sustained activation of inflammatory pathways and contribute to chronic
systemic inflammation.
Environmental and industrial pollutants
With the rapid expansion of cities
and industrial
areas in modern society, our exposure to air pollutants,
hazardous waste products and industrial chemicals has increased
exponentially. Thousands of chemicals exist in the world today but only a
small portion have been evaluated for their health effects.
Of those chemical
that have been evaluated, a number of them are
commonly used and have been linked to inflammatory processes in the
body. In addition, there is clear evidence that
pollutants such as tobacco
smoke can damage our lungs and airways, leading to lung cancer and
chronic lung disease. Direct inhalation of tobacco smoke can cause serious
damage, but lingering harmful effects have
been shown for second- and
third-hand smoke, as well (see
Chapter 12
).
Which way forward?
At the end of the day, it isn’t always clear why one person gets cancer or
another has a heart attack or stroke or develops Alzheimer’s disease. But it
does appear that similar inflammatory processes
contribute to these
seemingly very different diseases.
The good news is that we can modify many of the factors that contribute to
chronic inflammation — such as sleep, stress, physical activity and diet —
to minimize its effects on our bodies. By doing so,
we also reduce our risk
of developing serious chronic illnesses, and we increase the length of time
we live in good health without these diseases. In other words,
we increase
our “health span,” which is the topic of the next chapter.
