A Smouldering Adversary
Part Seven – When Your Body Is Your Foe And Inflammations Accomplice
Have you read Parts One through to Six of this series? Please read them before continuing, you’ll see that it’s so important to you.
Why is it so important? This statement says it all –
The destructive capability of chronic inflammation is unrivalled among bodily processes.
More On Body Fat and Inflammation
Your entire physical being wants the very best for you. It never ceases in its drive to maintain balance and a state of harmony. You know that state as being in good health. Part of this state of good health involves your body’s relationship with fat cells. Fat tissue is a necessary component of health, in fact if you had no fat cells you would cease to exist. So fatty tissue is good, but in moderation. And then there’s the case when fat tissue is bad.
A chronic inflammatory state is characteristic of people who exceed their normal weight. This has been revealed in excessively overweight and obese people, blood tests show a high prevalence of the chemical indicators of inflammation.
Problems begin when bodily fat tissue exceeds healthy requirements. Remember we need to maintain that sweet spot, that state of balance, and excess fatty deposits place undue stress on your body’s resources.
One detrimental issue with fatty deposits is immune cells mistake them as invaders. Put another way, the human body is responding because it recognises something is present that shouldn’t be.
Your ever vigilant system recognises when fat cells exceed requirements and it goes to work on them. The response is an autoimmune reaction similar to the defence mechanism against bacteria and fungi. Your immune cells target the fat cells, and in the process the fat cells expand. They then either leak, or completely break open, and spill out their contents.
This is toxic material so it needs to be dealt with and defensive cells are activated to clean up the mess. A process kicks in to regulate the work of the immune cells so things don’t get out of hand. Your system also instigates an healthy inflammatory response. Then things die down until the process is needed again. This is all normal.
So far, so good.
But when the number of fat cells are excessive, as in overweight and obese people, the inflammatory response can be overwhelming. There are so many fat cells spilling out their contents the immune system operates in overdrive. This is a huge struggle and the inflammation induced doesn’t get a chance to subside.
What began as a process of controlled inflammation to keep you safe now becomes awry and proceeds to a chronic inflammatory state. The dangers of this you are now well aware of.
Also, overweight and obese people tend to develop higher than normal levels of what are termed ‘specific fat derived proteins’. The body has to deal with this extra burden but in doing so an additional inflammatory cascade occurs. This adds to the body’s woes.
If this wasn’t enough there’s even more! In the presence of excess fat cells blood vessels remodel themselves and debris accumulates, then scavenger cells come onto the scene (macrophages). Even though these scavenger cells are a necessary part of the inflammatory response they can create issues if the inflammation is not pacified. But with the continual inflammatory state in people with excess body fat this process continues unabated and the scavenger cells become dominant.
The elevated levels of toxins the scavenger cells release can be detrimental to surrounding tissue. Tissue is damaged, inflammation ensues, and injured tissue cries out to be healed. So another anti-inflammatory response is set in motion. This creates further potential to add to an already existent chronic inflammatory state.
With so much going on sometimes the injured tissue cannot be repaired so anyone with excess weight issues runs the risk of tissue destruction.
Obese and excessively overweight people tend to have a consistently high level of CRP. CRP stands for C-reactive protein. It’s produced and released whenever inflammation is present, and it’s measurable.
CRP coats cells damaged in the inflammatory process so immune cells readily recognise them. The greater the level of CRP measured in the blood the higher is the degree of inflammation in the body.
It’s acknowledged that the detection of even a mild elevation in C-reactive protein is an indicator for the increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, muscle weakness and fragility. Because of the high level of CRP in obese and excessively overweight people it reveals the extent of inflammation present, and is a warning sign of the risk of succumbing to diseases that challenge their very existence.
Now you can see how excess body fat, even if it is not at obese levels, contributes to chronic inflammation, limits health, and reduces lifespan. It’s additional motivation to keep the excess pounds off for your health’s sake.
Chronic Inflammation and the Loss of Muscle
Moving away from fat tissue we’re going to look at another body tissue, muscle.
Maintaining physical strength is important throughout all stages of life. Until recently sports scientists believed that as a person ages the loss of muscle mass is a given, an unavoidable part of the passage of time. It’s now known that it’s not a natural process of the human condition at all. And here’s a truth for you to file away in your memory.
Muscle loss is actually the result of inactivity, not advancing years.
An underused muscle atrophies. It’s as simple as that.
And here’s an interesting fact. You never lose the ability to synthesise new muscle throughout life. Even in your seventies and eighties, and beyond, you are still able to make new muscle just as you did as a twenty or thirty year old. That’s a marvellous attribute the human body has, and one that you can use to your advantage.
But we’re still on the topic of chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammation accelerates muscle loss even further than inactivity alone. It adversely disrupts muscles anabolic signals that influence growth. Even if a regular routine of strengthening exercises is adhered to, and all nutritional requirements are met, the ability to source energy for muscle growth and maintenance will be limited by any inflammation present. So even after putting in all the effort to stay strong muscle atrophy still could occur.
Fact – Chronic inflammation is implicated as a major player in age related muscle loss (sarcopenia). Yet with a little work this is entirely avoidable.
First up, put into place your personal anti-inflammation regime. Then keep up to date with More of You and look out for my article on sarcopenia, how to remedy it, and how to avoid it.
Now, here’s something for those of you who want to put a number to the extent of inflammation in your body.
Testing for Inflammatory Markers
There are blood tests available that measure the degree of inflammation present in your system. Enquire at your local blood testing clinic for availability and cost.
The two tests listed are the ones commonly used. There are three useful purposes in having the tests done. One is to discover if you have signs of chronic inflammation, and the degree of it. The second is to monitor the progress of your anti-inflammatory regimen. This will give you the opportunity to fine tune it, if necessary. And the other reason to be tested is when you’ve got rid of a chronic inflammatory state, and want to ensure your protective regimen is working as it should.
The two tests are:
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP) test:
– the optimal range for women is under 1.50 mg/L
– the optimal range for men is under 0.55 mg/L
Fibrinogen test:
– the optimal range, for both women and men, is 200 – 300 mg/dL
And that wraps up this seven part series. You now have a pretty good appreciation of the dangers of chronic inflammation. You also have the tools to form a strategy to deal with it, to get rid of it, and to keep it at bay.
Making your body a chronic inflammation free zone gives you a tremendous foundation that you can build your health and anti-ageing life on. I truly hope that you put into practice the protocols and reap the rewards.
As the famous slogan says “Just Do It!”, (thank you Nike).
There’s a lot more to come in More of You. It’s written for you so you can be optimally healthy and strong, and enjoy every day of a long life. We look forward to you joining us again. Happy days.
More of You’s Takeaways
• You have a greater appreciation of the dangers of excess body fat and obesity
• You know that chronic inflammation atrophies muscle tissue, thereby physical strength is diminished
• You are aware that it doesn’t have to be this way
• There are two blood tests that measure the degree of any chronic inflammation present in your body
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