Why an Anti Inflammatory Diet?
January 17, 2012
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!
What’s behind this epidemic? As America has industrialized its food supply over the past 50 years, the foods we eat have changed dramatically. Seventy percent of our calories now come from foods that would not have been recognized by our ancestors. We now consume more pro-inflammatory omega-6s and more calories overall. At the same time, we are eating less anti-inflammatory omega-3, polyphenols, and fiber. And we are exercising less.
Each of these changes contributes to whole body inflammation. Whole body inflammation is the constant presence of low level inflammation in our bodies. The latest science tells us that our efforts to live a healthy life should include an emphasis on reducing this whole body inflammation through the foods we eat and the way we exercise.
Dr. Chilton pioneered America's awareness of the connection between whole body inflammation and many chronic diseases in his first book, Inflammation Nation, which was published in 2005. Even since then, the epidemic has become more alarming. Consider the following statistics for these diseases, each of which has an inflammatory component:
- 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.
- 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.
- Today, more than 25 million Americans have asthma - twice as many as in 1990.
- Allergies, including hay fever, now ranks sixth among chronic human diseases.
- More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
- Depression and depressive disorders occur in approximately 18.8 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the US population age 18 and older.
Inflammation: The Common Connection
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, or whole body 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 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.
The Proven Approach to Reduce Whole Body Inflammation
Based on The Gene Smart Diet, written by renowned scientist, Dr. Ski Chilton, the five Gene Smart Eating & Exercise Principles are uniquely designed to work with our genes, especially the genes that control inflammation, to bring our bodies back under our control. You can learn much more about these five principles at GeneSmart.com, the place for healthy anti-inflammatory eating resources.
Words of Wisdom
"Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
