Live Younger Longer

Why is inflammation so bad?
Isn’t inflammation just a normal response to an injury — isn’t it part of the
body’s self-repair system when damage occurs? Yes, inflammation is a way
that the body can repair itself. But inflammation is supposed to be a
temporary response. If it’s ongoing, it can be damaging.
Consider tuberculosis, an infectious disease that occurs in the lungs. The
immune system responds to the inflammation caused by this infection by
building a wall (Ghon complex) around the infectious organism. The Ghon
complex grows quite large, crowding and pressing against normal lung
tissue. This wall impairs healthy tissue function and increases the risk of
further infection.

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Our daily habits can contribute to low-grade chronic
inflammation throughout the body. This ongoing
inflammatory state can eventually lead to a number of
chronic illnesses.
Or sometimes the inflammation response involves the need for the body to
repair its tissues and grow new cells. New cell growth requires massive
amounts of DNA replication. If just one step in the replication process goes
wrong and the DNA is altered (mutated), this could lead to abnormal cell
growth or cancer. Eating too much red meat, for example, or even smaller
amounts of processed meat, can cause a state of chronic inflammation,
which can lead to DNA mutations that can then lead to colon cancer.
One of the most damaging examples of chronic inflammation, however, is a
mild elevation of blood pressure. Blood pressure is measured in millimeters
of mercury (mmHg) and appears as one number over another, like this:

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120/80 mmHg. (Mercury is a substance heavier than blood. The greater the
millimeters in the measurement, the higher the blood pressure.)
The top number of the blood pressure measurement indicates the systolic
phase of the heartbeat. This is when the heart contracts and pumps blood
out. Blood flowing out provides oxygen and nourishment to all of the
body’s tissues and carries waste products back for elimination from the
body.
The bottom number of the blood pressure measurement reflects the diastolic
phase, when the heart supposedly rests. I say supposedly because that’s
what most people assume, and diastole is often called the relaxation phase.
However, the heart never really rests. It’s more like a rubber band. It
requires energy to pull a rubber band back, but once you let go it quickly
contracts to resume its original form, which is its lowest energy state.
The heart beats about 100,000 times a day. At this rate, even mild increases
in blood pressure can cause problems over time. Current guidelines
consider a normal blood pressure to be at or below 120/80 mmHg. But, in
most cases, treatment is only recommended once blood pressure is greater
than 130/80 mmHg because there are side effects to treatment.
My patients frequently ask: Do I have to treat my blood pressure? It’s only
a little high (for example, 134/82 mmHg). But if you multiply even mild
elevations of blood pressure by 100,000 times a day — which means the
heart beats 1 billion times over a period of about 27 years — your risk of
stroke and heart attack is significantly increased over time.
Why? Higher blood pressure damages the lining of the arteries
(endothelium). The endothelium is like wallpaper but much more dynamic.
It’s a single-cell layer that’s metabolically active — it tells the muscle

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deeper in the artery when to contract and relax. Contracting the muscle
increases the blood pressure and relaxing the muscle decreases it.
Damage to the endothelium from high blood pressure kicks off
inflammation in an attempt at repair. Eventually, this inflammatory cycle of
damage and repair leads to a thickened endothelium and narrowed artery.
High blood pressure also accelerates the buildup of fatty deposits in your
arteries (atherosclerosis). When the endothelium is damaged, blood cells
and fat cells often clump together at the injury site. They invade and scar
deeper layers of the artery walls. Large accumulations of these fatty
deposits are called plaques.
Over time the plaques harden and further narrow the arteries. Organs and
tissues served by these narrowed arteries don’t get an adequate supply of
blood. Your heart responds by increasing the pressure to maintain adequate
blood flow. The increased pressure leads to further blood vessel damage,
which leads to more inflammation.
The higher pressure of blood running through the arteries 100,000 times a
day leads to this damage of the endothelium. Chronic inflammation of the
endothelium is a leading global problem because it contributes to heart
attacks and strokes.