Where Does Your Health Rank?

Our Nation is suffering from an epidemic of inflammatory diseases. And, despite the best health care system in the world, it is getting worse, not better!

Our Chief Science Advisor, Dr. Ski Chilton pioneered awareness of the connection between inflammation and many chronic diseases. He wrote about the epidemic of inflammatory diseases in his first book, Inflammation Nation, which was published in 2005. Even since then, the statistics have become more alarming. Consider the following trends for these diseases, each of which has an inflammatory component:

• Current figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the prevalence of obesity among adults at about 66 percent. A recent study from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine concluded that if we were to continue at the present rate, "by 2048, all American adults would become overweight or obese."

• Allergies now rank sixth among chronic human diseases.

• Today, more than 25 million Americans have asthma- twice as many as in 1990. And the severity of the disease appears to be on the rise as well: More people died from asthma in 2000 than in 1970.

• Nearly 24 million Americans-8% of the population-have diabetes, according to statistics released by the CDC in 2008. Estimates are that by 2025, the number of Americans with the disease will be close to 50 million.

• Arthritis and joint disease affect 43 million people in the United States, almost 20% of the population. This number is expected to surpass 60 million by 2020.

• More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, with the direct and indirect costs of Alzheimer's and other dementias topping $148 billion annually, according to the Alzheimer's Association.

• Depressive disorders occur in approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the US population age 18 and older.

The Link Between Inflammation and Disease

There are many different inflammatory diseases, yet all of them share the same underlying driver: an inappropriate inflammatory response. The difference between them is where the inflammatory response is taking place.

Chronic inflammation localized in the coronary arteries surrounding the heart leads to atherosclerosis and heart disease. In diabetes, the body mistakenly identifies the islet beta cells in the pancreas as foreign invaders and destroys them so that they no longer produce insulin. When inflammatory cells such as eosinophils or neutrophils invade the small airways of the lungs, they cause asthma. Arthritis, meanwhile, occurs when the synovium- a thin, specialized tissue responsible for the production of fluid that lubricates joints-becomes inflamed.

The list goes on and on. Inflammation in the upper bowel? Crohn's disease. Lower bowel? Ulcerative colitis. The underlying process is the same; it's just the location and symptoms that change.

Reduce Inflammation the Gene Smart Way

The great news is that we can counter this epidemic of inflammatory disease by changing the foods we eat and the way we exercise. The five Gene Smart diet & exercise principles are uniquely designed to work with our genes, especially our inflammatory genes, to bring our bodies back under our control, and reduce whole body inflammation. By following these simple principles, you can greatly reduce your risk from chronic inflammatory diseases and in the process, increase your energy levels, look & feel better, and improve your overall health & well-being!

Words of Wisdom

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." -Helen Keller