Inflammation impacts so many health conditions stemming from pain and Diabetes, to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Because inflammation causes so many health problems, a typical holistic health practitioner will use many treatments and therapies to reduce it. With inflammation being a stimulus and causative agent of so many conditions reducing it can reduce your chances of getting diseases, improve the status of the disease, and move you closer to optimal health. 

The pathways that lead to and create inflammation are multiple. For instance, the inflammation created by Diabetes (and poor glucose control) stems from much different
places than the inflammation created by an injury. However they are related in the sense that there is damage to tissue and that tissue damage engages the immune system. This is true of all inflammation and these are the main areas of treatment for western medicine doctors and most holistic health practitioners and integrative medicine practitioners alike. Lets explore some of these treatments and pathways of inflammation further.

Diet: the focus of many Holistic health practitioners

Diet has the ability to effect inflammation in the following ways. 

• Food allergies / sensitivities
• Omega 3:6 imbalance
• Low antioxidants
• Glycemic control

Food allergies and food sensitives can create a more activated immune system and by eliminating these you can reduce the reactivity of your immune system. So that when and if there is tissue damage, the immune response will be much less. A somewhat equivalent of this in western medicine would be using a medication like methotrexate that reduces the immune system response to arthritis. 

Omega fats are important because they actually send signals to the immune system. When tissues are damaged the cells that make them up break open. These cells are made up of fats, mainly omega 3 or omega 6. When the cell membranes are made of omega 6, they send signals to the immune system to attack, pro-inflammatory. When omega 3 they send signals to the immune system to not attack, anti-inflammatory. So while a holistic health practitioner would focus on getting a more balanced omega 3/6 ratio, a conventional doctor might prescribe a steroid like prednisone to eliminate the omega 6 signal altogether. This will reduce the inflammation temporarily but will also cause other issues in the body. 

When we refer to tissue damage it does not always mean there is pain. Inside your arteries there thousands of chemical reactions taking place. Some of these are healthy reactions and others are not so health. The food we eat plays a role in determining which are healthy verses unhealthy. Most of the unhealthy reaction can be boiled down to oxidation, which is a required in order for your body to create energy. However the process of oxidation damages nearby cells unless there is an antioxidant nearby to quench the free radical of oxidation. So eating things high in antioxidants will help deter this oxidation and the tissue damage that comes with it.

Along the same lines as oxidation, elevated blood sugar causes damage to nearby cells too. When you have diabetes, pre-diabetes, or trouble managing blood sugar, there is damage occurring to the cells lining your arteries. This damage causes inflammation. So while many try to limit carbohydrates in Diabetes, we it is also important to focus on the type of carbohydrates while increasing antioxidants too. An apple for instance, has plenty of sugar in it and will raise blood sugar. However, it also has antioxidants, phyto-chemicals, and fiber. These additional molecules help reduce the damage that occurs and the amount that the blood sugar raises. The same could not be said for piece of whole wheat bread. 

Exercise: A Common Prescription by Holistic Health Practitioners

When we exercise it does cause inflammation, but it also causes a rebound anti-inflammatory effect. While we think about our health in a static state, our bodies don't actually work this way. A better way to think about the reactions in our bodies is dynamic balance. So while there may be inflammation present there is also anti-inflammatory molecule present at the same time the inflammatory molecules are present. The thing with exercise is that after the exercise is over and the new tissue replaces the damaged tissue there is a relative state of high anti-inflammatory molecules. This is partially responsible for the pain relieving effect of exercise and physical therapy (among other factors). This may seem counterintuitive that exercise can reduce inflammation but it is a well known phenomenon. Lack of exercise is also an independent risk factor for heart disease the same way as elevated cholesterol. The anti-inflammatory aspects of exercise are thought to be partially responsible for this as well.

Environmental Toxicity: A Hidden Cause

The toxic chemicals we encounter in our environment also play a role in causing inflammation. The pesticides on our fruits and veggies, the chlorine in our water, the smog in the air, and the perfumes and fragances we wear are all toxic chemicals. When our bodies come into contact with these, it has to detoxify them. The liver is the main organ that detoxifies and it generally does so with efficiency. For some however, the detoxification pathways get overwhelmed and bogged down from a large amount of toxins or poor genetics. When this happens the body encounters more free radicals and cell damage occurs. The best thing to do in these cases is try to decrease exposure to toxins and support the detoxification pathways.

As you can see there are many places that inflammation comes from and varying treatment approaches to address it. Whatever the cause, it is important to minimize inflammation in the body. By addressing diet, exercise, and environmental toxicity most holistic health practitioners can do this with relative ease. For long standing heath conditions that are both effected by and create inflammation a more aggressive approach may be needed. 

For a free consult on measuring and reducing your inflammation, click on the link below to meet with a naturopathic doctor phoenix az.