Channel: Christopher Walker

Category: Education

Tags: cytokines immunologyinflammatory acneinflammatory responseinflammation in the bodyinflammatory syndromechristopher walkerinflammationinflammation dietulcerative colitishormesis explainedthink again documentaryobesityzureliefibs symptomsbromelainumzuray peatinflammation processinflammation in the kneeinflammatory bowel diseasecrohns diseasehigh blood pressureibs dietboswelliainflammatory foodsturmericulcersinflammatory arthritis

Description: UMZU is on a mission to make the world truly healthy through education & action. Learn more here umzu.com Inflammation is blamed for causing everything from obesity, to heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, ulcers, oral diseases, celiac, gut issues such as IBS, Crohn's, and ulcerative colitis, autoimmune diseases in general, and so much more. In The Principia (1687), Isaac Newton’s seminal work on the mathematical exploration of Nature, he states that "To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction; in other words, the actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and always opposite in direction." Inflammation is the body’s chief compensatory response to chemical stress. The main macro process of opposing forces within your body is most easily understood as regeneration versus degeneration, and the oppositional nature between the two is almost entirely influenced by environmental factors: the inputs that either allow for the cells to coherently regenerate, or to dissonantly degenerate. Inflammation, with the right element of control, is a natural part of regeneration, a process known as hormesis. Hormesis is the impetus for adaptation, and the subsequent development of growth and increased strength within the system. Hormetic stress is especially important in physical training, mitochondrial adaptations, and the maintenance of homeostasis (which is itself a demonstration of the body’s innate drive to balance). On the other hand, inflammation when uncontrolled, drives degeneration. Cellular dissonance caused by inflammatory reactions manifests in systemic dysfunction in tissues, organs, and organ systems. As the body seeks homeostasis, the continual environmental input of inflammatory “blockers” compels it to find resources from within (since they’re not being provided externally), in order to balance this degeneration, pulling micronutrients from important storage areas with inherently limited supplies. In 2012, the pioneering physiologist Dr. Raymond Peat, PhD from the University of Oregon, wrote about an illuminating observation regarding the nature of the effect of inflammation on aging (degeneration) in an organism by investigating the patterns seen in the brain development of different birds, relative to their gestational environment. The chicken egg, when incubated with heat from the mother hen, is a self-contained environment with all of the resources necessary for the development of a healthy baby chick, including glucose and nutrient-dense yolk. Brain growth stops when the chick embryo has consumed all of the available glucose within the egg, and needs to switch to consuming the fat of the yolk. Chickens are known as precocial birds, meaning the chicks are completely developed when hatched, and therefore do not require further attention or care from the parent to survive into adulthood. They concluded that “brain weight and DNA were found to be significantly correlated with blood glucose level” and that “early brain growth might be manipulated in both directions (inhibition or stimulation) by addition of proper nutrients during the sensitive period of neuronal proliferation.” The positive influence of gestational glucose on brain development of the embryo has long been observed in many species, including humans. Results highlight the reality that glucose availability leads to larger brain sizes and increased neuron count in the newborn. Over time, inflammation changes the way your body can operate, namely how effectively it can regenerate, or heal itself. This is due to internal shifts in resource availability, like nutrients, that the body needs for regenerative processes. You’ll notice that, in children and teenagers, the body can heal itself quite quickly after injury, due to a higher regenerative capacity. Over time, as the body is exposed to an increasing amount of inflammatory environmental “blockers,” it has a decreasingly effective ability to recover. The build up of inflammation inside your body is responsible for this, and you experience an increase in degeneration as you age, and eventually lose the regenerative ability entirely, resulting in death. The inflammation response inside the body is characterized mainly by triggering the release of compounds known as inflammatory cytokines, which are catabolic, such as the interleukins IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6, IL-15, IL-17, and IL-18. However, to highlight the opposing nature of regenerative and degenerative inflammation, it’s important to understand that the body also has a host of anti-inflammatory interleukins such as IL-4, IL-10, and IL-13, which stimulate anabolic processes to restore order.