ASK THE NATUROPATHIC DOCTOR

Taming the Flames

How to beat back chronic inflammation and protect yourself from related disease.

BY EMILY KANE, ND, LAC

Q:I’ve heard that all disease and pain is linked to inflammation at some level. Is that true? How can I prevent inflammation?

AFirst off, there are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. The acute type is a natural immune response to infection or injury. Think of it as the body’s way to repair damage. Acute inflammation occurs when you bang your elbow hard, cut your finger, or catch a bug. In these settings, inflammation is essential—without it, injuries could fester, and even simple infections like the common cold could become deadly.

The “workhorses” of the immune system are your white blood cells, which are basically cunning little sacks of enzymes that break open at the site of injury, dump their enzymes, and “digest” the debris of tissue damage or the mess created by the bad bugs. Because extra blood (which carries the white blood cells) is directed to the damaged area, that part of your body will temporarily become swollen, warm, red, and tender. These are the hallmarks of inflammation.

Chronic Inflammation

If your immune system works well and isn’t dealing with battles on multiple fronts, and your underlying health is good, typically you make short work of the injury or infection. But when your immune system is overwhelmed, or your underlying health is compromised because of years or decades of poor dietary and lifestyle choices, then the inflammation can become chronic. If the swelling, heat, red appearance, and tenderness persist for months or years, that means you didn’t resolve the initial insult. You will need to assess where your immune system got overwhelmed, then take steps to restore your health.

Chronic inflammation can occur because of inability to heal from injury or infection, or as a response to unwanted substances in the body, such as toxins from cigarette smoke or an excess of fat cells (especially fat in the belly area). Inside arteries, inflammation helps kick off atherosclerosis—the buildup of plaque. Your body perceives this plaque as abnormal and foreign, so it attempts to wall off the plaque from the flowing blood. But if that wall breaks down, the plaque may rupture. The contents then mingle with blood, forming a clot. These clots are responsible for the majority of heart attacks and most strokes.

Inflammation can be measured with a simple blood test called C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a marker for inflammation, including arterial inflammation. Nearly 25 years ago, Harvard researchers found that men with higher CRP levels—greater than 2 milligrams per liter (mg/L)—had three times the risk of heart attack and twice the risk of stroke as men with little or no chronic inflammation. Another older, less expensive (but still useful) test is the “Sed Rate” or ESR, which measures how long it takes the sticky, non-liquid content of the blood to settle out after being drawn out of a vein. For men ESR should be below 20; for women below 40. Neither of these tests indicates the location of inflammation—that requires a discussion with your healthcare provider, a good physical exam, and possibly some radiologic imaging or additional bloodwork.

In general, animal foods promote inflammation because that tissue is quite similar to our own flesh, thereby potentially “confusing” the immune system. This is not to say that all meat is bad. Humans are omnivores. However, factory farmed and processed meats are not healthy foods and will definitely lead to chronic inflammation. Same

with dairy products. Milk as a drink is for babies only. Once people start eating (age 1 or so) they should stop drinking milk. Seriously. Cultured (partially pre-digested) milk such as cheese, yogurt, kefir, and butter are enjoyable but aren’t necessarily “health foods” depending on the source and quality. Sugar-laden cow’s milk yogurt is not good for you. Know where your animal-based foods come from—otherwise avoid them. If you’re lucky enough to be able to buy sustainably caught wild fish, that’s fantastic. Some folks still hunt, and game is typically healthy meat, though areas of the U.S. have deer (venison) with a type of mad-cow disease, so make sure to get the scoop before shooting.

Key Anti-Inflammatory Nutrients

If you want to improve your swelling, excess heat, redness, or pain, the first step is to commit to an anti-inflammatory diet. There are two main focuses of anti-inflammatory eating: antioxidants and anti-inflammatory fats.

Antioxidants include a wide range of nutrients, mostly plant pigments, such as chlorophyll and beta-carotene, plus vitamin C (which humans do not produce and must supplement) and our “master antioxidant” glutathione, which is made internally from three amino acids (the most important being N-acetyl cysteine). Antioxidants are so-called because they literally block “oxidative” damage that happens at a molecular level both internal and external to the cell. In general, antioxidants are large, complex molecules that have the capacity to donate electrons to an unstable (damaged) molecule, thus stopping the domino effect of electrongrabbing destruction.

To combat inflammation (and accrue other health benefits), supplement with 1,000–5,000 mg of vitamin C daily. I prefer a non-corn source. If your stool gets loose, cut the dose back a bit until you find your optimum intake. If you’re really in need of support ,you may choose several infusions of intravenous vitamin C, because a much higher dose than oral can be well tolerated.

I prefer glutathione in the liposomal form because the molecule is fairly unstable and the shelf life is much improved when it’s complexed with a healthy fat (typically lecithin). Liquid glutathione is notably helpful for many lung issues, including asthma, bronchitis, emphysema, or for an acute respiratory illness.

The Anti-Inflammatory Diet

To build your anti-inflammatory diet, first purge your pantry of boxed goods featuring processed grains, which are typically bound together with poor-quality (rancid) vegetable oils. I’m talking about packaged cookies, crackers, bagels, most bread, pizza, pies, wraps, croissants— you don’t need any of this! It’s certainly not worth dying early for.

Next, commit to eating colorful veggies (3–7 servings) and fruits (1–3 servings) every day. This means shopping for fresh produce twice a week or so. A serving is about 1/2 cup if cooked and 1 cup if raw. The single most healing category of foods on the planet is dark, leafy greens. They have fiber. They have tons of chlorophyll and other healing pigments. They have minerals galore. They have vitamins. Learn to cook with a wide variety of these gorgeous, vibrant plants, including kale, Swiss chard, broccoli, romaine lettuces, spinach, collard greens, watercress, and arugula. I like to stack kale leaves after slicing out the tough central stem, then roll them into a big “cigar” and cut across roll to create long ringlets of the greens which will steam to tenderness quickly, or can be “massaged” with a little oil and sea salt to form the basis of a substantial salad.

Also be sure to eat lots of high beta- carotene foods, which typically have orange or yellow pigmentation. Think carrots, yams, oranges, red peppers, egg yolks, garlic, and onions. Other anti-inflammatory superfoods are berries, nuts, and seeds. What’s really great about nuts and seeds, despite being high-calorie, is that their fat content is specifically anti-inflammatory, unlike animal fats.

Since your anti-inflammatory mitigators need to reach the target tissue via the bloodstream, this means you also want to be well hydrated This not only improves “flow,” but also minimizes sticky platelets, which are a feature of many illnesses. Cancer patients, for example, are hyper-coagulable, meaning they tend to have sticky blood and form clots. Minimize your clot formation by drinking plenty of clear water daily, and keep your blood circulating via daily exercise, and by consistently choosing anti-inflammatory foods and oils.