Q. Is there any one condition that may form the basis of many (if not most) of the chronic diseases we see today?

A. In an informal poll, healthcare professionals listed inflammation as their top response. What is inflammation?

You may have noticed the redness, heat, swelling, and pain that surrounds a cut or twisted ankle or bee sting. These are examples of helpful inflammation—signs that the immune system has leapt into action to send white blood cells to the area of damage, triggering a response so the healing process can occur.

Unhelpful inflammation is a different story. It can even become chronic, especially when tissue swelling fails to resolve and interferes with the healing process. It can occur almost anywhere in your brain or body. Inflammation attack your heart, liver, joints, brain, and gastrointestinal (GI) system. You may have experienced the results: bloating, constipation or diarrhea, and flatus (gas.)

Many different things can trigger inflammation in your GI system, including:

  • Stress from overwork, accidents, an unbalanced lifestyle, or skipping nutritious meals when your body needs the nutrition
  • Emotional upsets such as worry and panic attacks, or anything that triggers the stress response
  • Food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances to specific types of foods
  • Hormonal imbalances often involving estrogen, progesterone, or testosterone; glucose and insulin problems
  • Eating and/or drinking too much at one time or ingesting very rich foods that cause your digestive system to overwork (it may or may not be accompanied by heartburn)

Unfortunately, inflammation impacts the brain, as well. A study abstract (Inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease) released by the National Institutes of Health show a correlation between brain inflammation and Alzheimer’s. It read in part: “Inflammation clearly occurs in pathologically vulnerable regions of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain, and it does so with the full complexity of local peripheral inflammatory responses. In the periphery, degenerating tissue and the deposition of highly insoluble abnormal materials are classical stimulants of inflammation. Likewise, in the AD brain damaged neurons and neurites and highly insoluble amyloid beta peptide deposits and neurofibrillary tangles provide obvious stimuli for inflammation.” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10858586) 

The bottom line is that some unhealthy inflammation can be prevented through changes in one’s daily life—by creating and maintaining a Longevity Lifestyle, for example.