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Chronic Inflammation...The Dangers!

One of the greatest threats to our health is chronic inflammation and the damage it can cause if left unchecked.

Inflammation is one of the body's first responses to any kind of damage, and occurs in either acute or chronic form.

Acute inflammation is the swelling, redness and pain around the site of injury (when you sprain your ankle, get bruised, or break a bone).

Acute inflammation does not cause any long term damage, in fact it helps your body recover from an injury more quickly.

Chronic-inflammation is a set of immune responses that occur over a long period of time, sometimes over months and years.

Chronic-inflammation is really a hidden disease that can affect a person without them even knowing it, and scientists are now discovering that the result of chronic-inflammation has serious long-term effects on the rest of the body.

There is no escaping it...we are all exposed to environmental factors that produce chronic inflammation.

One main cause of inflammation is free radical damage.

Free radicals are a result of our bodys energy production, but are also produced by

Smoking
Consuming processed foods
Food additives
Household chemicals
Environmental toxins
Inhaling polluted air

Chronic inflammation may be a factor in the development of many degenerative diseases.

Inflammation has been linked to both rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, and new research also links chronic-inflammation to

Allergies
Asthma
Diabetes
Digestive disorders
Heart disease
Hormonal imbalances
Osteoporosis

Chronic Inflammation Heart Disease & Alzheimers

In heart disease, the inflammatory response causes blood levels of certain proteins to be elevated. Elevated levels of inflammatory proteins such as CRP (C-reactive protein) have been found in atherosclerosis (basically plaque in the arteries) and may indicate the possibility of heart disease.

Studies show that the longer CRP is present, the higher the chance a person will develop some form of chronic illness.

Inflammatory proteins may also be involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Normal brain molecules are disrupted as a result of inflammation.

This can cause amyloid beta proteins (located in the brain) to become abnormal and not function properly. These abnormal proteins are thought to have a critical role in the development of Alzheimer's.

How Can We Stop Inflammation Now?

In addition to eating a healthy diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables... eat a rainbow.... and taking regular exercise, supplementing your diet with free radical scavenging antioxidants is extremely important.

I have found a very interesting article on the dangers of inflammation from 'Time' magazine, download and read it now by clicking the magazine cover below.

It is in pdf format so you will need Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you can't view the file it's because you don't have an up to date version of Adobe Reader installed. You can get one here for free at www.adobe.com

So, armed with this information, you are now fully aware of the differences between acute and chronic-inflammation...and how antioxidants can help you tackle inflammation.

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