Acute inflammation is, according to broadcaster and author Dr Michael Mosley, a life saver, while chronic inflammation is a killer.
Michael was talking to Brendan O'Connor about inflammation – the bad kind – and how to avoid it. The whole area of inflammation is enjoying something of a moment in the sun. Or as Brendan put it, "we were all obsessed by gut health there for a while. I feel inflammation is the new gut health now."
Dr. Mosley started off the discussion by explaining the difference between acute and chronic inflammation and why that difference is vital to our wellbeing:
"It’s all to do with the immune system. So, when you cut your finger, for example, you get acute inflammation – the white cells rush to the spot to try and destroy the microbes that might be trying to get into your blood supply.
"So, your army of white cells are mobilised to attack and get rid of that. So that’s kind of a good thing. And then there’s chronic inflammation, where your immune system is turned on for reasons which are not entirely clear, but certain events do that. And so your white cells remain in a constant state of activity, this internal army keeps on looking for enemies to bash and the net result is you get this thing called chronic inflammation."
Chronic inflammation can damage healthy cells, tissues and organs, including the heart. This is why Michael describes chronic inflammation as a killer. But why is inflammation riding high in the health space now?
It’s probably because of a portmanteau – that's usually how things enter the popular imagination. And Michael has one inflammation-related portmanteau to share:
"Inflamaging, which is, you know, the mash-up of the two words inflammation and ageing because they are so closely linked. We know that as you get older, you tend to get more chronic inflammation. That in turn impacts your heart – heart disease, your brain – dementia, depression, anxiety. All sorts of things are linked to chronic inflammation."
Including, of course, arthritis, another inflammatory response that tends to get more pronounced as we get older. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way:
"We know that when you look at people who are ageing particularly well, it turns out that they have lower levels of chronic inflammation."
So how do we age well? One set of things that won’t help us do that, according to Michael, is anti-inflammatory products. Most of them just don’t work, apparently. But there is a treatment that seems to provide an anti-inflammatory benefit – though scientists aren’t sure why – and that’s statins:
"We think of statins as being good at reducing cholesterol, but actually the main way they work is probably by reducing inflammation. So statins work irrespective of whether they push your cholesterol down."
Michael’s preferred method of controlling inflammation is making lifestyle changes, starting with diet and, unsurprisingly perhaps, he’s a fan of the Mediterranean diet – when it’s followed responsibly:
"What I mean by Mediterranean diet is not pizza or pasta, but things like oily fish, that is salmon, mackerel – you have to think SMASH: salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines and herring. Those are all oily fish, they contain omega 3, which is anti-inflammatory."
As well as oily fish, Michael is a fan of green vegetables, wholegrains and fermented foods. He is well-known for popularising intermittent fasting, most famously the 5:2 diet. His current preferred diet regime is the Fast 800 Diet, a low carbohydrate Mediterranean diet combined with intermittent fasting.
Then there's dental hygiene – another way that inflammation can get at us, if we’re not careful:
"When you get inflammation in your gums – and that’s because you’re not looking after your teeth, you’re not flossing – then the bacteria from there they escape into your blood system and they go to your heart, they go to your brain and there’s a lot of evidence now that having gingivitis inflammation in the teeth is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and also dementia."
So flossing is a must and Dr Mosley insists that flossing should be done before brushing. Also, don’t rinse after brushing and always brush before breakfast, not afterwards.
As well as all that, another part of tackling inflammation is to look at sleep, which is vital to a properly-functioning immune system.
You can hear Michael give Brendan strategies for overcoming his insomnia by clicking on the full conversation at the top of the page.
