"How to Counter the Inflammation of Aging"
One of the most recognized consequences of aging is a decline in immune function,
illustrated by vulnerability to dying from the flu, poor response to vaccinations.
But about 20 years ago a paper was published showing
that the immune cells of 80-year olds produced significantly more
pro-inflammatory signals, suggesting the worst of both worlds: a decline
in the part of the immune system that fights specific infections, but an
aggravation of nonspecific overreactions that can lead to inflammation.
This has since been formalized in a concept referred to as "inflamm-ageing,"
a chronic low-grade inflammation we now know is typical of aging,
which may be responsible for the decline and the onset of disease in the elderly.
So what can we do about it?
Inflammaging appears to be a major consequence of growing old.
Can it be prevented or cured?
The key to successful aging and longevity
may be to decrease chronic inflammation
without compromising an acute response when exposed to pathogens.
How are we going to do that? Nutrition.
What we eat is probably the most powerful and pliable tool that we have
to attain a chronic and systemic modulation of the aging process.
In the first systematic review of the associations between dietary patterns
and biomarkers of inflammation ever published, the dietary patterns
associated with inflammation were almost all meat-based or
so-called "Western" diet patterns,
while vegetable and fruit-based or "healthy" patterns tended
to be inversely associated, meaning more plant-based, less inflammation.
The reason why meat is associated with inflammation may be because
of both the animal protein and the animal fat.
In the first interventional study that separately evaluated
the effects of vegetable and animal protein on inflammatory status
as it relates to obesity and metabolic syndrome
when you're trying to lose weight,
what they found was that a higher intake of animal origin protein —
specifically meat — is associated with higher plasma levels
of inflammatory markers in obese adults.
The reason obesity is associated with increased risk of many cancers
may be because of obesity- associated inflammation.
Obesity-driven inflammation may stimulate prostaglandin-mediated
estrogen biosynthesis in breast tissues.
That means the inflammation may activate the enzyme
that allows breast tumors to make their own estrogen
via this inflammatory compound called prostaglandin.
If you measure the level of prostaglandins in women's urine
it correlates with breast cancer risk.
And how do you get high levels of this inflammatory compound?
Smoking, a high saturated fat diet, and obesity.
Why does eating saturated fat lead to prostaglandin production?
Because prostaglandins are made from arachidonic acid,
and arachidonic acid is a major ingredient in animal fats.
And so animal fats contain arachidonic acid;
arachidonic acid is what our body produces inflammatory compounds
like prostaglandins with,
and they can then go on to stimulate breast cancer growth,
and may also play a role in colon cancer, lung cancer,
or head and neck cancer as well,
whereas whole plant foods have anti-inflammatory effects,
though some plants are better than others.
The folks made to eat five-a-day of high antioxidant fruits and vegetables,
like berries and greens, had a significantly better impact
of reducing systemic inflammation and liver dysfunction,
compared to five-a-day of the more common
low antioxidant fruits and veggies like bananas and lettuce.