Low grade inflammation and depression

There is more and more evidence that low grade inflammation is involved in all chronic conditions. Low grade systemic inflammation, as it is called, means inflammation that affects the whole body. This type of inflammation does not have to give you any visible signs like a swollen joint, like we usually associate with inflammation, that's why we may not be aware of it. There are however ways to measure it.

One of the markers of low grade inflammation is called highly sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP). There are also other inflammatory markers, but hs-CRP is easy to test for and reasonably priced.

The reviewed research is interesting since the connection between low grade inflammation and depression was investigated using CRP (Wium-Andersen MK, et al. 2012). This was a large study including 73,131 participants, both men and women aged 20 to 100 years and was conducted in Denmark.

The results showed as CRP levels increased, so did the risk for psychological distress and depression. This means that the risk for psychological distress and depression is increasing as low grade inflammation is increasing.

Does this mean that the best solution is anti-inflammatory drugs? No, anti-inflammatory drugs were meant to be taken short term, taken long term they can cause serious side effects from ulcers to cardiovascular disease.

The best way of dealing with this would be to first make changes to the way you eat, because that can be very effective in reducing low grade inflammation.

"The Special Effects Diet" program explains how you can implement a very effective way of eating which also will make you lose weight if you need to, without even trying.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

Reference:

Wium-Andersen MK, Orsted DD, Nielsen SF, Nordestgaard BG. Elevated C-Reactive Protein Levels, Psychological Distress, and Depression in 73 131 Individuals. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2012 Dec 24:1-9. doi: 10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.102.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Be more active and keep more of your brain

The reviewed research is interesting because no one wants to lose any of the brain they have. In this study the researchers investigated the association between physical activity at age 70 years and structural brain biomarkers at 73 years (Gow AJ, et al. 2012). Computational image processing methods were used to measure atrophy and white matter lesions.

The results documented that a higher level of physical activity was associated with less atrophy and white matter lesions.

This is certainly another good reason to keep physically active as you get older.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

Reference:

Gow AJ, Bastin ME, Muñoz Maniega S, Valdés Hernández MC, Morris Z, Murray C, Royle NA, Starr JM, Deary IJ, Wardlaw JM. Neuroprotective lifestyles and the aging brain: activity, atrophy, and white matter integrity. Neurology. 2012 Oct 23;79(17):1802-8. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182703fd2.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.

Vitamin D and Early Death

New research on the importance of vitamin D is published all the time. The reviewed study was quite large and was conducted in Denmark (Brondum-Jacobsen P, et al. 2012).

The participants were 10,170 men and women, the vitamin D levels were measured, and the follow-up time was 29 years. The researchers investigated the association between vitamin D levels and ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction and early death.

The results documented that the risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction and early death were increasing when vitamin D levels were decreasing.

If you have not had your vitamin D level tested, I suggest that you get some sun and take approximately 2000 IU of vitamin D3 per day.

To read the original abstract, click on the reference below.

Reference:

Brøndum-Jacobsen P, Benn M, Jensen GB, Nordestgaard BG. 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels and risk of ischemic heart disease, myocardial infarction, and early death: population-based study and meta-analyses of 18 and 17 studies. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2012 Nov;32(11):2794-802. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.112.248039. Epub 2012 Aug 30.

Published with permission by Didrik Sopler, Ph.D., L.Ac : www.TissueRecovery.com Dr. Marsh has worked with and referrers patients to Dr. Sopler for co-management for years . . . He is quite simply San Diego's top functional medicine consultant.