Inflamm-aging: Inflammation as a cause of Aging
Silent inflammation is the root cause for many, if not most, of the chronic diseases of aging. Acute inflammation is the body’s response to injury, illness, infection, and stress, refined during Paleolithic man’s development and giving him an evolutionary advantage during a time when man faced many real threats, including famine and drought, predators, and infections and trauma. Paleolithic man also led a very active life, and had a diet consisting mainly of whole foods and protein. While modern man still faces some of the same threats, much about his environment has changed. The conditions under which he lives, and his “lifestyle” would be unrecognizable to Paleolithic man. Compared to his earlier counterpart, infections and trauma are rare, threats are more perceived than real, and his lifestyle has become incredibly sedentary. His diet now consists largely of refined and processed food, in excess. Yet his DNA remains essentially unchanged, and man’s biological makeup still favors an inflammatory response.
The result of this disparity is often excess inflammation, which is known to cause rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE), asthma, allergic diseases, and earlier and more severe arteriosclerosis. But research also shows that excessive inflammation lingers below the surface, its chronic form becoming a silent killer. Silent inflammation exists below the threshold of perceived pain, and can smolder silently for decades. We now know that silent inflammation damages arteries; destabilizes cholesterol deposits; destroys nerve cells in the brain; depresses the immune system; promotes formation of cancers; and can activate harmful genes. This silent killer can be traced as the root cause of the diseases of aging, from heart attack, cancer and diabetes to kidney failure and pancreatitis.
Age Management Medicine can help not only to alleviate the symptoms of acute inflammation, but to to avoid the devastating effects of chronic inflammation. The key is to discover early on if the patient is likely to develop, or already has, underlying inflammation. The evaluation process begins with a thorough patient medical history profile, including a complete nutritional analysis. There are other things that are simple to look for during a physical exam—things that do not even require a blood test; first among these is obesity. Obesity promotes inflammation and there is a direct relationship between Body Mass Index( BMI) and C-Reactive Protein( CRP )results. The obese have low-grade systemic inflammation, and with obesity having turned into a national epidemic, this provides yet another reason for patients to follow nutritional guidelines.