Chronic Inflammation’s Links to Disease
My cookbook, The Plant-Based Anti-Inflammatory Cookbook, provides more information on inflammation, a list of “anti-inflammatory superstars” (foods you can get at the grocery store that help fight inflammation), and dozens of recipes using these superstars. Check out more details about the cookbook, and links to sites where you can buy it, by clicking here.
Previous posts and how this post fits in
In the first post of my “Understanding Chronic Inflammation Series,” I provided an overview of the immune system, which is the source of inflammation in the body. In the second post, I answered the question What is Inflammation? and described different manifestations of inflammation in the body, including low-grade chronic inflammation. In the third post, I addressed the question What Causes Chronic Inflammation? and outlined the six major causes of chronic inflammation, most of which we can work to minimize
In this post I examine the growing evidence of chronic inflammation’s apparently central role in some of the deadliest diseases on the planet. Chronic internal inflammation makes us more vulnerable to serious diseases by creating the conditions in which diseases can emerge and grow.
Chronic Inflammation’s Links to Serious Diseases
In the last two decades, researchers have detected many interconnections between chronic inflammation and major diseases, to the point where some scientists consider inflammation the “common soil” in which most major diseases grow. Other scientists see inflammation as a significant factor in the case of one condition leading to another, such as an autoimmune condition making one more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease. Although these interconnections, causes, and effects are still being studied, there is already much evidence about how inflammation interacts with other triggers to start or worsen the diseases we fear most.
Plaque and immune cells create lesions within arterial walls
Cardiovascular disease
Most of us have learned that build-up of plaque on the coronary arteries—caused by diet, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, and/or stress—is what increases our risk of heart disease. That’s only part of the story. As arteries become coated with plaque, immune cells begin to respond, multiply, and react inside of—not just on the surface of—arterial walls. Immune cells continue to accumulate within the walls and release chemicals that inflame the tissue, meaning that the arteries are not only coated with plaque but also swollen.
Immune cells also appear to be the most frequent culprits when it comes to weakening the “caps” that keep plaque lesions within the arterial walls under control. Immune cells can attack the cap and weaken it, making a lesion prone to rupture, which can unleash a clot that can cause a heart attack or stroke.
Inflammation and cardiovascular disease are so often intertwined that a doctor suspecting a patient might have cardiovascular disease will often order a blood test that measures levels of inflammation markers in the blood. Researchers highly recommend that cardiologists work with patients on lifestyle choices to lower inflammation, not just rely on medication, stents, and related surgeries and procedures to get their heart disease under better control.
Type 2 diabetes
The connection between inflammation and type 2 diabetes (T2D) usually arises because of obesity, because obese individuals carry significant amounts of adipose tissue (i.e., body fat). Adipose tissue is not simply extra weight. It’s chemically active and releases compounds that trigger significant immune response and inflammation. Certain kinds of inflammatory chemicals produced by this reaction can trigger increased insulin resistance throughout the body.
“Insulin resistance”—when cells resist the glucose molecules that insulin tries to deliver to them—is at the core of T2D. Once cells slow down on sugar absorption, the sugar remains in the blood, and this can lead to organ diseases, nerve damage, vision issues, and other unwanted problems.
The good news is that when individuals with T2D make lifestyle changes that significantly reduce body fat, immune cells are less active, inflammation decreases, and in many cases, blood sugar levels go down and the symptoms of T2D decrease in intensity.
Immune cells are recruited into tumors and help them grow
Cancer
The immune system appears to both fight and promote cancer.
On the plus side, immune cells destroy many cancer cells before they can grow. This is a reason to eat well to maintain a healthy immune system. (See Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s excellent dietary advice on cancer prevention.) But cancer cells have various chemical mechanisms for dodging immune cells, and sometimes the cancer cells escape and begin to multiply. A number of immunotherapy drugs and procedures can be highly effective in helping immune cells fight cancers cells and tumors when the immune system is not successful on its own.
However, growing research evidence is showing that many cancers start where there are persistent infections in the body. We know that where there is chronic infection, there is also a lot of active immune response and chronic inflammation. Infected areas are often characterized by cells that suffer DNA damage, which makes them more likely to mutate and turn into cancer cells.
If a cancer cell survives and multiplies, it might form a tumor. As that tumor grows bigger, it has to build an infrastructure of blood vessels to survive. Tumor cells actually release chemical signals that attract immune cells to infiltrate the tumor. Once inside the tumor, these immune cells secrete proteins called cytokines that start the growth of blood vessels. Other cytokines and immune cells aid the growth of tumors and even assist in tumors spreading to other parts of the body. Essentially, fledgling tumors hijack immune cells and use them to accelerate the progression towards full-blown cancer.
To lower one’s cancer risk, it’s critical to decrease excessive inflammation and boost our immunity through lifestyle practices.
Neuron damage and death from amyloid plaque and inflammation less to Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s disease
Most people associate risks of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia with amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain. But many people have amyloid plaques in their brains but never progress to full-brown Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. It appears that the combination of amyloid plaques and neuroinflammation is what most often leads to significant brain damage and loss of cognitive sharpness.
While immune cells are critical for fighting off pathogens and clearing out damaged neurons in the brain and central nervous systems, too much immune response and inflammation can contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Conclusion
Given that recent research has shown again and again that chronic inflammation is a big risk factor for major diseases, practicing anti-inflammatory lifestyle practices—decreasing stress, stopping one’s smoking habit, losing weight, avoiding pollution and toxins, and eating an anti-inflammatory diet—are critically important. For our own sake and for those who love us, we need to take care of our bodies and calm the types of immune-cell over-reaction that causes and worsens deadly diseases.