When you suffer an injury, or are inflicted with an allergen, your body sends a response to speed the healing process. When you sprain your ankle, finger, or knee, there is instant swelling. This is the beginning of the inflammatory response. Your body is sending cells to the injured area, in hopes of healing the wounded area.

What happens, when there are NO SIGNS or SYMPTOMS of inflammation? What happens when your body keeps sending the inflammatory response?

The Answer is Damage!

Inflammation and Damage
Inflammation not just damage the injured area, but to all the cells in the body. You need to keep inflammation in control or else the cells in YOUR BODY CAN be damaged! When the inflammatory response does not subside, it creates havoc in ALL the systems of the body. But do you always know if your body is inflamed? Not unless it’s obvious!

The NEW Silent Killer - Chronic inflammation is often referred to as the “silent killer“. Yes, you have heard this term before, especially with heart disease. But inflammation is also a SILENT KILLER! Give me a minute to explain.....

Chronic inflammation rarely is painful and rarely do you ever show symptoms that YOUR very cells are INFLAMED! Imagine the amazing heat of a fire, how the heat and the flame destroy everything in their path. Imagine now, that the same fire is in YOUR BODY! Do you think that fire is going to be put out on its own? Do you think that it’s not going to STOP and not destroy “stuff“ in its deadly path? You would be correct in saying that IT WON’T!

Chronic inflammation impedes the body’s ability to repair and heal tissue. Your body always tries to repair and replace damaged cells. When you are exposed to chronic inflammation, it makes it HARDER for YOUR BODY to HEAL damaged cells! Imagine you have a protected barrier surrounding the infected area. That Barrier is the Inflammation!

Can this silent killer cause pain? Not usually.

How Can You Tell
Chronic inflammation falls below the pain threshold, making it impossible to detect. But damage to certain cells can cause long lasting, and even INTENSE pain. Chronic inflammation can target cells of the central nervous system, altering the cells that affect your pain centers. Altering these cells can increase pain intensity, how long the pain lasts, and also HOW SENSITIVE YOU ARE TO PAIN! This is something you want to avoid at all costs! Chronic inflammation not only damages cells in your body, but it damages the cells OUTSIDE your body as well. The cells in your skin can be damaged as well, speeding up the AGING process. You DON’T need any help speeding up how fast YOU age!

There are numerous diseases linked to chronic inflammation. Diseases such as obesity, heart disease, and metabolic syndrome are classic examples of low grade, chronic inflammation processes. But there are others. And each one can be detrimental to YOUR health.

Here are some diseases linked to chronic inflammation which is present in YOUR body:

• Acute and Chronic Pain
• Cerebrovascular Disease (strokes and poor circulation to the most vital organ, YOUR BRAIN)
• Cancer
• Alzheimer’s Disease and other neurodegenerative diseases
• Type II Diabetes
• Autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcerative colitis)
• Allergies
• Pulmonary disease
• Sarcopenia

These diseases have been linked by one common thread- chronic inflammation! Your body does not want to be exposed to a constant fire all the time. Have you ever stood next to a bonfire for hours? Of course not, the fire can burn too intensely, forcing you to step away because of the intense heat from it! The same holds true for your body.

What Your Body Thinks!
It does not want to be exposed to chronic inflammation for long periods of time. Your body always wants to maintain a level of HOMEOSTASIS, or the perfect atmosphere in which the body is able to function. However, due to numerous things in the food we eat and the air we breathe, our bodies are unable to fight off all the different toxins. These toxins are the accelerant to the flames, keeping the fire of inflammation burning for long periods of time. Keeping the constant “fire“ CAN lead to complications later on in life! There are ways to manage inflammation. Some natural and some use anti-inflammatory medications. However, these have problems too.

Anti-inflammatory medications can damage the liver and kidneys, when you are exposed to them for long periods of time.

And the natural ways: To take in all the right nutrients to extinguish the fire or eliminate that barrier, you would be eating A LOT of fruits and vegetables and this is very, VERY EXPENSIVE! You are talking hundreds of dollars a month.

You need to be aware of this silent killer which is taking home in YOUR body right now. Inflammation is nothing to joke about, and certainly not something to take lightly.

Here is an Article Released September 2010 by Mike Stone – Associated Press


Americans still skipping fruits, veggies
According to a new government report released last week, most Americans still don’t eat vegetables often enough, and fruit consumption is actually dropping a little. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that last year about one-third of U.S. adults consumed fruit or fruit juice at least twice a day. That ’s down slightly from more than 34 percent in 2000. Only about 26 percent ate vegetables three or more times a day, the same as in 2000. The statistics come from a national telephone survey of hundreds of thousands of Americans. No state met federal goals of three-quarters of Americans eating enough fruit, and half eating enough vegetables. California ate the most fruit and Tennessee was best with vegetables. Oklahoma was at the bottom for fruit and South Dakota had the lowest vegetable consumption. The report did not ask people which fruits and vegetables they ate the most. But a CDC study published last year concluded that orange juice is the top source of fruit among U.S. adults and adolescents, and potatoes are the favorite vegetable. Health officials have been trying to promote fruits and vegetables - especially leafy greens - as healthy alternatives to salty, fatty and sugary foods. The goal is to curb the nation’s obesity problem and reduce diabetes, heart disease and other maladies tied to bad diets. The 2009 data are discouraging, said Dr. Jennifer Foltz, one of the study ’s authors. “ We aren ’t making progress, that’s for sure,“ said Foltz, a CDC epidemiologist. However, the study was done before a new wave of government efforts to promote home and community gardens and to expand the sale of fruits and vegetables at stores. A survey planned for 2011 hopefully will show an improvement, she said.

Health authorities have been telling us for years that foods like butter, rich in saturated fat, are clogging our arteries and causing heart disease. So they told us to replace them with trans-fat laden margarine, and how did that turn out? Then came polyunsaturated vegetable oils, and new research is linking these omega-6 rich fats to all sorts of health problems, including potentially increased risk of cancer.

The real question is, was there ever a problem with butter in the first place? The answer just might surprise you.

There is actually a good amount of research, in several populations, that shows that full-fat dairy consumption is associated with lower BMI, lower waist circumference, and lower risk of cardiovascular disease (especially stroke). Low-fat or fat-free dairy is actually often associated with increased BMI and waist circumference.

In fact Dr. Ronald Krauss, one the world‘s leading lipid researchers, directly showed that while saturated fat from dairy does raise LDL, it is an increase in large, fluffy and benign LDL – not the small, dense and atherogenic LDL. This actually decreases your risk of cardiovascular disease!

Now there is a clear difference between butter and dairy from grain and corn fed cows on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations that are milked nearly year-round, given growth hormones and antiobiotics and live in their own waste compared to cows on small farms that eat grass, get exercise, fresh air and sunshine and are only milked based on their seasonal reproductive cycle. The quality of life, and therefore quality of milk and dairy products is vastly different.

Butter from grass-fed cows contains a boatload of powerful vitamins and healthful fatty acids. These vitamins are fat-soluble, and they are bonded to the fatty acids in the dairy, and are therefore nearly non-existent in fat-free dairy. The fat is where vitamins A, D, E and K2 are, as well as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), butyric acid, omega-3 fatty acids, and medium chain triglycerides.

CLA is present in human body fat in proportion to dietary intake, and has been shown to be a powerful ally in the fight against cancer. Meat and dairy from grass-fed animals provide the richest source of CLA on the planet, containing three to five times more CLA than feedlot-raised animals. CLA has been found to greatly reduce tumor growth in animals, and possibly in humans as well.

In a Finnish study, women who had the highest levels of CLA in their diet had a 60% lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels. Simply switching from conventionally-raised grain-fed meat and dairy to pasture-raised grass-fed versions would have placed all the women in the lowest risk category. A good grass-fed butter will contain about 110mg of CLA per tbsp.
Vitamin D is pretty much the best thing since sliced bread and any time you can get some from food is always a good thing. Low blood levels of vitamin D are associated with lowered immunity, increased risk of 17 cancers and counting, increased risk of heart disease, psychological and neurological disorders including ADD and depression, diabetes, stroke, hypertension, bone loss, loss of muscle mass and strength as we age and more.

Omega-3s are absolutely amazing, as they may improve nerve, brain, eye, heart and cardiovascular function as well as decreasing inflammation, joint pain, arthritis, psychological disorders, and risk of breast cancer and heart disease, all while improving mood and body composition! Unfortunately grain-fed butter contains only about 40mg, but a good grass-fed butter will contain about 120mg per tbsp!

Medium chain triglycerides are unique fatty acids that are more readily utilized as fuel rather than stored as energy. Particular ones like lauric acid contain anti-viral and anti-microbial properties. Vitamins A and E are powerful antioxidants. Butryric acid may help with bodyweight regulation, and is a primary fuel source for our intestinal flora.

Notice that I didn‘t mention vitamin K2 yet? That is because I was saving what might be the best for last. Several studies have found that a higher vitamin K2 (mostly from vitamin K2-MK4) intake is associated with a lower risk of heart attack, ischemic stroke, cancer incidence, cancer mortality and overall mortality. Men with the highest vitamin K2 consumption had a 51% lower risk of heart attack mortality and a 26% lower risk of all cause mortality compared to men consuming the lowest amount!

One of the ways vitamin K2 improves cardiovascular health is its ability to decrease arterial calcification by 30-40%. And, this only speaks to vitamin K2‘s effects of cardiovascular health; it is also crucially important for proper fetal development and bone health, to name a few additional benefits.

Vitamin K2-MK4 is only found in animal products and the best known sources are grass-fed butter and foie gras (fatty goose liver).

Butter Might Prevent Diabetes?

Yes, it is true. Recently Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and colleagues at Harvard found that blood content of trans-palmitoleate was associated with a smaller waist circumference, higher HDL cholesterol, lower serum triglycerides, lower C-reactive protein, lower fasting insulin and lower calculated insulin resistance.

In fact people with the highest trans-palmitoleate levels had 1/3 the risk of developing diabetes over the three years of the study!

Want to know what the dietary sources of trans-palmitoleate are? Dairy fat and red meat are virtually the only source of this fatty acid. In this study most of the trans-palmitoleate came specifically from dairy fat.

Well, it seems that consuming butter from grass-fed cows will make your LDL larger, fluffier and less likely to cause heart disease. It will also provide you with cancer-fighting CLA, as well as artery clearing vitamin K2-MK4. To top it all off it might also decrease your risk of diabetes. Sounds like a pretty good food to me!

References

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Bonthuis M, Hughes MCB, IbiebeleTI, Green AC, and van der Pols JC. Dairy consumption and patterns of mortality of Australian adults. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2010;64:569–577.

Elwood PC, Strain JJ, Robson PJ, et al. Milk consumption, stroke, and heart attack risk: evidence from the Caerphilly cohort of older men. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2005;59:502-505

Elwood PC, Pickering JE, Hughes J, Fehily AM, Ness AR. Milk drinking, ischaemic heart disease and ischaemic stroke II. Evidence from cohort studies. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 May;58(5):718-24.

Berkey CS, Rockett HR, Willett WC, Colditz GA. Milk, dairy fat, dietary calcium, and weight gain: a longitudinal study of adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2005 Jun;159(6):543-50.

Rosell M, Håkansson NN, Wolk A. Association between dairy food consumption and weight change over 9 y in 19 352 perimenopausal women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2006 Dec;84(6):1481-1488.

University of Gothenburg (2009, November 4). Children Who Often Drink Full-fat Milk Weigh Less, Swedish Research Finds. ScienceDaily.

Dhiman TR, Anand GR, et al. Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets. J Dairy Sci. 1999;82(10):2146-56.

Smit LA, Baylin A, Campos H. Conjugated linoleic acid in adipose tissue and risk of myocardial infarction. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 Jul;92(1):34-40.

Geleijnse JM, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, et al. Dietary Intake of Menaquinone Is Associated with a Reduced Risk of Coronary Heart Disease: The Rotterdam Study. J Nutr. 2004 Nov;134:3100-3105.

Gast GC, de Roos NM, Sluijs I, et al. A high menaquinone intake reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2009 Sep;19(7):504-10.

Nimptsch K, Rohrmann S, Kaaks R, Linseisen J. Dietary vitamin K intake in relation to cancer incidence and mortality: results from the Heidelberg cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC-Heidelberg). Am J Clin Nutr. 2010 May;91(5):1348-58.

Spronk HM, Soute BA, Schurgers LJ, et al. Tissue-specific utilization of menaquinone-4 results in the prevention of arterial calcification in warfarin-treated rats. J Vasc Res. 2003 Nov-Dec;40(6):531-7.

Mozaffarian et al. Trans-palmitoleic Acid, Metabolic Risk Factors, and New-Onset Diabetes in US Adults. Ann Internal Med. 2010