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What do heart disease, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, arthritis, allergies, asthma, gout and irritable bowel syndrome have in common? These and many other common health conditions are all associated with INFLAMMATION.

What’s most surprising is that leading researchers in completely different areas of medicine have independently and repeatedly come to the same conclusion; that inflammation plays a key role in the development of a variety of seemingly unrelated illnesses.

For example, in 1997, researchers in neurology discovered an interesting finding, that is, that people who had been taking anti-inflammatory medications such as Ibuprofen seemed to have much lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease than the general population. They published their findings in the journal Neurology. A second study published in the New England Journal of Medicine November 22, 2001 also showed an 80% reduction in the risk of Alzheimer's disease in people taking some anti-inflammatory medicinces daily for two years.

Inflammation is now being recognized as the common link that may explain the association between otherwise distinct conditions.

For example, did you know that there was an association between asthma and irritable bowel syndrome, or heart attack and dental problems, or gout and heart disease, or allergies and diabetes? It is now getting clearer that these conditions are related by the presence of inflammation.

What is inflammation? Simply stated, inflammation is the result of activation of the immune system. Inflammation is the way that our body responds to an infection or an injury – it is part of our body’s defense system. Normally, our immune system works in the surveillance mode – standing by, watching and waiting for a possible invader or threat to our bodies. If such an invader or threat is encountered, then our immune system springs into action. First, the cells of the immune system nearest to the source attack the problem directly, but they also send out an alert in the form of chemical and cellular messengers to activate the rest of our immune system – sort of like law enforcement calling for backup. This activation of the immune system begins the process of inflammation. The process continues, with a number of different types of cells attacking the problem, a wide range of antibodies being created and released, and many inflammatory chemicals (called cytokines) being produced.

This complex and well-orchestrated reaction by our bodies is a highly evolved and critically important defense mechanism that protects us against an incredibly wide range of potential threats, particularly from bacteria, viruses, parasites, molds and even foreign proteins that pose serious threats to our health. Unfortunately, this protective mechanism of our immune system also has dangerous secondary effects on our bodies. The result of this inflammatory response by the immune system is unfortunately damage to many different organs in our bodies, as well as our circulatory system itself, because our immune system is an integral part of each and every organ in our body as well as being in the bloodstream itself.

Each organ in our body contains a part of our immune system, which originates from embryonic cells called stem cells. These stem cells grow and take on slightly different characteristics depending on the organ that they reside in. For example, in the liver these cells are called Kuppfer cells. In the brain, they are called the microglia, in the bowel the GALT, or gut-associated lymphoid tissue, etc. Each organ contains its own host of these cells that help to defend and protect it from infection. However, damage to these organs can occur if the immune system is under a state of chronic activation.

Over activation of the immune system can result in damage to our organs as well as the circulatory system itself. This over activation may occur as the result of a number of conditions, such as chronic infections, allergies, abnormal growth of bacteria in the intestinal tract, or our immune system’s reaction to foreign proteins.

How do we know if we have inflammation? Most often, inflammation can be easily recognized because of the typical findings of pain, swelling, redness and warmth. We are all familiar with common examples of inflammation such as insect bites and stings, tendonitis, sinusitis, or arthritis. Some inflammation, however, can be relatively silent and may take a blood test to detect. This blood test is a simple test called the C-reactive protein level, which is simply an indication of the presence of inflammation. Research has repeatedly shown that the C-reactive protein level is an excellent marker of inflammation and can predict the risk of heart attack and stroke as well or better than cholesterol levels. The C-reactive protein level is quite sensitive and will usually identify even mild cases of systemic inflammation – the optimal level is less than 0.7.

If we do have inflammation, what can we do to protect ourselves? Certainly, anti-inflammatories may have some value. We know that one of the most important preventive medications for heart attack and stroke is simply aspirin, one of the most simple and oldest anti-inflammatories. As we mentioned, other anti-inflammatories such as Ibuprofen may protect against Alzheimer’s disease. But in the case of anti-inflammatory medications, more is not clearly better – these medications also have significant side effects, such as causing irritation and sometimes damage to the stomach and intestinal tract, the kidneys and the liver.

In the case of chronic inflammation, a safer strategy may be to employ anti-inflammatory nutritional and lifestyle changes that can help to reduce inflammation and the C-reactive protein level. Did you know there were dietary means of reducing inflammation? Here are the ways:

• Get an oil change
  • Increase your intake of small, oily fish such as sardines, herring, mackerel, salmon, and anchovies
  • Add ground flax seeds to your diet - we recommend a tablespoon daily
• Increase your intake of anti-inflammatory foods and herbs
  • Ginger
  • Curcumin (from turmeric)
  • Rosemary
  • Basil
  • Cherries
  • Rutin
  • Boswellia (an Ayurvedic herb)
  • Glucosamine or chondroitin sulfate also may may anti-inflammatory properties

Also, you should ask your doctor for the high sensitvity C-reactive protein blood test, which will indicate if inflammation is a problem for you, and ask your doctor’s advice about the possible source of inflammation and recommendations for treatment of this is discovered.