The role of nutrition in preventing

inflammation related chronic diseases

Dr. Louay LabbanDepartment of Nutrition and Food Sciences

University of Kalamoon

• It’s been thought that inflammation is a painful part of arthritis, but chronic inflammation is also a newly recognized factor in many chronic diseases such as:

• stroke• diabetes • cancer..

• Inflammation is the process by which the body's white blood cells protect us from injury, infection and irritation.

• This protective process causes pain and swelling when you bump your head, redness and itching when you get a bug bite and sneezing and aching when you suffer from the flu. Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, can increase our risk of disease.

• Scientists have long known that certain auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus, emerge when inflammation, like and unwelcome houseguest, overstays its welcome.

• Now researches say that chronic inflammation may also be at the root of many chronic diseases such as stroke, heart disease and various types of cancer including colon, stomach, esophagus, liver, breast and prostate cancers.

What is Inflammation?

• Inflammation is the activation of the immune system in response to infection, irritation, or injury. Characterized by an influx of white blood cells, redness, heat, swelling, pain, and dysfunction of the organs involved, inflammation has different names when it appears in different parts of the body

• Most allergy and asthma sufferers are familiar with rhinitis (inflammation of the nose), sinusitis (inflammation of the sinuses), and asthma (inflammation of the airways), but inflammation is also behind arthritis (inflammation of the joints), dermatitis (inflammation of the skin), and so on.

Inflammation & Alzheimer's Disease

• Allergists and immunologists aren't the only medical specialists interested in inflammation these days. In the journal Neurology in 1997, neurologists presented research that people who had been regularly taking anti-inflammatory medicine like Ibuprofen had much lower rates of Alzheimer's disease. In the New England Journal of Medicine in 2001, a study showed an 80% reduction in risk of Alzheimer's among those taking anti-inflammatory medicines daily for two years. Linda Van Eldik, neurobiologist at Northwestern University School of Medicine, explains that

• whenever the brain is injured or irritated, glial cells pump out cytokines, chemical signals to begin the inflammatory process. However, "in chronic neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, these glial cells are activated too high or too long or both.

Inflammation & Heart Disease

• Inflammation also plays a role in heart disease because the immune system attacks LDL "bad" cholesterol that has been embedded in arterial walls.

• Ongoing inflammation eventually damages the arteries, which can cause them to burst. Research shows that CRP can predict the risk of heart attack and stroke as well or better than cholesterol levels.

Inflammation & Diabetes

• Inflammation has been linked to diabetes as well. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks the cells that make insulin.

• "One possible explanation for this is the imbalance between two types of immune cells, T-helper 1 cells and T-helper 2 cells. In children with diabetes, the balance tends to favor T-helper 1 cells;

• Type II diabetes is also linked to inflammation, as chronic inflammation releases TNF (tumor necrosis factor), which makes cells more resistant to insulin.

Inflammation & Cancer

• A protein called p100 allows communication between the inflammation and development processes.

• In the case of chronic inflammation, the presence of too much p100 may over activate the developmental pathway, resulting in cancer."

Nutrition• Some foods can actually cause inflammation in people

who are sensitive to them. Food sensitivities, also known as food intolerances or hidden food allergies, have been linked to several chronic diseases.

• Other foods have anti-inflammatory properties. the following as anti-inflammatory foods and herbs:

• Ginger• Curcumin• Rosemary• Basil• Cherries

• Luckily , an anti-inflammatory diet, along with a few basic lifestyle changes, can help you keep chronic inflammation at bay.