Inflammation is necessary for life. Inflammation allows us to fight injury and infection. However, persistent inflammation caused by an imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory chemicals leads to constant inflammation and chronic illness. Classic inflammation causes pain and resolves when wounds heal and infection is cured. Silent inflammation is not noticed until it begins to slowly damage the body’s organs and cells.
Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
Chronic disease, particularly autoimmune disease, is often treated with anti-inflammatory drugs. Examples of these medications include ibuprofen, prednisone, Vioxx and others. While these drugs are effective at reducing inflammation and offer numerous short-term benefits, they prevent the natural inflammatory processes that contribute to wellness. Lifelong use of anti-inflammatory compounds has many potential drawbacks including immune suppression, osteoporosis, heart disease, heart attacks and death.
Writing in his book Toxic Fat, Barry Sears writes that it’s estimated that more people in America die each year from taking the correct dose of anti-inflammatory drugs than die from AIDS.
Eicosanoids
In 1982 the Nobel Prize was awarded to three researchers for their discovery that hormones known as eicosanoids contribute to chronic disease. These hormones include a good chemical that helps cells rejuvenate and a bad chemical that promotes cellular destruction. Because both types of processes are needed by the body, the eicosanoids must be in balance. When there’s a shift toward increased production of bad eicosanoids, chronic inflammation and chronic disease develop.
Diet and Eicosanoids
All eicosanoids are derived from dietary fat in the form of essential fatty acids. The three essential fatty acids that produce eicosanoids include dihomo-gamma-linoleic acid (DGLA), arachidonic acid (AA), and eicosapentoenoic acid (EPA). DGLA and AA are omega-3 fatty acids, and EPA is an omega-3 fatty found, primarily found in fish oil. EPA and DGLA promote cellular rejuvenation, whereas the bad eicosanoid AA accelerates cellular destruction, aging, inflammation, and disease.
With a proper balance of these three fatty acids, the immune system can fight injury and infection with classic inflammation. Without this balance, chronic, toxic inflammation persists. One of its first signs is abdominal obesity. Other signs include joint inflammation, allergic reactions, metabolic syndrome, hormone imbalance, and autoimmune disease.
Fifty years ago, fatty acids in our food supply were in balance. Today, due to hybridization techniques, a move away from fish and fish oils, and increased consumption of processed foods, the western diet is in serious imbalance.
Restoring Balance
Diet is responsible for the majority of chronic disease. By restoring the balance between good and bad eicosanoids, health can be restored. The Zone Diet and the Mediterranean Diet can accomplish this by lowering the glycemic load (glucose and starch content) of meals and increasing protein content. The emphasis here is on low glycemic-lead foods such as non-starchy vegetables and temperate fruits such as berries, apples, and pears and an avoidance of fried foods, processed foods, fast foods, starches, grains, and tropical fruits. Dietary supplements of 2.5 – 5.0 grams of fish oil, sesame oil, or flaxseed oil are also needed to restore eicosanoid balance.
Resources:
Woodson Merrell, The Source, Unleash your Natural Energy, Power Up Your Health and Feel 10 Years Younger, Simon & Schuster, New York: 2008.
Barry Sears, Toxic Fat, When Good Fat Turns Bad, Thomas Nelson, Nashville: 2008.
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