An "Insight of the Decade": Chronic inflammation kills

Macrophages are "hallmarks of inflammation" and provide important immunological defense. However, they can also promote disease.Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, describes the Four Horsemen of Aging in his book The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer. Although not a paleo book per se, the discussion of the Four Horsemen - Free radicals, Inflammation, Glycation and Stress - is mostly on target.

Bowden quotes a number of specialists in the field:

Inflammation is one of the things that keeps us alive in a hostile world. … Without inflammation we would be sitting ducks in a very hostile world, with no way to repair the damage constantly being inflicted on us. Our internal inflammatory responses let us attack invaders, surround, them, and ultimately kill them before they kill us. (Barry Sears, PhD)

However, while we need acute inflammation to repair damage done by a cut, an infection, or other insult, chronic inflammation is another matter altogether. While not necessarily the starter switch, “chronic inflammation may be the engine that drives many of the most feared illnesses of middle and old age.” (Christine Gorman)  

SAD is largely to blame:

The standard American diet, commonly referred to as SAD, is inherently pro-inflammatory due to its excess of sugars … and its insufficiency of omega-3 fatty acids and phytonutrients. (Alex Vasquez, DC, ND)

To counter SAD, the paleo/primal community and its many authors, including Loren Cordain, Staffan Lindeberg, Mark Sisson, Robb Wolf and others, suggest rescue by the Paleolithic diet.

Now if you go back and look at the diet of all the hunter-gatherer societies, the “natural” diet of Paleolithic man, and the basic diet of any civilization that lived off the land, eating unprocessed and unrefined foods, you find an interesting relationship between the consumption of the two types of fatty acids: It was always in balance. (Bowden) 

A high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today’s Western diet, promotes the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. (Artemis P. Simopoulus of the Center for Genetics, Nutrition, and Health in Washington DC)

While this may be familiar to those following the paleo diet, it is gratifying to know that the December 17, 2010 issue of Science, a premier scientific journal, chose the new understanding of inflammation as one of the INSIGHTS OF THE DECADE. In the Science article, Inflammation Bares a Dark Side, Jennifer Couzin-Frankel writes:

Over the past decade it has become widely accepted that inflammation is a driving force behind chronic diseases that will kill nearly all of us. Cancer. Diabetes and obesity. Alzheimer’s disease. Artherosceloris. Here, inflammation wears a grim mask, shedding its redeeming features making sick people sicker.

It has taken time to recognize inflammation as one of the leading, if not the leading, “engine” of western diseases.

But after inflammation eluded them for so long, researchers are chasing lead after lead, trying to stay a step ahead and discern when its fires need putting out.

Hopefully, this focus on inflammation will lead investigators to study the role of Paleolithic nutrition in countering the effects SAD and help many regain their original health.