Silent Inflammation Part I – By Doctor Gisela Heldt

Silent inflammation? What on earth is that? It seems to be a new medical term or a made-up illness that the pharmaceutical industry has a good reason to sell expensive remedies against. – What does silent inflammation mean? Usual inflammations cause pain! Everybody knows this. You will surely remember your last cold, which is an inflammation too – it was aching (almost) everywhere in the body. Pain differs from one person to the other. One feels it in the nose, the other in the eyes, one has a sore throat and cannot eat or drink or the bronchia makes breathing painful. All that is caused by an inflammation. – When working in house or in garden you sometimes end up with a splinter. It will soon cause pain and is also the consequence of an inflammation. Why that? Health professionals have been faced with this term since 2005 very often – in courses about anti aging! So, is it something that has to do with wellness?

The Best Season to Change Your Lifestyle (s. Tip below)

Even those who are non-specialists in medicine know terms like celiac disease, gluten and fructose intolerance but who has ever heard of TNF alpha, NF-kB or Interleukin 2? Nobody … – Most people will know that the first three terms have something to do with nutrition. The same is with the unknown terms. Doctors found out that the fat in the belly – the fat that accumulates the gut and the internal organs – is a gland. The adipose cells were in the past taken as cells accumulating fat and for the rest … only to be there. Today it is a matter of common knowledge that it is a highly active gland, segregated by many hormones and other biochemical substances and influencing the metabolism. This gland is called “intra abdominal fat”. Doesn´t sound very nice. It is even in the bodies of the slimmest and protects internal organs like kidneys and the heart. If there is not enough of this fat round the organs – what very often occurs to those who are anorexic – organ failure and death can be the result. This means that the body needs a certain quantity of fat for self-preservation.

But, if there is more fat than needed an inflammation process will start. TNF alpha is very important. It increases in the blood, the stronger the inflammation the more significant the increase. This protein (TNF alpha) provides the formation of another inflammation protein in the liver. In laboratories inflammation is detected in measuring the protein CRP (c-reactive protein). CRP is one of the best indicators of inflammation that we have. Levels of CRP rise as inflammation increases. A CRP concentration of above 3.0 mg/L is not only a high risk for heart problems (cardiac infarction, stroke etc) but also accelerates aging. That is the root of the matter of silent inflammation in the body. In other words: aging is a chronic inflammation, quiet, clandestine and unnoticed at the beginning, until the damage can be seen. Many people notice only the skin aging as an effect when cell membranes and connective tissue loose their elasticity. Normal ductless glands produce less hormones but the hormones of the fat in the belly increase …

Tip – How to prevent silent inflammation?

• Change your lifestyle:
• Eat healthy (following the blog´s diet)
• Take exercise and promenades
• Try to keep your body and your mind fit
• Try to avoid stress and trouble … and
• Breathe!