Of course, take care not to get sunburned or even slightly red. (4)
• Glutamine. Get glutamine from a sensible diet rather than taking it as a supplement. The best food source of glutamine is red meat, especially beef. Other food sources of glutamine include cheese, eggs, fish and kefir. For vegetarians, cabbage is a source of glutamine, especially red cabbage. Eating cabbage in the form of sauerkraut also provides anti-inflammatory microorganisms.
• Probiotics if suffering gut problems after taking antibiotics.
• Fasting is beneficial for chronic inflammation. Reducing the size of your eating window every day, converting to one or two meals a day, and / or doing a weekly fast will do much to repair and recover from chronic inflammation.
• Exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, which increases the heartbeat and rate of breathing. This in turn increases the amount of oxygen circulating in the body.
• Methylene blue.
• DMSO is a potent free radical scavenger.
• Copper sufficiency. (10, 11, 12)
• Counselling, stress management, life changes, sharing.
• Antioxidants. Assist the body to produce its own antioxidants with regular exercise (14), a great lifestyle and antioxidants from foods. It is seldom a good idea to take antioxidants in the form of supplements.
• Omega-3 essential fatty acids. These should be obtained through your diet of grass fed meat, free-roaming natural habitat animal products, and the best food source of omega-3 fatty acids, wild-caught cold water oily fish, and NOT by using supplements. (13)
• Vitamin B3 (niacin). Fish, beef, chicken, turkey and spirulina are the best food sources of niacin. In a more urgent situation, niacin can be purchased as a supplement, and may be useful at 500 mg per day in an extended-release form. Niacin is a powerful antioxidant which acts upon cholesterol, and in particular niacin decreases small, dense, oxidised forms of cholesterol. It provides cardiovascular protection by preventing white blood cells forming atherosclerotic accumulation. Niacin decreases triglyceride levels. It decreases vascular oxidation through its anti-inflammatory effects. Niacin decreases C-reactive protein, which is a strong predictor of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. (6, 7)
• Ashwagandha. (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
• Berberine.
• Rutin.
• GABA.
• TUDCA. A blocked bile duct, sluggish gallbladder or thick and reduced bile production may be treated with tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA). TUDCA is used to treat a slow gallbladder that produces thick bile. It thins the bile and stimulates bile production.
• Gum turpentine is one of many natural anti-inflammatory remedies recommended on the Grow Youthful website.
• Turmeric.
• Wild mushrooms. (9)
• St John's wort.
• Avoid anti-inflammatory steroids, whdh are the biggest-selling category of pharmaceutical drug. They are the perfect drug, because they mask the symptoms for a limited time, they do not heal the ailment, and they create severe illness in the long term, along with dependence. My advice is to use the natural alternative discussed above, vitamin D. Unfortunately getting your vitamin D level back to normal can take months, compared to an injection which may be painful for a few days but then provides temporary relief for a week or two.

See details of remedies recommended by Grow Youthful visitors, and their experience with them.

References

1. Lee JK, Luchian T, Park Y. Effect of Regular Exercise on Inflammation Induced by Drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus 3089 in ICR mice. Sci Rep. 2015 Nov 6;5:16364. doi: 10.1038/srep16364.

2. Gloria B. Choi, Yeong S. Yim, Helen Wong, Sangdoo Kim, Hyunju Kim, Sangwon V. Kim, Charles A. Hoeffer, Dan R. Littman, Jun R. Huh. The maternal interleukin-17a pathway in mice promotes autismlike phenotypes in offspring. Science. Published online 28 Jan 2016. DOI: 10.1126/science.aad0314.

3. Brian Hoffmann et al. Why zero-calorie sweeteners can still lead to diabetes, obesity: Common artificial sweeteners shown to change how the body processes fat and energy. Experimental Biology 2018. 23 April 2018.

4. E. Laird, H. McNulty, M. Ward, L. Hoey, E. McSorley, J. M. W. Wallace, E. Carson, A. M. Molloy, M. Healy, M. C. Casey, C. Cunningham, J. J. Strain.Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated With Inflammation in Older Irish Adults. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, February 2014.

5. Zhou X, Li J, Guo J, et al. Gut-dependent microbial translocation induces inflammation and cardiovascular events after ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Microbiome 6, 66 (2018). doi.org/10.1186/s40168-018-0441-4.

6. Karacaglar E, Atar I, Altin C, Yetis B, Cakmak A, Bayraktar N, Coner A, Ozin B, Muderrisoglu H. The Effects of Niacin on Inflammation in Patients with Non-ST Elevated Acute Coronary Syndrome. Acta Cardiol Sin. 2015 Mar; 31(2):120-6. doi: 10.6515/acs20140630e. PMID: 27122858; PMCID: PMC4804877.

7. Si Y, Zhang Y, Zhao J, Guo S, Zhai L, Yao S, Sang H, Yang N, Song G, Gu J, Qin S. Niacin inhibits vascular inflammation via downregulating nuclear transcription factor-kB signaling pathway. Mediators Inflamm. 2014;2014:263786. doi: 10.1155/2014/263786. 27 May 2014. PMID: 24991087; PMCID: PMC4058495.

8. Dickson K, Lehmann C. Inflammatory Response to Different Toxins in Experimental Sepsis Models. Int J Mol Sci. 5 Sept 2019;20(18):4341. doi: 10.3390/ijms20184341. PMID: 31491842; PMCID: PMC6770119.

9. Alves MJ, Ferreira IC, Lourenco I, Costa E, Martins A, Pintado M. Wild mushroom extracts as inhibitors of bacterial biofilm formation. Pathogens. 6 August 2014;3(3):667-79. doi: 10.3390/pathogens3030667. PMID: 25438017; PMCID: PMC4243434.

10. Okuyama, S, S Hashimoto, H Aihara, WM Willingham, JR Sorenson. Copper complexes of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents: Analgesic activity and possible opioid receptor activation. Agents Actions 21, no. 1-2 (1987): 130-44.

11. Giampaolo, V, F Luigina, A Conforti, R Milanino. Copper and inflammation. In Inflammatory diseases and copper: The metabolic and therapeutic roles of copper and other essential metalloelements in humans. Edited by JR Sorenson. Clifton, New Jersey: Humana Press, 1982.

12. Sorenson John R. Copper Chelates as possible Active Metabolites in the Antiarthritic and Antiepileptic Drugs. J Applied Nutrition 32, 1&2, 4-25, 1980.

13. Abdelhamid AS, Brown TJ, Brainard JS, Biswas P, Thorpe GC, Moore HJ, Deane KHO, AlAbdulghafoor FK, Summerbell CD, Worthington HV, Song F, Hooper L. Omega-3 fatty acids for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 18 July 2018. Issue 7. Art. No.: CD003177. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD003177.pub3.

14. Nocella C, Cammisotto V, Pigozzi F, Borrione P, Fossati C, D'Amico A, Cangemi R, Peruzzi M, Gobbi G, Ettorre E, et al. Impairment between Oxidant and Antioxidant Systems: Short- and Long-term Implications for Athletes' Health. Nutrients. 2019; 11(6):1353.

15. Lopresti AL, Smith SJ, Malvi H, Kodgule R. An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Sep;98(37).

16. Andrade, C et al. A double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the anxiolytic efficacy of an ethanolic extract of withania somnifera. Indian journal of psychiatry vol. 42,3 (2000): 295-301.

17. Choudhary D, et al. Body weight management in adults under chronic stress through treatment with ashwagandha root extract: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. J Evid Based Complementary Altern Med. 2017 Jan;22(1):96-106.<

18. Langade D, Kanchi S, Salve J, Debnath K, Ambegaokar D. Efficacy and Safety of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) Root Extract in Insomnia and Anxiety: A Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Study. Cureus. 2019 Sep 28;11(9).

19. Salve, J. et al. Adaptogenic and Anxiolytic Effects of Ashwagandha Root Extract in Healthy Adults: A Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Clinical Study. Cureus 2019.

20. Gannon JM, et al. Effects of a standard- ized extract of Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) on depression and anxiety symptoms in persons with schizophrenia participating in a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Ann Clin Psychiatry 2019; 31(2): 123-9.

21. Chandrasekhar K, Kapoor J, Anishetty S. A prospective, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study of safety and efficacy of a high-concentration full-spectrum extract of ashwagandha root in reducing stress and anxiety in adults. Indian J Psychol Med. 2012 Jul;34(3):255-62. doi: 10.4103/0253-7176.106022. PMID: 23439798; PMCID: PMC3573577.

22. Auddy B, et al. A standardized withania somnifera extract significantly reduces stress-related parameters in chronically stressed humans: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Journal of the American Neutraceu- tical Association 2008; 11(1): 50-6.

23. Khyati S, et al. A randomized double blind placebo controlled study of ashwagandha on generalized anxiety disorder. International Ayurvedic Medical Journal 2013; 1(5): 1-7.

24. Fuladi S, et al. Assessment of Withania somnifera root extract efficacy in patients with generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Curr Clin Pharmacol 2020.

25. Auddy B, et al. A standardized withania somnifera extract significantly reduces stress-related parameters in chronically stressed humans: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Journal of the American Neutraceutical Association 2008; 11(1).

26. Lopresti AL, et al. An investigation into the stress-relieving and pharmacological actions of an ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) extract: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2019 Sep;98(37).