Is inflammation making you sick?

What are the biggest global threats to health and well-being?

Not long ago, the World Health Organization declared that the effects of climate change have surpassed previously identified global health threats.  Of course, at the time of this post as the Ukraine conflict rages, a threat of nuclear war has likely escalated to the number one position.

After those two, what does data tell us about where we should target healthy lifestyle changes?  This post explores that question.  Interestingly, we will discover that some of the major causes of chronic diseases and disability have similar pathways to illness.  

Heart disease is # 1

Globally, according to WHO, based on pre-pandemic data, heart disease is still the number one cause of premature death.  That is certainly true here in North America.

The following WHO graph illustrates the 10 leading causes of premature death:

Of the top 10, only three are communicable diseases (infections, in green).  It is probable that during Covid-19 pandemic, lower respiratory tract infections took a temporary jump (about 6 million deaths in two years).  Where communicable diseases were for millennia the major causes of premature death, vaccines and antibiotics have now reduced them.  But communicable infections such as gastroenteritis (diarrhea), remain a significant cause of premature death in children, especially in poorer populations and nations.

What is most significant in the illustration above is that the five diseases marked with a blue arrow on the left have a common etiology (cause).  More on that below.

The leading cause of disability

According to WHO, the leading cause of disability and the biggest contributor to the global burden of disease is depression.  Disability is defined as activity limitations and/or participation restriction in an individual with a health condition, disorder, or disease.  

Low back pain was previously number one, now surpassed by depression.

We are now also learning that the same common pathway which we will explore below, also contributes to brain health and neurological disorders, including depression.  

Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder

Another brain disorder that has been on the rise is ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) and its non-hyperactive primary attentional disorder ADD (attention deficit disorder). According to the  Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada, ADHD affects between 5 – 9% of children and between 3 – 5% of adults.

While genetics has been identified as a major risk factor, that alone would not explain the exponential increase within the last generation (or two).  Part of the rapid rise in incidence is likely that the diagnosis was not well recognized by clinicians in previous generations. 

Yet, here too, neuroscience is identifying another common thread.

The Common Thread

The common thread in the five leading causes of death (heart disease, stroke, Alzheimers, diabetes, and kidney failure) is inflammation.  

And, inflammation in the brain is now also identified in depression and ADHD.

What is inflammation

Inflammation is the body’s innate way of self-healing an infection or injury. White blood cells are recruited to the area and there is associated redness and heat as increased blood flow attempts to rid the infection or injury. This is acute inflammation and is good and beneficial.

It is when an insult to the body does not go away, and inflammation becomes chronic, or permanent, that it loses it benefit and actually turns around and becomes harmful. This is now called systemic chronic inflammation (SCI). Systemic means it’s throughout the body, likely including the brain.

The following diagram illustrates in detail both the identified causes and result of SCI:

The centre cog is the mechanism of SCI (systemic chronic inflammation).  The cog on the left, with the black infographics, cranks up the middle cog.   These conditions and habits have been identified as causes of SCI.  The big cog on the right, with the mauve infographics,shows the known symptoms and diseases of SCI.  

We will explain in more detail below, but although this diagram looks depressing (look at all the resulting diseases), what is absolutely encouraging and HOPEFUL, is the fact that lifestyle changes and new habits can virtually remove (at least significantly reduce) the cranking cog on the left.  And it is never too late to make these lifestyle changes.  These changes are primarily diet, exercise, and dealing with stress.  

The causes of SCI

We will list the causes starting at the infographic at the top left side of the diagram above:

1. Chronic infections – for example untreated Lyme disease or more commonly, infected gums (periodontal disease)
2. Physical inactivity – experts recommend a minimum of 150 minutes of aerobic (heart rate increasing) activity per week, especially outdoors in daylight
3. Obesity – men with an abdominal girth (measured around the belly button) over 40 inches or women over 35 inches are at increased risk of SCI (abdominal adipose tissue cells are larger and are known to leak proinflammatory substances)
4. Dysbiosis – an unhealthy gut microbiome (the bacteria in your intestines that play a huge role in physical and mental health) that needs more dietary fibre and less unnecessary antibiotics (often prescribed for viruses which are not antibiotic sensitive)
5. Diet – a diet high in sugar (especially fructose which has been added to processed food in the last 50 years to replace fat) is highly inflammatory, as well as a leading cause of the obesity epidemic
6. Isolation and chronic stress – stress keeps the “fight or flight” hormones increased and cortisol which normally is anti-inflammatory and needed acutely, when elevated chronically causes increased blood sugar and increased insulin levels, which are very proinflammatory
7. Disturbed sleep – adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep and the brain does “garbage removal” during sleep of byproducts of brain activity during the day and without their removal will worsen neuroinflammation
8. Xenobiotics – any toxic substance in the diet, inhaled, or absorbed through the skin, such as lead, drugs, excess alcohol, pollution, etc.

The effects of SCI

Here, we will explain the mauve coloured infographics starting at the top right of the diagram above:

1. Metabolic syndrome, type II diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) – this is where excessive sugar intake over years has led to the need for increased insulin (called “insulin resistance”), often called “pre-diabetes,” NAFLD is now a more common cause of liver failure that alcoholic liver cirrhosis
2. Cardiovascular disease – heart attacks are the end result of atherosclerosis (“hardening of the arteries”) which we now know starts from inflammation rather than too much dietary fat; the same process in the arteries to the brain cause strokes and to the lower limbs caused peripheral vascular disease (poor circulation)
3. Cancer – while some cancers have more specific causes (smoking for lung cancer for example), SCI has now been shown to be an increased risk factor for many cancers where the immune system has been disturbed into causing inflammation
4. Depression – neuroinflammation is a risk factor for brain fog and depression
5. Autoimmune diseases – the immune system can become underactive and fail to protect a person from infection or cancer, or overactive and start to develop antibodies against the body (eg autoimmune thyroiditis) or to non-dangerous substances (allergies to inhalants or foods)
6. Neurodegenerative diseases – Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, Parkinson’s disease, and ADHD in children and adults
7. Sarcopenia and osteoporosis – skeletal muscle mass loss and weakening of the bones, with tendency to delayed healing of sometimes trivial injuries
8. Immunosenescence – premature loss of healthy immune response which does normally occur with advanced age

Summary and takeaways

Systemic chronic inflammation, and its stablemate in the brain, neuroinflammation, are the number one root cause of many of the most common chronic diseases, early death, and disability.  

And, these common chronic diseases are also a financial burden on our healthcare system and a major contributor to the continual shortage of primary care clinicians in Canada (PEI currently has 20,000 people on the registry awaiting a family doctor or nurse practitioner).

All the conditions listed have increased in the past 50 years, despite attempts at reducing dietary fat consumption.  It turns out, we totally missed the boat, and by reducing fat, we have inadvertently massively increased our consumption of sugar, particularly fructose in the form of corn syrup found in processed foods.  And this is contributing to a global obesity crisis, prediabetes, and full-out type II diabetes. 

We need to reduce processed foods and simple carbohydrates and return to real whole foods (the way our grandmothers cooked). The ancient spiritual practice of fasting is also being rediscovered as beneficial. And, put our smartphones away, get off the couch, and get active and outdoors.  And deal with our past traumas and stressors that drive us to comfort foods.   And in order to do all that, we will need strength from On High and healthy spirituality.  

Contact us for assistance and guidance in any of these areas. We have a team and resources no matter where you are on your journey.

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Further reading or listening

Dr. Robert H. Lustig, MD, is an expert is this field and his recent book, Metabolical, is a deep dive (and available on Kindle and as an audiobook). Check out the website and here is a YouTube podcast interview.

Dr. Benjamin Bikman, PhD, is another expert and his recent book, Why We Get Sick, is also great. You will also find YouTube videos featuring his work.

Dr. Pradip Jamnadas, a cardiac surgeon who saw his stented patients returning began a deep dive into the cause and also discovered the same root cause. You can watch an interview here.

Furman, D., Campisi, J., Verdin, E. et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med 25, 1822–1832 (2019). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0675-0

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Compassionately,