Is Inflammation Good Or Bad For Your Health?
Inflammation is blamed for causing everything from obesity, to heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, ulcers, oral diseases, celiac, gut issues such as IBS, Crohn's, and ulcerative colitis, autoimmune diseases in general, and so much more.
However, does just pointing to “inflammation” as the cause really help anyone with these issues?
Let’s find out. It’s time to Think Again…
Some inflammation can be good, with temperance, but most is bad. Without a clear understanding of what causes inflammation in your body, it will be difficult to control. Awareness is the first step toward Understanding.
For most people, a systemic inflammatory response becomes chronic long before they take positive action to correct the issues causing it. The important thing to be aware of, is that it is indeed a “response,” meaning there is a cause-effect relationship, and the inflammation can be moderated by identifying and eliminating the culprit stressor and introducing good “activators” into your body to quell the inflammatory response.
“Fire is the principle of all things. Conflict of opposites is a permanent state of all things.”- Heraclitus
In The Principia (1687), Isaac Newton’s seminal work on the mathematical exploration of Nature, he states that "To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction; in other words, the actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal and always opposite in direction."
I’ve found it helpful to remember, in the search for the truth about the body’s operations, that nothing escapes the law of cause and effect; nothing is free. Nature is in a constant state of compensating, and the human body is not exempt from this reality.
Inflammation is the body’s chief compensatory response to chemical stress
The main macro process of opposing forces within your body is most easily understood as regeneration versus degeneration, and the oppositional nature between the two is almost entirely influenced by environmental factors: the inputs that either allow for the cells to coherently regenerate, or to dissonantly degenerate.
Inflammation, with the right element of control, is a natural part of regeneration, a process known as hormesis. Hormesis is the impetus for adaptation, and the subsequent development of growth and increased strength within the system. Hormetic stress is especially important in physical training, mitochondrial adaptations, and the maintenance of homeostasis (which is itself a demonstration of the body’s innate drive to balance).
On the other hand, inflammation when uncontrolled, drives degeneration. Cellular dissonance caused by inflammatory reactions manifests in systemic dysfunction in tissues, organs, and organ systems.
As the body seeks homeostasis, the continual environmental input of inflammatory “blockers” compels it to find resources from within (since they’re not being provided externally), in order to balance this degeneration, pulling micronutrients from important storage areas with inherently limited supplies.
Inflammation can ultimately be fatal.
Understand it if you want to improve your health.
The Chicken And The Egg
In 2012, the pioneering physiologist Dr. Raymond Peat, PhD from the University of Oregon, wrote about an illuminating observation regarding the nature of the effect of inflammation on aging (degeneration) in an organism by investigating the patterns seen in the brain development of different birds, relative to their gestational environment.
The chicken egg, when incubated with heat from the mother hen, is a self-contained environment with all of the resources necessary for the development of a healthy baby chick, including glucose and nutrient-dense yolk. Brain growth stops when the chick embryo has consumed all of the available glucose within the egg, and needs to switch to consuming the fat of the yolk.
Chickens are known as precocial birds, meaning the chicks are completely developed when hatched, and therefore do not require further attention or care from the parent to survive into adulthood.
In September of 1979, researchers Zamenhof and Ahmad conducted a study on the influence of external injection of micronutrients into the developing brains of baby chickens while still inside the egg.
Zamenhof and Ahmad injected several different types of amino acids into the brains of chick embryos and measured brain weight, DNA content, and protein content. They noted that several variations of the amino acid tryptophan severely inhibited brain development due to excess production of serotonin, while the introduction of glycine, which converts into glucose, stimulated significant brain growth.
They concluded that “brain weight and DNA were found to be significantly correlated with blood glucose level” and that “early brain growth might be manipulated in both directions (inhibition or stimulation) by addition of proper nutrients during the sensitive period of neuronal proliferation.”
The positive influence of gestational glucose on brain development of the embryo has long been observed in many species, including humans. Results highlight the reality that glucose availability leads to larger brain sizes and increased neuron count in the newborn.
So in theory, while the mother chicken provides an adequate environment for the development of the embryo, it’s not perfect, as evidenced when you compare the chicken to other species of birds, such as crows, parrots, and owls.
These altricial bird species are born in conditions more similar to humans. They require care from the mother in order to survive early stages of life, and have a steady access to additional sources of glucose, and therefore their brains, like human brains, continue to develop beyond birth.
The differences in behavior between altricial birds and precocial birds is striking.
Parrots, for example, are considered to be highly intelligent and can live to be over 100 years old, and they can talk! Altricial birds are the only other animals that can produce human language. For example, the African Grey Parrot has such a highly developed speech ability, that it can mimic up to 1000 human words, and has been shown in captivity to be able to actually comprehend what it is saying much of the time, which gives it the ability to communicate with humans in a conversation.
Crows and ravens, also highly intelligent, can live between 10-60 years old (depending on environment), with the longest lifespan observed at 59 years for a captive pet crow named Tata from Bearsville, NY.
Owls also generally have extended life spans up to 15 years, depending on species. One Great Horned Owl is known to have lived for 29 years.
Altricial birds exhibit highly intelligent behavior patterns due to not only their more developed brains, but also because of their vulnerability and dependence upon parental care for early-stage survival, which acts an adaptive stress.
Artificial Intelligence researchers use the altricial-precocial spectrum as a model for the development of machine learning algorithms. Computer scientist Aaron Sloman and cognitive scientist Dr. Jackie Chappell from the University of Birmingham published a paper in 2005, establishing their theory that robot learning requires 2 key factors for altricial development, specifically:
- Unpredictability: characterized in animals chiefly by the need to hunt unpredictable prey, as opposed to grazing or foraging
- New Niches: characterized by the need for rapid adaptation and recalibration
… both of which highlight the need for rapid development of advanced intelligence for survival, dependent on the ability to learn and adapt to the environment quickly because of certain stimuli altricial species are commonly exposed to compared to precocial ones.
Birds have naturally high metabolic rates, evidenced by average body temperatures in the range of 110℉. Inside the egg, a precocial bird quickly burns through the available nutrient resources due to this high rate of energy consumption and needs. Its brain stops developing when glucose is no longer available.
Altricial birds generally have longer life spans and higher intelligence levels than precocial birds due to the combination of this high metabolic rate coupled with more glucose availability during early development, and the exposure to unpredictable environmental stimuli which require the development of rapid skill-learning for survival, a form of hormetic stress that makes the altricial animal more capable over time.
The development of not just these birds, but of all organisms, depends on the interplay between their environment and their bodies. The same is true of our cells.
Inflammation is environmental
Over time, inflammation changes the way your body can operate, namely how effectively it can regenerate, or heal itself. This is due to internal shifts in resource availability, like nutrients, that the body needs for regenerative processes.
You’ll notice that, in children and teenagers, the body can heal itself quite quickly after injury, due to a higher regenerative capacity. Over time, as the body is exposed to an increasing amount of inflammatory environmental “blockers,” it has a decreasingly effective ability to recover.
The build up of inflammation inside your body is responsible for this, and you experience an increase in degeneration as you age, and eventually lose the regenerative ability entirely, resulting in death.
The inflammation response inside the body is characterized mainly by triggering the release of compounds known as inflammatory cytokines, which are catabolic, such as the interleukins IL-1β, TNFα, IL-6, IL-15, IL-17, and IL-18.
However, to highlight the opposing nature of regenerative and degenerative inflammation, it’s important to understand that the body also has a host of anti-inflammatory interleukins such as IL-4, IL-10, and IL-13, which stimulate anabolic processes to restore order.
When stimulation of inflammatory cytokines outpaces the anti-inflammatory cytokines, due to excessive environmental exposure to stressors, homeostasis is disrupted chronically, and destructive compensatory mechanisms kick in.
Other inflammatory cytokines that have been linked to cellular degeneration, discovered in much higher concentrations in adults compared to fetuses, are PDGF, TGF, IGF-1, and bFGF, as well as prostaglandins.
Prostaglandins are formed from the synthesis of the polyunsaturated fats linoleic acid and arachidonic acid. Exposure to these supposedly “essential fatty acids” is entirely diet-dependent, and therefore entirely within your control.
In the womb, the only possible way for the developing fetus to be exposed to these fatty acids is via the mother’s dietary habits, and researchers have found that baby weights are negatively correlated with maternal exposure to these inflammatory polyunsaturated fatty acids. The same researchers discovered that prenatal learning and memory are significantly retarded by exposure to PUFA in the womb.
Monocytes, a type of white blood cell that are important for immune system adaptation, especially in the developing fetus, are killed off in the umbilical cord with exposure to polyunsaturated fats, which greatly compromises the child’s ability to control inflammation properly as it continues to develop. Yet, curiously, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of manufactured additive forms of these harmful fatty acids into baby formulas.
Degenerative inflammation has become commonplace, a way of life for most people, mostly due to our modern environment, dietary habits & subsequent chronic nutrient deficiencies, and unregulated stressors.
This creates a steady decline in the body’s ability to heal itself.
Naturally, you start to experience symptoms of this degeneration over time, which most people chock up to “getting old.”
Inflammation is blamed for causing everything from obesity, to heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, ulcers, oral diseases, celiac, gut issues such as IBS, Crohn's, and ulcerative colitis, autoimmune diseases in general, and so much more.
However, does just pointing to “inflammation” as the cause really help anyone with these issues? No, it doesn’t. Inflammation is the first stage symptom, merely a response from your body warning you of a deeper true cause - it’s the effect in the ubiquitous cause-effect matrix happening all around us, all the time.
I’m far more interested in unearthing true causes of the myriad negative biological effects we experience in the inflammatory milieu.
When you understand the true causes, you can actually do something to help yourself eliminate the “blockers” that strip your regenerative abilities. This is where rubber meets the road.
How To Control Inflammation For Optimal Health
The chief molecular indicators of degenerative inflammation are inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandins.
You can control both of them pretty easily. This is not a black box, as many people would like you to believe.
I recommend controlling degenerative inflammation by altering your dietary habits, and I’ve also found that, in acute inflammation scenarios, using certain exogenous compounds, namely specific supplement extracts and amino acids can be extremely helpful and fast-acting to lower systemic inflammation.
If we start with the most basic requirement for controlling inflammation in your body, it all comes down to heat production: your metabolism.
As I’ve discussed in a lot of detail in this book, and will discuss more, your metabolic rate (easily measured via waking body temperature) is the indicator that, not only is a high amount of energy flowing easily through your cells, but that your hormones are balanced, and unfavorable anti-metabolic byproducts are limited and don’t have much influence in creating any sort of cellular dissonance.
You want your cells to consume as much oxygen, and produce as much CO2 as possible.
CO2, as a metabolic byproduct, signals to neighboring cells in concert, fueling cellular coherence as a positive feedback loop upward through the structured systems of the body, which creates more order in those systems, and more energy flow through them.
CO2 is used in medical settings, such as intensive care units and in surgeries, as a reliable way to shut down inflammatory cytokines and prostaglandin synthesis, (ref, ref) and can reverse symptoms of “leaky gut,” by aiding in restoring the structural integrity of the intestinal wall.
A high ratio of CO2 to oxygen has been widely observed to have a stem cell-like regenerative effect in living tissue.
Not only have researchers discovered very high CO2 to oxygen ratios in animals such as salamanders and other amphibians like the Xenopus, which possess the ability to regenerate brain tissue, retina, spinal cord, and even entire limbs, but they’ve also measured high CO2 to oxygen ratios in specific human tissues and organs that have regenerative abilities, such as inside of the mouth, bones, bone marrow, thymus gland, thyroid gland, liver (in the presence of adequate thyroid hormone), and adrenal cortex, all of which can regenerate tissue without scarring or fibrosis.
One amazing example of the human body’s ability to regenerate tissue and bone, is the regeneration of fingertips after amputation. Studying this phenomenon gives us a lot of insight into the power of CO2 production in living tissue.
Conventional wisdom in the medical community holds the belief that the ability for the body to regenerate fingertips rapidly declines with age after childhood, however is “age” really the issue, or are there other factors in play, like cytokines?
In fact, a study conducted on (mean age) 50 year old adults demonstrated significant ability to regenerate fingertips if certain conditions were present: namely, CO2 and nerve growth factor BDNF.
They found that the ability to regenerate the tissue was dependent on enclosing the fingertip in an occlusive environment, which allows for humidity to increase the CO2 levels present around the injured tissue in a local microenvironment, and subsequently triggers release of growth factors like BDNF, HGF, and EGF.
In fingertip regeneration studies, inflammatory cytokines are highly expressive in the first week, due to the traumatic injury, then in the right conditions, anti-inflammatory cytokines are more highly expressed during the second week after injury, indicating a positive shift in the body’s healing response, which leads to oftentimes a full eventual regeneration of not just the bone, marrow, and skin, but also an entire well-formed fingernail.
Another key element in the progression of inflammatory degeneration, commonly expressed in autoimmune diseases, is the decreasing ability for the body to clear apoptotic, or dead, cells. Apoptosis is programmed cell death, and is a normal process in living tissue, required for proper growth and development.
Cellular clearance that takes place inside our bodies is required in order to reinforce healthy systems and prune unhealthy ones, akin to a gardener pruning the dead branches from plants in order to keep the overall plant healthy.
Apoptosis, and clearance of apoptotic cells, is an energy-dependent process. Energetic dysfunction leads to a decline in clearance.
Active thyroid hormone, T3, is necessary for the proper functioning of this clearance process of dead cells out of the degenerating tissue, which allows for the formation of new tissue.
But with excess inflammatory cytokine and prostaglandin activity in the tissue, indicating degenerative inflammation, the body loses its ability to clear these dead cells. For example, a study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Immunology demonstrated that radiation-induced inflammation causes a significant loss in the animals’ ability to clear dead cells, which leads to rapid onset of autoimmune disease symptoms.
This is seen in the liver as well, with the liberation of free fatty acids causing significant degeneration in liver tissue. The researchers in that particular study concluded that the single most important factor in aging-related degeneration is the disruption of the glucose metabolism and the resulting hormone imbalance. They also noted that dietary calorie restriction could slow the decline.
This, once again, brings us back to the nature of polyunsaturated fatty acids as a consistently disruptive force driving degeneration in the body.
Foods And Supplements That Help You Control Inflammation Naturally
1. Glycine and Inflammation:
The perfect place to start on our hunt for natural compounds that can help us lower degenerative inflammation, is to examine inflammatory cytokines, namely what compounds are involved in their reaction process.
Ultimately, the restoration of real health - Thermo - back into your body will almost always end with micronutrients, such as amino acids.
It turns out that the inflammatory cytokine reaction increases in prevalence with glycine deficiencies. This makes a lot of sense because glycine has an inhibitory action, and via glycine-gated chloride channels in immune cells, can temper many inflammatory cytokines, including IL-6.
The important thing to understand about amino acids is the fact that in our modern culturally-normal diets, especially in the Western world, we tend to eat a lot of muscle meat, and eschew meats such as organs, as well as collagen-rich connective tissue and bones from the animal.
This leads to an amino acid imbalance over time in your body, causing deficiencies in amino acids that your body needs for important cellular processes while increasing circulating amounts of other amino acids into a surplus, which can ultimately be harmful.
For example, muscle meats, which do contain small amounts of glycine, are much higher in methionine, an amino acid that gets converted into the universal methyl donor SAMe. Your body has innate methionine-regulating mechanisms to get rid of excess methionine, however these mechanisms are dependent on the presence of adequate glycine to operate properly.
Without enough glycine, and especially with high amounts of circulating methionine, your body has a difficult time creating glutathione, the “master antioxidant” that is so crucial for regulating inflammation and your immune system in general.
The liver cannot keep up with the demand of trying to synthesize endogenous glycine via the glycine-serine pathway because you eventually run out of the “raw materials” involved in the process. Excess methionine sends your system into overdrive, trying to constantly get rid of it.
This results in widespread degenerative inflammation in your body. Quite simply, consuming more glycine can stop this.
And luckily, glycine is quite easy to get in high amounts, and very affordable. I personally consume between 10-15g of glycine per day from UMZU collagen and grass-fed bone broth, adding the collagen protein to fruit smoothies, which is important because I also regularly eat a pound of grass-fed beef or game muscle meat (elk, buffalo, venison) daily, which contains more methionine than glycine. You need to balance the amino acid ratio.
All of this biology may sound quite complicated, but when a basic understanding of the need for these important nutrients is in place, taking action on it is surprisingly easy. I recommend building regular glycine consumption into your daily habits.
Glycine is widely studied. It’s been shown to help improve diabetic symptoms (1), heal wounds and stop tumor growth (2), protect the body from alcohol-related and dietary inflammation (3), increase lifespan and help regulate cholesterol properly (4), protect against neurological and organ damage (5), lower endotoxin levels (6), stop acid reflux (7), and reverse fatty liver issues and liver damage (8).
It’s incredibly useful to your body, to say the least. Eat more glycine.
2. Turmeric root and Inflammation:
You’ve likely heard of turmeric. The NIH has a large body of documented human research on the benefits of using turmeric for a variety of reasons. Turmeric is a widely used root powder around the world, and has been in use for thousands of years, especially in its native regions such as India, Asia, and Central America.
Turmeric is used as both a spice and a natural anti-inflammatory supplement ingredient, due to its distinct flavor and curcuminoid content, respectively.
One of the most common uses for turmeric is in pain management. In fact, put head-to-head with Ibuprofen in studies, turmeric was shown to be more effective at reducing pain.
Another study showed that rheumatoid arthritis patients who took a natural turmeric supplement saw greater improvements than patients given Voltaren, diclofenac sodium.
In a 2016 study, researchers concluded that curcumin may be effective for treating joint-related pain. The Arthritis Foundation also supports the use of turmeric for relieving arthritic pain.
Blood clotting is a common symptom of degenerative inflammation. Turmeric has anti-thrombotic properties. Curcumin may reduce stroke and heart attack by preventing clogged arteries. It does this by inhibiting platelet aggregation, or the clumping of blood platelets that lead to clotting. Turmeric’s effect as an anticoagulant was confirmed in a 2012 study.
Curcumin is known to interact with neurotrophic factors (NTF) in the brain. NTFs are a form of peptides that aid in the growth and maturity of brain neurons. Studies show that curcumin induces NTF production and may help treat various central nervous system disorders.
Studies also suggest that turmeric may be more effective for treating depression than fluoxetine, the generic form of Prozac.
In one study, 60 human subjects diagnosed with depression were given curcumin, fluoxetine, or a combination of the two. After six weeks, the curcumin group reported just as much improvement in mood as the fluoxetine group. A more extensive study with 108 male subjects yielded similar results.
Turmeric contains natural COX-2 inhibitors. COX-2 is an enzyme that aids in the production of the fatty acid prostanoid. This compound is a primary mediator of inflammation.
One study also found both turmeric and ginger to be effective for inhibiting cytokine production.
Curcumin is especially known to treat the skin condition scabies, where microscopic mites called Sarcoptes Scabiei burrow under your skin. The eggs and waste they leave behind causes itchiness, rashes, and bumps.
In one study, 814 subjects with scabies used a topical turmeric treatment. 97% experienced relief within three to 15 days.
Turmeric, in fact, is an old folk remedy in Indian Ayurvedic medicine for killing skin mites. Scabies is especially common in confined areas where skin-to-skin contact is commonplace, like in India due to the dense population in urban areas.
3. Boswellia Serrata and Inflammation:
Boswellia is more commonly known as frankincense, with a rich ancient history. It happens to be incredibly useful for tempering inflammation, especially with respect to arthritic pain symptoms.
An extensive 2011 report concluded that frankincense may be beneficial as an anti-inflammatory agent. This was supported by a 2015 study that showed strong evidence for frankincense as an inflammation suppressor. That’s not all; a systematic review analyzing 47 studies on frankincense showed that the compound was effective for treating both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. On top of that, the research also concluded that frankincense was effective for treating other conditions, such as colitis and Crohn’s disease.
How does frankincense bring down inflammation? It actually does this through multiple pathways. One way is by inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Cytokines refer to a number of small proteins that play an active role in cell signaling. They’re secreted by the immune system and interact with other cells. Depending on the type of cytokine, that interaction may be good or bad for the body. Just as there are pro-inflammatory cytokines that create disease and illness, there are also anti-inflammatory cytokines that help the body.
One study showed that frankincense suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokine production in joint cartilage.
Furthermore, frankincense also contains a compound known as acetyl-11-keto boswellic acid (AKBA). Studies show that this substance inhibits an inflammatory enzyme known as 5-lipoxygenase.
On top of that, frankincense is also known for boosting the immune system. This is especially good news for sufferers of rheumatoid arthritis. Remember that rheumatoid is an autoimmune disease caused by an abnormal immune response. Frankincense corrects this response by promoting white blood cell production and improving your body’s natural response to inflammation and foreign pathogens.
Store shelves are lined with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like Ibuprofen, Motrin, and Advil for relieving arthritis pain. As with any other synthetic medication, there are side effects. Users of such products have reported nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea, increased perspiration, and swelling.
There is also the risk of overdosing on NSAIDs and causing serious health problems. Regular use of Ibuprofen has actually been linked to stomach ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding. The likelihood of this occurring depends on frequency of use and your sensitivity. If you become reliant on the drugs and take it every day just to manage the pain, then you up the odds of the NSAIDs causing serious damage. Stomach ulcers are no laughing matter. According to data, roughly one in 13 cases result in death. The mortality rate increases to one in five when NSAIDs enter the equation.
4. Bromelain and Inflammation:
Bromelain is a protein-digesting (proteolytic) enzyme that is known for its ability to ease digestion by reducing inflammation. It’s found mainly in pineapple, particularly in the flesh and stem.
On a molecular level, bromelain is made up of several compounds, such as cellulase, peroxidase, glucosidase and protease inhibitors. Though the medicinal properties of bromelain are just starting to receive modern scientific validity, it has long been used medicinally in Hawaii and parts of South America.
The studies behind bromelain as a digestive enhancer are strong. One research study suggests that the enzyme may inhibit the production of inflammatory cytokines.
Another study arrived at similar conclusions. The researchers suggest that plant-based proteolytic enzymes like bromelain may be a powerful aid for alleviating various digestive disorders.
Athletes and post-surgery patients are also increasingly turning to bromelain as a natural alternative. A study in 2004 revealed that bromelain is effective for treating pain from an ankle injury. In the trial, 73.7 percent of subjects that supplemented with bromelain for seven days reported less pain.
Another study showed that bromelain reduced pain and swelling in patients recovering from post-operative surgery to heal a fracture injury. One study on asthmatic mice showed that bromelain may reduce allergic reactions that cause the airways to swell and become inflamed.
The immune support may also alleviate associating symptoms, such as nasal decongestion and itchy eyes. It’s believed that bromelain suppresses certain dendritic cells known to trigger asthma.
In one study, patients recovering from nasal surgery saw a vast improvement in symptoms after taking all-natural bromelain tablets. Subjects also reported zero side effects. Like many other ailments, sinus congestion occurs as a result of the nasal passageways flaring up from inflammation. Bromelain’s inflammation-reducing properties clear up the passageways.
One study concluded that bromelain shows promise for treating arthritis pain in the knees and shoulders. The study also concluded that it reduced acute pain by up to 60 percent in patients suffering from pain in the spinal region.
5. Olive leaf extract and Inflammation:
Olive polyphenols and oleuropein are the components in olive leaf extract that offer numerous health benefits. Studies show that olive leaf extract possesses anti-inflammatory properties and protects against DNA damage that is caused by free radicals among numerous other benefits that are thought to contribute to longer lifespans among those who consume olive leaf extract2.
Research3 has shown that olive leaf extract can improve the lipid profile and help with glycemic control in those who have been diagnosed with diabetes.
A study4 conducted showed that olive leaf extract can help regulate blood pressure as well as cholesterol levels. Further research shows that the number of thromboembolic diseases are on the rise. Thromboembolisms are incidences in which a piece of a blood clot breaks off and travels through the bloodstream and blocks a different vessel. The study5 shows that olive leaf extract has anti-thrombotic effects.
The polyphenols in olive leaf extract have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects in individuals who have experienced trauma of the bone marrow6. A separate study7 also concluded that olive leaf extract has anti-inflammatory in various metabolic pathways in the human body.
Olive leaf extract is also beneficial to the skin. Studies show that when applied to wounds, it speeds up the healing process8. The same study showed that it also has anti-aging effects when used as a cream on the skin, due to the regenerative stimulation it provides to the tissue.
6. CBD and Inflammation:
There is a rapidly expanding amount of research on cannabinoids like cannabidiol (CBD), all indicating pretty impressive benefits of CBD for inflammation, typically looking at inflammation biomarkers (indicators) and positive improvements when subjects use CBD or Hemp Extract over the control groups. Using CBD oil for inflammation is becoming increasingly more common as awareness around cannabis increases.
The body of research will no doubt continue to grow as more funding pours into this space, and as public interest continues to rise. Also, when cannabis becomes federally legal in the United States, then we will really see a large influx of research funding into the therapeutic uses of the plant.
One of the most promising areas of study for natural inflammation-reduction has involved the endocannabinoid system, namely CB1 and CB2 receptor activation which are G-protein-coupled receptor sites and the ligands that activate them.
Cannabidiol has a distinct way of interacting with the endocannabinoid system that appears very promising for therapeutic applications with relation to inflammation.1 Much of the research in this area regarding inflammation is correlated with arthritis, Type 12 and 2 diabetes,3 atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s,4 hypertension,5 metabolic syndrome,6 depression,7 and neuropathy.8
Neuropathy is caused by microglia (the most common form of cellular immune defense) activation in the brain and spinal cord, which triggers the release of the cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), which put into simple terms, are pro-inflammatory molecules.
The causes of neuropathic pain itself are poorly understood outside of this basic biological reaction. However, neuropathy pain is present in nearly all common forms of disease such as diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, and MS.9
In a mouse model, CBD was demonstrated to alleviate heat sensitivity and allodynia (neuropathy pain) significantly.8
Two other studies demonstrated a very impressive calming of the immune system microglia/cytokine response along with promising anti-inflammatory improvements in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.910
By reducing insulin resistance and increasing insulin sensitivity, CBD was found in two separate research studies to reduce the initiation of diabetes and the development of latent diabetes in diabetes prone subjects.311 The super cool thing about this, is that this result was also accompanied by a shift from a pro-inflammatory cytokine response to an anti-inflammatory response.
Major effectors of β-cell death in type 1 diabetes are various free radicals and oxidant species, including NO, and infiltrating macrophages are one source of high concentrations of NO and inflammatory cytokines that further enhance NO and ROS formation.12
CBD oil has been shown in multiple studies to block ROS-induced up-regulation of surface adhesion molecules due to high blood glucose levels, which has preserved the barrier function of the endothelial cells,13 thus restricting those pesky free radicals and other oxidant species from infiltrating the β-cells.14
A large body of evidence in recent years has implicated this similar cytokine inflammatory response15 with depression in humans.16 The most convincing explanation is that the presence of excessive free radicals and oxidant species like free fatty acids triggers the microglial cells to signal the release of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, which leads to depressive symptoms.
CBD has been reported to aid in calming this response in medical research.7
This study specifically assessed the antidepressant and mood-elevating activity of CBD oil finding that its effect appeared to be dose dependent.17
This study posits that this antidepressant effect of CBD oil is likely due to activation of 5-HT1A receptors in the brain.18
Research in this area of CBD and inflammation is quickly evolving, and many of these papers I’ve cited here have put forward some very interesting theories surrounding promising therapies for people with diseases characterized by inflammation response due to microglial cell activation and the resulting pro-inflammatory cytokine increase.
7. Niacinamide and Inflammation:
Vitamin B3 as niacinamide is an important vitamin that is used in many ways by your body. Niacinamide plays an important role in protecting your thyroid gland against excess oxidative stress, including inhibiting the release of free fatty acids, which is one of the key causes of thyroid dysfunction. (12) Vitamin B3 boosts energy production in the cells and helps support metabolic rate via proper thyroid functioning.
Niacinamide helps balance the thyroid and overcome or prevent either hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. It’s important to have all of the right vitamins, minerals and amino acids in the right forms and dosages in your body for a healthy thyroid, since they all interact with one another and help balance each other out.
Focus on these Thermo foods to get your daily requirements of niacinamide:
- Chicken — 1 cup: 19.2 milligrams (96 percent DV)
- Liver — 1 slice: 11.9 milligrams (60 percent DV)
- Sardines — 1 can: 4.8 milligrams (24 percent DV)
- Grass-Fed Beef — 3 ounces: 4.4 milligrams (22 percent DV)
- Mushrooms — 1 cup: 2.5 milligrams (13 percent DV)
- Avocado — 1 cup, cubed: 2.6 milligrams (13 percent DV)
- Sweet Potatoes — 1 medium: 1.7 milligrams (8 percent DV)
And if you want niacinamide from supplement form, I recommend pairing it with L-tyrosine, copper, selenium, and a good iodine supplement from kelp extract as well, since they work together synergistically in helping overcome thyroid imbalance.
8. Vitamin B6 and Inflammation:
Not only is B6 crucial in the synthesis of GABA, your body’s chief inhibitory neurotransmitter, but it also has been shown to lower systemic homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is synthesized from methionine, and in high amounts will radically increase degenerative inflammation.
Excess homocysteine levels are correlated with heart attacks, blood clotting, early pregnancy loss, neural tube defects, and strokes.
Elevation of homocysteine is highly linked to serious neuropsychiatric issues, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s (+). Dr. William Walsh highlights the importance of correcting B6 deficiencies in his book Nutrient Power. Through analysis of 100,000s of patients over his career, in both clinical and laboratory settings, Dr. Walsh has identified predictable biochemical patterns present in all of the aforementioned neuropsychiatric conditions, the most common of which is vitamin B6 deficiencies.
