Inflammation

What is 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.

Symptoms. 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 cleaned up, the 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.

For many people today, inflammation is continually stimulated, and it continues in a chronic way rather than just being a quick and temporary healing phase.

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.
• 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.
• Sedentary lifestyle. A lack of ongoing exercise (inactivity) increases inflammation. (1)
• Nutritional deficiencies in a wide range of micronutrients.
• 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; soya 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.
  
  Processed and refined carbohydrates with high sugar levels include breakfast cereal, processed 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)
• Blocked bile duct, sluggish gallbladder or thick and reduced bile production. This is 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.
• DMSO is a potent free radical scavenger.
• Copper sufficiency. (10, 11, 12)
• Probiotics if suffering gut problems after taking antibiotics.
• Counselling, stress management, life changes, sharing.
• Methylene blue.
• GABA.
• Gum turpentine is one of many good anti-inflammatory remedies recommended on the Grow Youthful website.
• 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)
• Turmeric.
• Wild mushrooms. (9)
• St John's wort.
• Anti-inflammatory steroids 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 is something which takes months or even years.

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.

.htaccess 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.