Inflammation: it's dangerous!

You might think of inflammation as something you don’t have a problem with unless you have a hot and swollen joint or have recently injured yourself. Even then, it may look like a localized reaction not affecting any other part of your body.

This is far from the truth. Any type of inflammation, in any area of the body, will also affect the rest of the body.

The most dangerous form of inflammation may actually be what we call low grade inflammation because we may not have any visible signs. This means you don’t have to have a swollen joint to have an issue with it. This type of inflammation becomes systemic, which means it will affect your whole body and can be measured testing different inflammatory markers. It is also a risk factor for chronic disease, and cardiovascular disease is one of them.

The reviewed research investigated something interesting. The researchers  measured several inflammatory markers: three of them were C-reactive protein, TNF-alpha and IL-6 in both heathy and non healthy obese and non obese participants(Phillips CM, Perry IJ, 2013). The results showed that the determining factor if somebody was metabolically healthy or unhealthy was  the degree of inflammation even if they were obese.

This does not mean that it is a good idea to be obese, because that usually leads to increased inflammation, but somebody who is overweight may have a lower risk for cardiovascular disease if they have very low inflammatory markers.

It is very important to keep inflammation low. You can significantly lower inflammation by eating a certain way. For more information on how to lower inflammation with your diet, click here.

Phillips CM, Perry IJ. Does Inflammation Determine Metabolic Health Status in Obese and Nonobese Adults? J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Aug 26. [Epub ahead of print]