Inflammation: Essential Facts Everyone Needs to Know

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If you’ve ever sprained an ankle, bruised your arm, overworked a particular muscle, or met with any other physical injury, you’d be familiar with the effects of inflammation: pain; redness; swelling; warm, tingling sensation, and sometimes even a loss of function. They may be uncomfortable and annoying, but without the inflammatory response, it’s safe to say that none of us will be able to survive in this world for long.

This is due to the essential role inflammation plays in the body’s defense response. It summons microscopic soldiers to help us get rid of foreign invaders like bacteria, fungi and viruses which can otherwise cause diseases and even death. And once the invaders have been wiped out or contained, inflammation subsides and healing begins.

However, while short-lived or acute inflammation is crucial to keep us alive, inflammation that persists for a long period, or chronic in nature, can also kill us slowly over time. When low doses of pro-inflammatory substances continued to be released into the body for an extended period, they attack healthy cells, blood vessels and tissues instead of protecting them. These attacks may not always trigger pain and worse, are nowhere to be seen unlike a bruise or a cut sustained to the skin. Like a slow poison, overzealous inflammatory cells and hormones destroy our body gradually as we continue to live, work and play with a false sense of good health.

It is now widely believed that chronic inflammation that goes undetected for years is the underlying cause of many dreaded illnesses such as type II diabetes, heart disease, stroke, many types of cancer (e.g. colon cancer), neurological diseases (e.g. dementia), autoimmune diseases (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis), inflammatory bowel diseases (e.g. Crohn’s disease), as well as other diseases which have unknown causes, like allergies, fibromyalgia and migraines.

What Causes Chronic Inflammation?

What causes the inflammatory response to go awry? There are a myriad of factors that contribute to chronic inflammation. Below are some of the major ones:

• Imbalance intake of omega-6 and omega-3 fats. Omega-6 essential fatty acid found in abundance in polyunsaturated vegetable oil, such as sunflower, safflower, soybean, cottonseed and corn, get converted into arachidonic acid by the body. And arachidonic acid is in turn used to generate pro-inflammatory cells and hormones.

  On the other hand, omega-3 essential fatty acids which we can get from potent anti-inflammatory foods like oily fish supply the body with eicosapentaenoic acids that help to increase the production of anti-inflammatory substances.

  At this point, it’s not difficult to see that if your diet comprises more of omega-6 than omega-3 fatty acids (which sadly is true for most of us), you are literally promoting inflammation inside your body.

• Mental stress. Is it any surprise that stress can increase the production of pro-inflammatory chemicals in the body? People who have experienced abdominal pain or other physical symptoms before an important event like giving a speech can definitely attest to the effects of stress on our body. But that’s not all. Studies also found that mental stress can cause changes to our immune defense systems, making us more vulnerable to infectious diseases and slows down healing by decreasing the production of pro-inflammatory hormones in places where they are needed most.

• Diet high in insulin-spiking foods. Foods that spike our blood sugar levels quickly, like white breads, cakes, cookies and sodas, prompt our body to produce more insulin to normalize our glucose levels. But excess insulin also elevates the levels of arachidonic acid in our blood, increasing the production of cells and hormones that are pro-inflammatory. Now, that’s another good reason to avoid refined carbohydrates and excessive sugars!

• Lack of quality sleep. Robbing yourself of adequate shuteye time wreaks havoc on the immune system, increasing the amount of inflammation in the body. What’s more surprising is that even a few hours of lost sleep can prompt your immune system to turn against you.

• Environmental toxins. Inhaling polluted air containing chemical irritants and toxic particles, such as secondhand smoke, pesticides, coal dust and asbestos, can throw your immune system off balance as our body can’t effectively expel these foreign particles. This leads to chronic inflammation in the lung and possibly other parts of the body, and increases the risk of cancer.

• Microorganisms. Bacteria, viruses and parasites have been known to stimulate chronic inflammation which manifests into a number of common physical ailments. If left unchecked, infections caused by these microorganisms can lead to cancer. For instance, the bacteria Helicobacter pylori which infect our stomach, can induce inflammation, ulcers, and even stomach cancer.

• Food sensitivity. Food intolerance as opposed to food allergy doesn’t cause an immediate reaction in your body. Instead, it festers quietly in your gut and brews low-grade chronic inflammation for years. So, many people with food intolerance are often unaware of their problem and continue to take the very food that is giving them headaches, fatigue or arthritis, turning their immune system upside down.

• Fat cells. Scientists found that fat cells aren’t just dormant repository of excess fat. These fats actually secrete arachidonic acid which eventually turn into runaway pro-inflammatory substances that circulate throughout our body. So the more fat cells you have, the more inflammation you are brewing inside.