Coming to Grips with Inflammation: It’s not radical!

“…the key to longevity and the prevention of chronic disease development is … the control of systemic inflammation…”

The cause of most disease is inflammation, and ironically, the cause of inflammation is oxygen: the very stuff we need to breath to live. But oxygen can be seriously problematic as it reacts in our bodies to form what are scientifically called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) or what we mostly know as “Free radicals”.

Free radicals are normal; a waste substance produced as the body processes food and reacts to the environment. In order to keep the free radicals at bay, the body produces substances called antioxidants. An antioxidant is a substance that protects the cells in your body from damage caused by free radicals.

(A little bit of science here: "antioxidant" is a general term for any compound that can counteract unstable molecules called free radicals that damage DNA, cell membranes, and other parts of cells. Because free radicals lack a full complement of electrons, they steal electrons from other molecules and damage those molecules in the process. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals by giving up some of their own electrons. In making this sacrifice, they act as a natural "off" switch for the free radicals. This helps break a chain reaction that can affect other molecules in the cell and other cells in the body. But it is important to recognize that the term "antioxidant" reflects a chemical property rather than a specific nutritional property).

However, if free radicals overwhelm the body's ability to regulate them, it causes what is known as “oxidative stress” which can seriously trigger a number of human diseases.

While free radicals are damaging by their very nature, they are necessary. The body generates free radicals in response to environmental insults, such as tobacco smoke, ultraviolet rays, and air pollution, but they are also a natural by-product of normal processes in cells. When the immune system musters to fight intruders, for example, the oxygen it uses spins off an army of free radicals that destroy viruses, bacteria, and damaged body cells in an oxidative burst. Wow!

While short term oxidative stress won’t do you much damage, long term it will damage the body’s cells, proteins, and DNA – leading to chronic inflammation. And the modern Western lifestyle is the perfect petri dish for free radical growth and subsequent inflammation – contributing to chronic diseases including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular, neurological, inflammatory bowel disease and pulmonary diseases.

Free radicals have had a lot of press over the last 20 years as science has started to understand inflammation and its contribution to disease. It’s been fashionable to reach for bottles of antioxidants to fend of the pesky free radicals. But, here’s the thing. News articles, advertisements, and food labels often tout antioxidant benefits such as slowing aging, fending off heart disease, improving flagging vision, and curbing cancer. But results from randomized controlled trials of antioxidant supplements (in which people are assigned to take specific nutrient supplements or a placebo) have not supported many of these claims. Indeed, too much of these antioxidant supplements won't help you and may even harm you. It is better to supply your antioxidants from a well-rounded diet.

Science says eat colourful vegetables and fruit! Laboratory studies and many large-scale observational studies (those that query people about their eating habits and supplement use and then track their disease patterns) have noted antioxidant benefits from diets rich in them, particularly those coming from a broad range of colourful vegetables and fruits. Plants are full of compounds known as phytochemicals—literally, "plant chemicals"—many of which seem to have antioxidant properties.

While our bodies produce some antioxidants, the food we eat also contributes to the antioxidant army: for instance, vitamins C and E and the minerals copper, zinc, and selenium serve as antioxidants. So do carotenoids (such as lycopene in tomatoes and lutein in kale) and flavonoids (such as flavanols in cocoa, anthocyanins in blueberries, quercetin in apples and onions, and catechins in green tea).

More science: Getting your antioxidants from food means you get a cycle of beneficial effects. After vitamin C has "quenched" a free radical by donating electrons to it, a phytochemical called hesperetin (found in oranges and other citrus fruits) restores the vitamin C to its active antioxidant form.

So, to sum up. Lifestyle and dietary changes can reduce the effect of free radicals which can cause oxidative stress which in turn can damage healthy cells, leading to inflammation and the development of preventable disease. Uncontrolled oxidative stress can accelerate the aging process and may contribute to the development of a number of conditions.

A person’s diet is also an important source of antioxidants. Foods such as fruits and vegetables provide many essential antioxidants in the form of vitamins and minerals that the body cannot create on its own.

Plant-based diets are associated with an improvement in obesity-related inflammatory profiles and could provide means for therapy and prevention of chronic disease risk.

An anti-inflammatory diet is all about eating more of the types of foods that help to ward off inflammation, while limiting the foods that tend to increase inflammation: emphasising colourful fruits and vegetables, high-fibre legumes and whole grains, healthy fats and antioxidant-rich herbs, spices and tea.

The anti-inflammatory diet will limit or avoid processed foods made with unhealthy trans fats, refined carbohydrates (like white flour and added sugar) and too much sodium.

Here’s a good website for more information: https://www.botanical-online.com/en/medicinal-plants/antioxidants

Sources:

Inflammation, not Cholesterol, Is a Cause of Chronic Disease. Tsoupras A, Lordan R, Zabetakis I..Nutrients. 2018; 10(5):604. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10050604

Curcumin, Inflammation, and Chronic Diseases: How Are They Linked?. He Y, Yue Y, Zheng X, Zhang K, Chen S, Du Z. Molecules. 2015; 20(5):9183-9213. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules20059183

Effect of plant-based diets on obesity-related inflammatory profiles: a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention trials. F. Eichelmann,L. Schwingshackl,V. Fedirko,K. Aleksandrova, Obesity Reviews. first published: 13 July 2016 https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12439

Plant-based nutrition for healthcare professionals: implementing diet as a primary modality in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Julieanna Hever,, Raymond J Cronise.. Journal of Geriatric Cardiology May 2017. 14(5) 355-368

Free radicals, antioxidants and functional foods: Impact on human health. V. Lobo,A. Patil,A. Phatak, and N. Chandra. Pharmacogn Rev.2010 Jul-Dec; 4(8): 118–126.doi:10.4103/0973-7847.70902