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Inflammation may be behind much of what ails us, but healthy foods and supplements can quench the fires. Your morning stiffness may not yet qualify as arthritis, but it’s likely a sign of inflammation simmering throughout your body. Other red flags include elevated blood sugar levels, high cholesterol levels, or a few extra pounds around the middle–each of which may help set the stage for serious inflammatory diseases.

When a tissue becomes infected by bacteria, white blood cells migrate to the site of infection and begin to ingest the bacteria. The bacteria, however, may survive and multiply within the white cells, which then burst, releasing the bacteria into the tissues once again, causing severe inflammation. More white cells then enter the area to try to combat the infection.

This startling news comes as medicine is quickly changing its view of inflammation. Just a few years ago, chronic inflammation was pretty much defined as arthritis and other “-itis” diseases. Today, it’s also regarded as a likely cause of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and some cancers.

Normally, inflammation helps fight infections and initiate the healing process after an injury. But it doesn’t always routinely fade away. Sometimes, inflammation festers in one part of the body, perhaps related to allergies or an injured knee, then spreads out and eventually leads to a cluster of related disorders: the inflammation syndrome.

C-reactive Protein

Over the past 10 years, researchers have found runaway inflammation in most major health problems. For example, white blood cells, which release large amounts of inflammation-causing substances, play an early role in damaging artery walls and setting the stage for cholesterol deposits and heart disease.

The development of a simple, accurate, and inexpensive blood test for measuring inflammation has helped researchers and physicians zero in on one of the key players: C-reactive protein (CRP). In a major study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, people with elevated CRP levels were four and a half times more likely to have a heart attack. Not only is elevated CRP more accurate than cholesterol in predicting heart attack risk, but high CRP levels have turned up in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes and in people who are overweight.

The body makes CRP from interleukin-6 (IL-6), a powerful inflammation-causing immune chemical. IL-6 is a key cell communication molecule, and it tells the body’s immune system to go into a full rage, releasing CRP and many other inflammation-causing substances.

Being fat increases inflammation because adipose cells, particularly those around the tummy, make large amounts of IL-6 and CRP. As blood sugar levels increase, so do IL-6 and CRP. Being overweight and having high blood sugar levels increase the risk of heart disease, very likely because of the undercurrent of inflammation.

Good Fats and Antioxidants

Unlike cholesterol, CRP is not found in foods. However, its levels in the body are strongly influenced by diet. A recent study by Simin Liu, MD, PhD, of the Harvard Medical School found that women who ate large amounts of high-glycemic (diabetes promoting) carbohydrates, including potatoes, breakfast cereals, white bread, muffins, and white rice, had very high CRP levels. Women who ate a lot of these foods and were also overweight had the highest and most dangerous CRP levels.

Dietary fats also influence inflammation. Most omega-6 fats, found in margarine and corn and safflower oils, are the basic building blocks of arachidonic acid and prostaglandin E2, two of several key inflammation-causing substances in the body. In contrast, omega-3 fats, found in fish, fish oils, and vegetables, have an inflammation-suppressing effect.

Gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) is an omega-6 fat that enhances the anti-inflammatory effect of omega-3 fats. Both GLA and omega-3 fish oils have been found helpful in arthritis and other inflammatory disorders. GLA is found in leafy green vegetables and dietary supplements. Similarly, oleic acid, an omega-9 fat found in olive oil, avocados, and macadamia nuts, has anti-inflammatory properties.

In addition, antioxidants lower CRP levels. They also curb inflammation by quenching hazardousmolecules called free radicals, which stimulate inflammation. In one study, researchers found that people with high blood levels of carotenoids, including beta-carotene and lutein, had the lowest CRP levels.

Jack Challem is the author of the best-selling Syndrome X: The Complete Nutritional Program to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance. His most recent book, The Inflammation Syndrome, was published early in 2003. For more information, visit syndrome-X.com and inflammationsyndrome.com.

Source: alive #251, September 2003