Inflammation, Good or Bad?

Inflammation: the Root of Illness and the Basis for Healing

Nearly every modern health problem can be linked in some way to uncontrolled inflammation.  At its basic level, inflammation is the body’s natural, healthy response to cellular injury. It’s actually part of the healing process, and the redness and swelling associated with it are evidence that blood is rushing to the area, carrying its reparative components. The inflammation then naturally subsides as the cells are repaired and health is restored.  It’s when this process becomes systemic, chronic, and out of control that health problems and illness develop.

 

Inflammation Defined

It’s important to understand just what inflammation is. Most of us have a general idea that it involves symptoms like pain, swelling, or some other form of discomfort. While this is true to an extent, the real definition of inflammation is much deeper and more complex.

Inflammation is the body’s response to an injury, infection, or other abnormality on a cellular level. Rate of blood flow increases to the injured or infected area and adjacent tissues, followed by an increase in microcirculatory permeability. This permeability allows a protein-rich fluid to leak from the small blood vessels, causing the familiar swelling. At that point, a process called leukocytic exudation takes place, where leukocytes (immune cells) gather at the injury site and destroy any invading microorganisms.

Hormones such as cortisol help regulate this process, working as anti-inflammatory agents to keep the inflammatory process in check.

When this system is running smoothly, inflammation actually plays a significant role in the healing process, and is called to a stop when healing takes place. Problems arise, however, when this process is thrown off balance by poor diet and other unhealthful practices.

 

What Causes Inflammation?

Simply put, the root cause of inflammation is imbalance. Something upsets the normal functioning of a given group of cells, such as an injury, repetitive compensatory motion, inflammatory foods, and so forth, and the inflammation process kicks in. If these causes are not corrected, inflammation continues unchecked.

 

The Role of the Individual’s Health State

Interestingly, what makes a substance inflammatory has much to do with the individual’s state of health. For example, repetitive motion may not cause inflammation if the motion is correct, aligned, and offset by regular breaks that involve healthful motion. Or an individual whose system is imbalanced by excessive sugar consumption may find that red meat and dairy products aggravate inflammation, while an individual who does not consume much sugar finds these same foods beneficial to healing.

This brings us to a very important nutrient group that needs clarification (and, in some circles, justification): fats.

 

Balancing Fat Intake

If there’s one nutrient that everyone has an opinion about, it’s fat. In the 1980s and early 90s, the “fat-free” campaign was in full swing, and products boasted their fat-free status all over the grocery aisles. Then fats enjoyed a comeback when research began to reveal various health benefits from eating certain types of fats.  Of course, the kind of fat the person is consuming makes all the difference.

 

Trans Fats are Always Bad

This group of fats is never healthy and should not be consumed under any circumstances.  Trans fats, or hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated fats, are made by bubbling hydrogen gas into ordinary liquid fats at very high temperatures. This infuses the fat with microscopic bubbles of hydrogen, thereby changing the consistency of the fat from liquid to solid and increasing the shelf-life to an extraordinary degree.

This means that trans fats not only last a long time in your pantry; they also last a long time in your body. The half-life of hydrogenated fat in the body is 51 days. That means that almost 2 months after eating trans fat(s), half of it still remains in your body, where it blocks your natural anti-inflammatory processes. But it doesn’t block the inflammatory process, setting the stage for rampant inflammation that can’t be controlled even by ingesting healthful fats. This is why trans fats should be avoided altogether. There’s no amount small enough you can consume and still maintain optimal health.

Make sure you read labels – trans fats can “hide” behind manufacturers’ labels that are allowed to claim “Zero trans fats” even when their products contain up to 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. These dangerous fats can go by other names, too – watch for terms like hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated, monoglycerides, diglycerides, shortening, and margarine on labels. All of these denote trans fats.

 

Inflammation and Fats

Most people know that there are “good fats” and “bad fats.” But what many people don’t realize is that the source of the fat makes a difference, and that the individual’s state of health influences whether a fat will have an inflammatory or anti-inflammatory effect.

At the most basic level, reducing bad fats while increasing good ones is important for controlling inflammation. But just how this is accomplished – and why some fats are good and some are bad – is poorly understood.

There are basically three types of fats.

Type 1  Warm climate oils (Omega 6) that make anti-inflammatory * prostaglandins.  (Corn, safflower, soy, sunflower, peanut,etc.)

Type 2 Fats that contain arachidonic acid (AA) and make inflammation. (Red meat, dairy, shellfish)

Type 3 Cold climate oils (Omega 3) that make anti-inflammatory prostaglandins (Fish oil, Walnut, )

You may be thinking it’s best to avoid all Type 2 fats so you don’t have any inflammation.  This is where the confusion starts.  You see, arachidonic acid (the fat that makes inflammation) is also the most abundant fat in the brain and is therefore very important for the nervous system.  AA is also necessary for the REPAIR and GROWTH of skeletal muscle tissue.  So if you get injured it helps you get well fast.  The key is making sure you are getting it from the right sources.  It all depends on where the arachidonic acid comes from and again your overall state of health.

 

Dietary Sources of Arachidonic Acid

• Grass-fed beef
• Organic butter
• Wild-caught fish
• Farm fresh eggs
• Heavy whipping cream

These sources of AA, although often touted as unhealthy will most likely NOT make you inflamed.  They will most likely do that REPAIR and GROWTH of TISSUE process we talked about earlier.  They promote healing.

It’s the other sources of AA that can cause a inflammation problem.  You see, our bodies can make AA from Type 1 (omega 6) fats.  This is the source to watch out for because it will make you inflamed in a very BAD way.  So to control inflammation you need to control the conversion of Type 1 fats into AA.  Or in other words, stop changing “good” anti-inflammatory fats into “bad” inflammatory fats.  This is where the whole health of a person comes into play.  Your body will convert the good to bad for two main reasons.  High insulin from too many refined carbohydrates, and too much stress.  

I think the worst is the high insulin from refined carbs.  These foods are usually full of sugar or fake sugar, and are often combined in some way with safflower, sunflower, soy, or canola oil.  These oils contain the very fats that will convert to the bad AA.  This creates an inflammation storm in your body.  So you can see how a person’s state of health influences inflammation and the resulting treatment. If you eat a lot of sugar, AAs will cause or exacerbate inflammation. So for that individual, cutting way back on sugar (or eliminating it entirely for a time) and increasing AAs will ease inflammation and restore balance. 

Too much stress causes high cortisol levels for hours, days, months, or even years depending on what’s going on in your life.  Cortisol is the hormone that also causes conversions of fats into inflammation hormones.  Finding the source of your stress is important here.  Remember, there are many types of stress.  Structural, chemical, and emotional.  Don’t just throw your hands up due to a particular situation.  Control what you can, every little bit helps.

 

Why Not Control Inflammation with Anti-inflammatory Drugs?

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, and so forth work by blocking pain-causing, inflammatory prostaglandins.

The problem is, NSAIDs block all prostaglandins, so the anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving prostaglandins are also blocked when you take NSAIDs. So your pain, and/or inflammation are likely to be even worse when the drug wears off. And that’s not all – even over-the-counter NSAIDs can cause very serious, even fatal side effects, such as:

• Gastrointestinal hemorrhage
• Destruction of Vitamin C in the body
• Inhibition of liver detoxification process, resulting in significant liver damage
• Increased leukotrienes, one of the most inflammatory substances your can body produce
• Lower sulfur levels, leading to decreased cartilage repair
• Aggravation of “leaky gut”
• Antagonizing of folic acid, thus slowing fracture healing and increasing the risk of cardiovascular problems

NSAIDs only mask a symptom temporarily and can actually worsen things in the end. So try to avoid them whenever possible, so they won’t undermine your dietary efforts to bring inflammation into balance.

While NSAIDs indiscriminately block all prostaglandins, the fact remains that which prostaglandins you have more of – inflammatory or anti-inflammatory – is largely determined by your diet.  If you take an NSAID and experience relief then you definitely have an imbalance.

 

Conclusion:

Inflammation is involved with any -itis;  Arthritis, bursitis, colitis, tendonitis, etc.  Balancing your fats is a giant step to overcoming and/or preventing these problems.  Don’t hide your problems with symptom based treatments, make the lifestyle changes necessary.  It is worth it?