Inflammation is essential to our health. We need it on a day to day basis to repair injuries, induce an immune response and start the healing process.

Issues arise when inflammation remains in our body for a long time which is called chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation is at the root of nearly all disease.

Our hormones are crucial to regulating inflammation and we’ll take a look at this in this blog, as well as what inflammation actually is, what causes it and how it affects our health.

What is inflammation?

Inflammation is our protective defence mechanism against damaged cells, pathogens or irritants. It alerts our immune system, telling it that something is wrong, so that antibodies can be sent to the area to repair the damage. The trouble is that the immune system creates a lot of collateral damage in the process.

"Inflammation is our protective defense mechanism to damaged cells, pathogens or irritants."

A good example of acute inflammation is sunburn. When the sun burns your skin it turns red and is raw to the touch - a classical symptom of inflammation. The cells inflamed by the sun cause an immune system response. The immune system comes bustling in, clears out the damaged cells and stimulates the body to heal and repair - resulting in the painful welts or blisters on your skin.

Acute inflammation is necessary and beneficial as it warns us that we are being burnt and allows us to repair and rebuild. However, it’s a completely different story when it comes to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation can be thought of as the root of all chronic disease. If you imagine inflammation as sunburn happening where you can’t see it; in your gut, in your blood vessels and in your brain, then think about all that collateral damage that’s created by the immune system in these locations over long periods of time.

"Chronic inflammation can be thought of as the root of all chronic disease."

Chronic inflammation means our immune system is constantly reacting and it will eventually cause the immune system to overact or become dysfunctional. Long term, a dysfunctional immune system can lead to autoimmunity, which is when our immune system attacks its own cells. Common examples of autoimmunity include eczema, arthritis, Grave’s disease, type 1 diabetes, and Crohn’s disease.

What causes inflammation?

Causes of chronic inflammation include environmental toxins, poor diet, medication, increased body weight and stress. If we look at inflammation specifically in the gut, this can be caused by food intolerance, bacterial infection, a diet high in refined sugars or even stress.

In the BePure Clinic, a common culprit for gut inflammation is gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and many people’s immune system overreacts to it. In fact, I am yet to see a person with a thyroid autoimmunity whose symptoms have not drastically improved on a gluten free diet.

Unstable blood sugars create bodywide inflammation, because of the hormone insulin. Insulin is released in response to high blood sugar levels and has a strong pro-inflammatory effect throughout the entire body! Again think of all the tissues in your body sun burnt.

Research is also emerging that shows body fat can contribute to inflammation. Studies found that fat cells send out inflammatory signals all over the body and excess body weight caused increased inflammation throughout the body. This is especially true for weight around the stomach, known as visceral fat. 

How does inflammation affect us?

Many people experience the symptoms of inflammation daily, without actually realising what is causing it. Aches and pains are the results of the immune system attacking the tendons and ligaments that make up our joints.

Another common form of inflammation can be found in the gut. Gut inflammation symptoms might directly feel like pain, bloating or gas and this can indirectly affect many different parts of the body. For example, eczema can be a sign of gut inflammation and it is usually due to a food intolerance.

Long term inflammation in the gut can have an effect on the processes that happen around the gut. If you've come to one of my seminars, you'll know that I got into nutrition when I found out that my back injury was actually tied to a food intolerance with dairy! The inflammation dairy caused in my gut meant my core muscles weren’t working properly, which was putting too much pressure on my back.

We make our all-important happy hormone, serotonin, in the tissue surrounding the gut. Inflammation in the gut makes it harder for us to create serotonin which can lead to mood disorders and increased aggression.

The measurement of inflammation that we use in the clinic is CRP which stands for C-reactive protein. We find people with high CRP have more muscle and joint pain and research has found that people with high CRP are more likely to suffer from severe PMS symptoms or experience PCOS.

How can we control inflammation with hormone balance?

Balancing your hormone levels can help manage inflammation. 

First let's look at insulin, which is our strongest pro-inflammatory hormone. If we can avoid high blood sugar levels, we can keep our insulin levels low.

• Minimise intake of refined sugars and processed grains. Refined sugars spike our blood sugar causing insulin to be released. Focus on eating whole foods that stabilise our blood sugar levels, decreasing inflammation.
• Eat for your macronutrient type. To find out your profile type, take the BePure Macronutrient Profile Questionnaire.
• Eat protein with breakfast. This helps to set up stable blood sugar levels for the whole day. These scrambled eggs and greens or poached egg with kumara rosti recipes are great.  

Cortisol plays many roles in the body and is fairly complicated. Maintaining the right balance of cortisol can actually help control inflammation. Depleted cortisol, also known as adrenal fatigue, can contribute to more inflammation in the body.

• Support your adrenal glands to support our hormone balance with BePure Adrenal Regenerator.
• Take 10 mins twice a day to focus on deep breathing.
• Get good quality sleep. A great way to do this is to establish a sleep routine that works for you.

Research that shows an anti-inflammatory effect on the body from oestrogen and progesterone, is starting to emerge. One of the symptoms of menopause is aches and pains and it’s believed that the drop in hormone levels could be a contributing factor. Another reason to look after your hormonal balance prior and during menopause.

• Balancing your hormones is crucial to overall inflammation levels. Here is my blog post with tips to balance hormones. 
• Manage your stress and balance your parasympathetic nervous system to keep progesterone levels balanced.
• Make a turmeric latte. Turmeric is a strong anti inflammatory as well as helping keep our hormones balanced. It's an easy spice to add into your everyday meals. Try adding a teaspoon to your special occasion, Fathers Day pancakes this weekend. Two birds with one stone!