Chronic Inflammation: Reasons and Treatments
What is Inflammation?
Inflammation is a protective mechanism used by the body to heal any internal or external injuries. The injuries can be physical such as trauma or internal due to pathogens like bacteria or virus. This is important for our survival otherwise we will succumb to injuries and infections. Acute inflammation is necessary for recovery. It has to be quick and should finish within days. If the source is not neutralised then it becomes chronic. It is widely known that chronic inflammation is the cause of all chronic disease and health conditions.
Definition of Inflammation
A local response to cellular injury with increased blood flow, leukocytic activity, redness, heat, and pain. This serves as a process to eliminate pathogenic agents and repair the damaged tissue.
Causes of Inflammation
- Direct injuries like cuts, accidents or trauma
- Pathogens like bacteria, virus or fungi
- Heavy metals, chemicals, smoking & alcohol
- Insulin resistance and obesity
- Antibodies produced by the body in response to sensitive or allergic foods
Acute Vs Chronic Inflammation
Acute inflammation is important for survival to recover from injuries and infections. It occurs quickly and disappears in a few days or hours. This whole process involves the movement of immune cells, nutrients & hormones at the site of injury. This is accompanied by a rise in temperature, swelling and pain to prevent further damage.
Chronic Inflammation is Bad
But, when our immune system is not capable of neutralising the threat or repairing the injury, the process becomes chronic. This leads to an ongoing process which is unable to stop. Our body keeps doing it silently without even you knowing it. Chronic inflammation has a link to almost every health condition.
Chronic inflammation causes an increase in cytokine & pro-inflammatory proteins production. This excess protein and cytokines promote inflammation by producing free radicals. These free radicals if not neutralised can cause damage to various tissues or organs. This damage is inevitable because our immune system had failed to neutralise the threat or repair the damaged tissue.
The main cause of chronic inflammation is ongoing exposure to antecedents and triggers. These triggers can be unresolved pathogenic infections in the gut, poor food, smoking, alcohol or heavy metals. Even sensitive foods become a source of antigens and the body produces antibodies to neutralise them.
All the diseases name ending with -itis is known as inflammatory diseases. The inflammation can be local or systemic depending upon the organ or system affected.
Symptoms of Chronic Inflammation
When someone is inflamed, the body gives subtle signs and symptoms. Most of these symptoms appear to be of idiopathic origin (unknown cause). The most common symptoms associated with inflammation are:
- Fatigue – Your feel tired or loss of energy for no reasons. The doctor said everything is fine and your regular blood tests are within the normal range.
- Joint pains/aches – Feel pain or aches in joints without any trauma or injury. Mostly knees, wrists, jaw and fingers are affected first.
- Digestive issues – Chronic digestive issues are the source of inflammation such as IBS, IBD, colitis, constipation and acid reflux
- Swollen lymph nodes – lymphatic system is a drainage system for toxins. The more toxic or inflamed we are higher the chances of obstruction in lymph circulation. This leads to nodes in areas like neck, armpits, groin and axilla
- Brain Fog – Chronic inflammation affects the brain and nerve cells functioning. Brain fog is the inability to think clearly, memory loss and confusion accompanied by loss of concentration and focus.
- Headaches – Headaches occurs as migraines or due to food or environmental sensitivity/allergies
Treatment of Chronic Inflammation
Standard conventional inflammation treatment doesn’t look into the source of inflammation. While functional medicine practitioners dig deeper to find out the underlying cause of inflammation. They take into account the lifestyle, physical and psychological stress, food habits, genetics, environment and a lot more to understand the process and origin of inflammation.
Standard treatment involves anti-inflammatory drugs such as painkillers and sometimes steroids in hard to treat cases such as autoimmune disease. But it comes with a price the side effects with chronic use pain killers & corticosteroids.
Diseases associated with Chronic Inflammation
- Heart–myocarditis
- Eyes—uveitis
- Nose—rhinitis
- Kidneys—nephritis
- Joints—arthritis
- Bones—osteoarthritis
- Appendix—appendicitis
Foods that promote Inflammation
- Processed foods, high-sugar foods & drinks promote inflammation
- Our body does not recognise trans fatty acids as food. They increase free radical production and hence inflammation
- Excess Saturated fats & Omega-6 fatty acids found in refined oils and palm oils promotes inflammation
- Alcohol is highly inflammatory
- Dairy products especially milk is pro-inflammatory
- Wheat (Gluten)
Lifestyle factors promoting Inflammation
- Lack of exercise or excessive exercise
- Mental or physical stress
- Smoking
- Lack of sleep
- Bad Food
How to control or reduce Chronic Inflammation?
There are many foods, nutrients, herbs and supplements having anti-inflammatory action. But the use of supplements & nutrients to suppress the inflammation means putting a bandaid over an open cut. The Goal should be towards finding the root cause of chronic inflammation and eliminating it. The Gut health, pathogens, food allergies, trans fats, high sugar, smoking & lack of sleep can be one of the them.
Foods to reduce Inflammation
- All vibrant colour foods contain phytonutrients and antioxidants. Thes antioxidants act as anti-inflammatory agents. It includes foods like broccoli, tomatoes, pomegranate, bell peppers, spinach, berries, etc
- Herbs like turmeric, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, rosemary, oregano
- Foods rich in Omega-3 such as salmon, avocado, olives and flaxseeds
- Legumes such as beans, chickpeas and lentils
- Probiotic drinks and foods such as sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, natto and tempeh
- Red wine in limited quantities reduces inflammation
- Gut health plays an important role as a cause and resolution of chronic inflammation
Inflammation reduction diet includes whole grains, the rainbow colour of foods and healthy fats. We at RH+ can help you with an individualised Anti-inflammatory diet program to resolve any chronic health conditions or diseases associated with inflammation. Elimination diet also helps reduce inflammation by lowering the antigenic load (due to allergic and sensitive foods).
Activities that reduces Inflammation
- Daily exercise only for 20 mins at a moderate pace helps to lower the inflammation
- Yoga, prayer and meditation reduce inflammation through parasympathetic nervous system activation. Sympathetic dominant people are more prone to inflammation due to higher stress levels.
Supplements for Chronic Inflammation
- Proteolytic Enzymes reduces pain and inflammation by removing the debris from the site of injury. These enzymes eat all the proteins and reduce pain and inflammation at the site of injury. These enzymes include trypsin, chymotrypsin, serratiopeptidase, rutin, bromelain and papain. [Study]
- Omega-3 supplements at a dose of 2-3 g EPA-DHA/day help reduce inflammation and pain. Our body converts them in protectins and resolvins which help reduce the inflammation. [Study]
- Curcumin and Boswellia have great results when used in combination in reducing pain and swelling in joints. Curcumin also acts as a systemic anti-inflammatory agent. [Study]
- Vitamin C at a dose of 500 mg twice daily has shown to reduce the HscRP, fasting blood sugar Interleukin-6. All of them are potential markers of inflammation. [Study]
- Probiotics supplements act as an anti-inflammatory agent through various mechanisms. It improves gut health by increasing the production of short-chain fatty acids. SCFA’s are proven anti-inflammatory agents. [Study]
