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Chronic Inflammation:

The Other Epidemic

Inflammation is typically thought of as swelling, pain or discom-
fort, perhaps in your joints, sinuses or intestines. But for many people
chronic inflammation occurs without symptoms and may be the
cause of other health problems. A full spectrum of disorders is associ-
ated with chronic inflammation — from severe functional problems
such as fatigue, hormonal imbalance and reduced immunity, to seri-
ous diseases such as osteoporosis, heart disease and cancer. Balancing
fat intake is one of the key factors to controlling chronic inflammation.
There are two forms of inflammation — acute and chronic. Acute
inflammation is a normal healthy action, helping to heal more than
just that little cut on our finger. Without it, you would not recover
from a day at the office, your easy walk, or even the minor bumps and
bruises you acquire during your life. But acute inflammation can also
be triggered more significantly by various traumas such as a fall,
more intense exercise such as weight-lifting, infections, toxins in food
and air, synthetic hormones and excess stress.
There are three important functions of acute inflammation. One is
the first step in the healing or repair process after some physical or
chemical injury or stress, no matter how minor. The second is that it
prevents the spread of damaged cells that could cause secondary
problems in other areas of the body. Alocal infection, for example, can
be contained due to the inflammatory response, instead of causing a
bodywide infection. Third, inflammation rids the body of damaged
and dead cells.
Normally, the inflammatory cycle is almost like an “on-off”
switch. It’s turned on by inflammatory chemicals when it is needed
for healing and repair. Then it’s turned off by anti-inflammatory
chemicals when it’s not needed. It’s when these anti-inflammatory
chemicals are not present in sufficient quantity, or there’s too much