Many people are on prescription medicines. Do they need to be? I don’t know. Many diseases result from chronic low-level inflammation. Don’t confuse chronic low-level inflammation with acute inflammation. Acute inflammation is typically the result of an injury. It lasts a few days. Chronic low-level inflammation is very long term and is the genesis of most diseases.
Inflammation is a process in our bodies. Swelling isolates an area to keep further injury from occurring. The redness, pain and other symptoms are the result of normal body processes treating that inflammation. The body recognizes a need for treatment in situations of acute inflammation and begins immediately to make those corrections.
However, at the cellular level, things work a bit differently. It may not activate our corrective systems at all. We feel no pain. There is no swelling. White blood cells might be dispatched to a location and find nothing to attack. Our corrective response to inflammation is not effective against chronic low-level inflammation.
Inflammation activates the c-reactive protein (CRP). There is a simple and cheap blood test that quantifies how much CRP is present in our bodies. I don’t know why it is not used as part of a routine diagnostic exam. Ask your doctor for it at your next physical. It’s not that expensive that you can pay for it yourself if you must.
You really do have options. First is to ensure that you have balanced nutrition. The foods we eat, primarily the fruits and vegetable, contain antioxidants. Each one is different in physical shape and size. The cellular inflammation does not respond to a single antioxidant. Some foods we eat increase inflammation (think fried foods specifically).
The American diet contains too many omega-6 fatty acids. We need omega-6 fatty acids in our diet, but not as many as we get daily, especially in our processed foods. A balance of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids is highly desirable for excellent health.
My research has shown that there are two things that effectively fight low-level chronic inflammation without creating other problems in the body (see cyclooxygenase 1 & 2 – COX1 & COX2 if you desire the details). One is whole fruit mangosteen. Mangosteen (a fruit that is not a mango) contains around 40 xanthones. The xanthone, gamma mangostin, is very effective in fighting chronic low-level inflammation.
A few years ago, I accidentally shut my car door on one of my fingers. I immediately went inside my home and drank several ounces of whole fruit mangosteen juice. No swelling occurred (and it really should have). There was no pain unless I squeezed the area that had been injured. There was no redness and I was fully functional with that hand.
I have used whole fruit mangosteen juice as a preventive option also. I used to run a lot – 5K and 10K races. I got out of the habit and found that when I went back to run, without any practice or training, my muscles would be sore for days. I would drink several ounces of whole fruit mangosteen juice before and after a race and had no muscle soreness at all. I’ve also noticed that blisters disappear overnight when I drink whole fruit mangosteen juice.
Turmeric also acts similarly to gamma mangostin to fight chronic low-level inflammation without disrupting the COX1 and COX2 balance. Turmeric is exponentially more absorbable when piperine (black pepper extract is present). I cook with raw turmeric and add lots of black pepper to ensure that I am getting more absorption of this critical herb.