Inflammation and anti-aging

Remember when “inflammation” meant a swollen ankle or angry redness around a cut that wasn’t sufficiently cleaned? That’s what’s called acute inflammation, a short-lived reaction to an injury or infection.  Yes, it hurts, but in the wide world of health and anti-aging, it’s not even on the map. Then there’s chronic inflammation – “chronic” never means anything good -- a not-so-short-lived reaction that engages the immune system in a bigger way to fight a particularly strong infection or disease. Not pleasant.  Needs attention.  But still not registering a 10 on the age-o-meter.Allow me to introduce systemic inflammation, a dangerous, disease-promoting, immune system-sapping, age-fast-forwarding inflammation in the lining of blood vessels, the liver, the joints, the gut.  It can be symptomless…until it isn’t. Heart disease, cancer Alzheimer’s, diabetes, macular degeneration, obesity and a number of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis are being linked to systemic inflammation in the medical literature.Systemic inflammation can age you from the inside out.So what do you do?First: Get yourself checked out to see if you suffer from systemic inflammation. (You probably don't know.) The next time you go in for a cholesterol screening, ask for the “C-reactive protein” test on the blood panel. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a substance produced by the liver that increases in the presence of inflammation in the body. Elevated levels have no outward, noticeable symptoms, but they often indicate that trouble is brewing.  A sedentary lifestyle, too much stress, exposure to environmental toxins such as secondhand tobacco smoke and a crappy American diet (a lot of refined, processed foods) can all contribute to an elevated CRP.  Here’s what the number means.Second:  Do not surf the net looking for miracle treatments and cures.  What you’ll find is trendy diets and high-priced supplements. (Surprise, surprise!)Third: Take sensible steps to boost your health while decreasing the inflammation.  That means getting quality sleep, integrating physical activity into your life…every day of your life, and taking a hard look at your diet.  An “anti-inflammatory diet” includes complex carbs (Slash sugar! Junk the junk food!), foods rich in omega-3s (see last week's post for more good news about omega-3s), and foods rich in fiber.  In other words, eat the foods you already know you should be eating.  And eat curry.  The curcuminoids in curcumin (the active ingredient in tumeric, a main component of curry,) have proven anti-inflammatory properties.  I love curry.  But not every day.  I’ve just recently added a curcumin supplement.Fourth: Re-test to see what you’ve been able to accomplish.Your CRP level is a good indicator of general health and vitality. Keeping systemic inflammation at bay is one of the smarter anti-aging strategies you can adopt.