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What Is Inflammation, and What Is It Doing to My Health?

Inflammation helps your body heal, but when it lingers too long it can drive serious disease. Learn what triggers chronic inflammation and how to fight it.

Written by Calocurb • January 9, 2021 • 1 min read
Woman preparing avocados with text about inflammation and its health effects, emphasizing anti-inflammatory nutrition

Key Takeaways

  • Inflammation is a natural, necessary process that helps the body fight infections and heal — but chronic inflammation can be harmful.
  • Chronic inflammation is linked to serious conditions including diabetes, heart disease, liver disease, and certain cancers.
  • Stress and excess body weight can contribute to ongoing inflammation in the body.
  • Foods like alcohol, refined sugar, artificial trans fats, and processed meats can promote inflammation.
  • Anti-inflammatory foods such as fatty fish, colorful fruits, cruciferous vegetables, and extra-virgin olive oil can help reduce inflammation.
  • Lifestyle habits like regular exercise, quality sleep, and certain supplements can also help combat chronic inflammation.

Inflammation is a buzzword that has been thrown around a lot lately.

Although inflammation can be harmful when it lasts too long, small amounts of inflammation are absolutely necessary to help your body heal, fight infections, and stay healthy.

This article explains what inflammation is and how it affects your health.

What is inflammation, and how does it affect my health?

Inflammation is a natural process that helps the body heal and fight infections.

When the body triggers inflammation, it makes more white blood cells, immune cells, and chemicals called cytokines. Together, they work to help fight infections 1.

The most common visible signs of inflammation are redness, pain, heat, and swelling.

Unfortunately, inflammation can persist for longer than necessary. This is called chronic inflammation and is linked to many diseases.

A few harmful diseases linked to chronic inflammation include 2 3:

  • Diabetes
  • Insulin resistance
  • Heart disease
  • Liver diseases
  • Cancers

Chronic inflammation can also occur when people are stressed or overweight 4.

Eating too much of certain foods has been linked to inflammation, including 5 6 7:

  • Alcohol
  • Refined sugar
  • Artificial trans fats
  • High-fructose corn syrup
  • Processed meats like bacon, sausage, hot dogs, canned meats, and salami

If your diet contains a lot of these foods, it's time to cut back and take back your health.

Instead, choose more anti-inflammatory foods such as:

  • Avocado
  • Extra-virgin olive oil
  • Fatty fish like salmon, herring, mackerel, and sardines
  • Colorful fruit like grapes, cherries, tomatoes, and all berries
  • Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, arugula, and bok choy

Aside from your diet, other lifestyle changes you can make to fight inflammation include 8:

  • Exercise at least a few times per week
  • Get 7–9 hours of restful sleep each night
  • Certain supplements like fish oil, green tea, curcumin, spirulina, and resveratrol

Summary

Inflammation is a natural process that helps the body heal and fight infections, but when it becomes chronic it may increase the risk of diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Follow the suggestions above to help fight chronic inflammation and take back your health.

References

  1. Libby P. Inflammation. In: Feingold KR, Anawalt B, Boyce A, et al., editors. Endotext [Internet]. South Dartmouth (MA): MDText.com, Inc.; 2000–. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279298/ ⤴
  2. Furman D, Campisi J, Verdin E, Carrera-Bastos P, Targ S, Franceschi C, et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med. 2019;25(12):1822-1832. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28676747 ⤴
  3. Chen L, Deng H, Cui H, Fang J, Zuo Z, Deng J, et al. Inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated diseases in organs. In: Xiao J, editor. Inflammatory Diseases. Brisbane (AU): Exon Publications; 2022. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/ ⤴
  4. Rohleder N. Acute and chronic stress induced changes in sensitivity of peripheral inflammatory pathways to the signals of multiple stress systems. Brain Behav Immun. 2012;26(4):546-556. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21219177 ⤴
  5. Chen L, Deng H, Cui H, Fang J, Zuo Z, Deng J, et al. Inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated diseases in organs. In: Xiao J, editor. Inflammatory Diseases. Brisbane (AU): Exon Publications; 2022. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/ ⤴
  6. Galland L. Diet and inflammation. Nutr Clin Pract. 2010;25(6):634-640. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21193024 ⤴
  7. Godos J, Currenti W, Angelino D, Mena P, Castellano S, Caraci F, et al. Diet and inflammation: relationship between dietary patterns and inflammatory biomarkers. Nutrients. 2017;9(7). Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28628401 ⤴
  8. Chen L, Deng H, Cui H, Fang J, Zuo Z, Deng J, et al. Inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated diseases in organs. In: Xiao J, editor. Inflammatory Diseases. Brisbane (AU): Exon Publications; 2022. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/ ⤴
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