Monday, June 6, 2011

Information about Inflammation and Your Body

This is really worth sharing; it was a definite eye-opener.

Get ready for the health buzzword of 2011: inflammation. A key biochemical process inside every one of us, inflammation is the cornerstone of health and healing -- and yet -- unless you learn the secrets to managing it -- it will also probably eventually kill you.

The good news: As scientists slowly but surely uncover how the inflammatory response works, they're learning how we can influence it to our benefit.

Here, five surprising -- and life-changing -- facts.

Surprise #1: Inflammation is both your body's best friend -- and its worst enemy.

Inflammation is what happens when a bee stings, a paper cut slices your skin, or pollen or a virus land up your nose. Your body reacts. More specifically, your white blood cells issue a short-term response to defend your body against the assault and help it heal. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, sometimes this process goes haywire. In a classic "too much of a good thing," certain triggers create chronic inflammation -- the body's defense team doesn't quit. Immune cells never wind down, causing damage to various body systems and, ironically, leaving them more vulnerable to attack.

Why it's important: "Inflammation is the basic mechanism that maintains the well-being of our cells," says Janko Nikolich-Zugich, chair of the department of immunobiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine and codirector of its Arizona Center on Aging. "But pretty much every disease is also connected to it."

Luck (good or bad) is a factor; some people are genetically prone to inflammation overload, Nikolich-Zugich says. But within the span of your genes, you have a lot of individual control, he adds. "The key is to have well-controlled inflammation, to keep it regulated so that it switches on when you need it and switches off when you don't need it anymore."

Action step: Consume healthier fats: Fats we eat are the building blocks of both proinflammatory hormones (needed to fight the invader) and anti-inflammatory hormones (needed to calm down the healing process after the wound or other threat is gone), says Beth Reardon, director of integrative nutrition at Duke University. We need both kinds.

The trouble: We live in such an inflammatory environment (from pollution, germs, diet, and other sources) that it's tough to keep the inflammation process in balance. The best way to do this is with diet: Decrease the inflammatory fats you eat (called omega 6s, found mostly animal fats from meat and dairy) while increasing anti-inflammatory fats (called omega 3s, found mostly in cold-water fish such as salmon and herring or in fish-oil supplements).

A tricky point: You need two kinds of omega 3s. There are long-chain omega 3s (from fish) and short-chain omega 3s (from flax, seeds, and fortified products, like omega-3 eggs or juice). The two types work in different ways in the body. "People think if they eat foods fortified with omega 3s, they're doing enough. But most people don't get enough long-chain omega 3 fats," Reardon says. Eating cold-water fish twice a week does the trick.

Surprise #2: Chronic inflammation contributes to almost every major disease.

Most people have heard of so-called autoimmune diseases, when the body turns on itself with a hyperactive defense mechanism. Common examples include hay fever, rheumatoid arthritis, gout, pelvic inflammatory disease, colitis, and bursitis.

You can add to this list cancer, Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, Parkinson's, osteoporosis, and even depression. "The one thing that unifies most major diseases is inflammation," says the Arizona Center on Aging's Nikolich-Zugich. "Whether inflammation is the root cause or whether these diseases are made worse by the inflammatory process isn't entirely clear yet -- but inflammation is almost always a factor."

Why it's important: Scientists believe that the key to extending lifespan and late-life well-being lies in figuring out how to manipulate and cut off chronic inflammation. While all the diseases listed above manifest themselves in the body in very different ways, they seem to share many commonalities down at the cellular level.

Action step: Eat a more anti-inflammatory diet. Because our bodies are exposed to more damage at the cell level than they can handle -- a process called oxidative stress -- shoring up defenses is key. And there's no easier way to do that than by carefully choosing what we eat and drink.

What foods contain the most antioxidants? You needn't be a chemist. Just think three words: color, taste, aroma. In whole (not processed) foods, these traits signal high-antioxidant chemical content, Duke University's Beth Reardon says. This means:

  • Bright or deep-hued fruits and vegetables (berries, eggplant, purple grapes, sweet potato, dark green leafy veggies)


o Find Delish recipes for berries, sweet potatoesand dark leafy greens
  • Foods with strong flavors (bell pepper, watermelon, tomatoes, cruciferous vegetables)


o Find Delish recipes including bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoand watermelon
  • Foods with powerful odors (garlic, onion, chives)


o Find Delish recipes including garlic, onionsand chives
Other beneficial foods: the spices turmeric, ginger, cinnamon; curry; tart cherries; green tea; red wine; dark chocolate. These help inhibit the formation of inflammatory prostaglandins and COX inhibitors (the same enzyme-inhibiting substances in medications such as Vioxx or Celebrex).

At the same time, avoid highly processed foods full of sugar and saturated fats. These so-called high-glycemic index foods (chips, cookies, crackers, cakes) pour sugar into the bloodstream, upping inflammation.

Surprise #3: It's not the look of your body fat but what's inside it that really hurts you.

Little wonder obesity is linked with so many damaging diseases, from diabetes to Alzheimer's. In just the past five years or so, researchers have discovered that being overweight is a huge cause of inflammation.

"We tend to think of body fat as an inert, annoying consequence of eating too much and not exercising enough," Beth Reardon says. "We need to think of it as what it really is: metabolically active tissue that's actually a source of the compounds that trigger inflammation."

Why it's important: Having too many extra fat cells basically amps up the inflammatory process. That's because fat cells are producers of hormones, such as estrogen and leptin, and other molecules that signal the immune system. Excess fat creates excess inflammation.

Belly fat (accumulated around the abdomen) may be especially dangerous, compared with fat in the hips or rear, because midsection fat tends to produce even more estrogens and inflammatory compounds called cytokines, Reardon says.

There's a silver lining to perimenopausal weight gain, though, she adds. A stubborn muffin top may be nature's way of trying to hang onto estrogen when hormone levels shift as the ovaries close up shop, in order to protect heart health and make symptoms like hot flashes less severe. (Postmenopause, though, you still want to maintain a healthy weight.)

Action step: Aim for a healthy weight. Possibly the single best health move you can make: Keep moving. Why? In addition to burning fat and warding off unhealthy fat cells, vigorous exercise three to four times a week subjects the body to controlled stress. That trains the immune system to deal with high-energy demands followed by lower, maintenance levels of functioning. "This allows inflammation to recalibrate," says Janko Nikolich-Zugich.

Exercise also produces hormones like endorphins, which make you feel good and therefore encourage you to continue this important, immune-boosting activity.

Surprise #4: You can't control everything that trips inflammation -- but you might want to conquer that fear of public speaking.

Inflammatory agents (things that set off our immune system) are all around us -- in the air we breathe, the UV rays we absorb, the cleaning agents we use, the makeup we wear, the candles we light, the germs we encounter.

Another surprising source of chronic inflammation: chronic (long-term) stress. Know how some faces flush and palms sweat before the person gives a speech? That's an inflammatory response. So is breaking out in hives during an argument, or getting a headache and racing heart when pulling an all-nighter.

Why it's important: In concentrated doses, emotional stress is no big deal. But when the stress is constant -- as when dealing with a ongoing personal crisis -- it trips a constant inflammatory response.

You can't control the fact that your aging skin or gut may be a "leaky barrier," for example, letting in more invaders that cause the body to mount an inflammatory response, Nikolich-Zugich says. Also, as we age, changes to the immune system itself may make it harder to fight familiar bugs and viruses. But, as with diet and exercise, emotions and stress are areas most people can control. And when it comes to inflammation, the body needs all the help it can get.

Action step: Sweep your life of stressors as much as you can. In addition to following basic advice about using sun protection, washing your hands, exercising, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, and avoiding known toxins (don't smoke and don't live with someone who does!), it pays to curb your emotional stress as much as you can.

Some areas many overlook:

  • Don't scrimp on sleep
  • Get depression symptoms treated; it's a form of chronic stress on the body.
  • Know that short-term anxiety is unavoidable, but seek confidence-building help if you're constantly in an edgy situation (the frequent flyer who hates to fly, the CEO who's terrified of public speaking).

Surprise #5: Many of us have infections and allergies we don't know about, which send us into a state of constant high inflammation.

Here's a classic case: Someone has inflammatory bowel disease, migraines or other chronic headaches, chronic fatigue syndrome. The various maladies are treated with medications, but the underlying cause of the problem -- an undiagnosed food sensitivity, for example -- goes untreated. Get to the root of the problem (the food sensitivity upsetting the balance of bacteria in the gut, say) and you're closer to a cure.

Our medical system tends to treat specific issues rather than the whole person. "When things go wrong, we take something to fix it, instead of trying to control the underlying cause: inflammation," integrative nutritionist Beth Reardon says.

Why it's important: Up to 40 percent of the population has a gluten sensitivity, Reardon says. That's different from a full intolerance (celiac disease), but enough to notice brain fog, bloating, gastric distress, or fatigue after eating wheat. Dairy sensitivity (lactose intolerance, which is short of true milk allergy) is similar. Both sensitivities tend to grow more common as people get older.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Living With Relatives or Neighbors With Dementia

Starting in April, my neighbor had a raccoon invasion. Focused as we all were on catching and releasing the raccoons into a better area for them and us, I did not really realize that my neighbors had dementia.  I should have seen it - the subtle change from the man being a person who spent some time each day cleaning up, trimming and overall caring for his own and neighbors' properties to someone who was clearly no longer taking good care of anything. He was clearly not able to do anything correctly. And this was just one of the signs I should have recognized.

Sometimes it is not easy to recognize the signs of Dementia.  We might tend to assign them to what we all think of as old age, where people tend to forget things, become hard of hearing, or have little physical problems.  And to be truthful, the signs of dementia can be very subtle unless we see the people every day.
 Here are 10 of the more common signs, but they are not really exclusive.  It is good to go on one of the web sites and read up on Dementia and Alzheimer's.


1. Memory loss that disrupts daily life
Forgetting of recently learned information (such as how my neighbor came out to check under his house and couldn't understand where the raccoon cage went, when the person who came to trap the raccoons had told him that he was taking the cage; it was inadequate to catch the raccoon. He trapped it once, but it easily worked its way out of the cage, and then would not be fooled a second time.  Others include forgetting important dates and events, asking for the same information repeatedly, relying on memory assistance such as reminder notes, electronic devices or even family members when they have always remembered on their own. Now a person with normal elder functioning ,might be forgetting names or appointments, but remember them again shortly.


2. Changes in planning or solving problems
Some people might develop an inability to develop and follow a plan, or to work with numbers. Tasks like following a recipe correctly or managing monthly bills would be included in this.  Normal elder functioning might be making occasional errors in checkbooks or some other infrequent error, but nothing that is happening daily and generally nothing serious.

3. Difficulty finishing tasks at home, at work, or even leisure tasks
This would include difficulty completing normal tasks that are done repetitively. Normal elder functioning might be asking for help to do something like record a favorite TV show, or explaining the functioning of a new piece of equipment.

4. Confusion of Time and Place
Elders might have confusion regularly about time, place or date.  They might not be able to comprehend an event unless it is happening immediately.  Normal elder functioning would be something like confusing a date, but remembering the correct date once they see a reminder such as a calendar.

5. Difficulty comprehending visual images and spacial relationships
This might include difficulty reading, judging distance, or determining color or contrast. They may look in a mirror and not realize who is in the mirror, or they might believe someone else is in the room. Normal functioning elders might have vision problems related to cataracts or some other age-related challenges.

6. New problems with speaking or writing words
For example, a person with dementia might stop in the middle of the conversation and not be able to continue, or change the topic in a way that doesn't make any sense.  They might repeat themselves or not be able to think of the right words for things. A person might call a watch a wall clock.  Normal elder functioning might including temporarily forgetting something in the midst of a conversation, but remembering it ultimately.

7. Misplacing things and the inability to go back and retrace steps.
Elders might misplace things more and more frequently and be unable to go back and retrace their steps to determine where they were misplaced. Or they might accuse others of stealing for them.  The key is that it would happen more and more frequently. Normal senior functioning would including misplacing something like glasses or the remote control, but finding it again quickly.

8. Decreased or Poor Judgment
This is another one of those things that is recognized by frequency with which it takes place.  Such incidents would be mismanagement of money, or perhaps giving telemarketing huge sums of money, or failing to keep themselves clean and groomed. We all use poor judgment from time to time, but again, the key is the frequency with which it happens.

9. Withdrawal from social or work activities
We might see an increase in withdrawal from work or social activities such as sports, or even the stopping of doing a much enjoyed hobby. The person might be withdrawing because they realize somehow that they are unable to function in these activities normally. Normal elder functioning includes changing social activities; for instance, a person who liked to play cards might begn to go hiking or take up gardening instead.

10. Changes in mood or personality
With dementia, a person becomes more confused, more anxious, more aggitated, suspicious, fearful, aggitated, or even violent.  Usually when a person becomes violent, they are already pretty far along with dementia.

In order to explain the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s we first need to know what dementia is. Dementia is the deterioration of our cognition. In Latin it means ‘ apart mind.’ In fact it states that your mind is losing the grip of your body. It is important to understand that dementia consists of signs and symptoms. This is because it is a syndrome, not a disease like Alzheimer's. There are many causes for dementia and it can be progressive or stable.


Dementia is a non-specific syndrome that targets different areas on the brain. For this reason there are many different symptoms associated with dementia. Typical areas of the brain that are affects are: communication, memory, orientation, problem solving and attention. Dementia occurs when someone has significant memory loss plus another impairment that together cause social disfunctioning. Unlike Alzheimer’s, dementia is not a disease on itself, but a syndrome with a variety of causes, Alzheimer being one of them.

As stated before, there are different types of dementia and Alzheimer disease is one of them. Alzheimer disease is characterized by the appearance of plaques and tangles in the brain. You can find these tangles and plaques in every aging brain but in people with Alzheimer disease there is an abnormal quantity. These plaques and tangles interfere with the functioning of our brain on different areas on the brain. Alzheimer is also referred to as pathological rapidly aging of the brain.


To summarize, the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's is that dementia is a non-specific syndrome and Alzheimer is a specific disease. Many people can not explain the difference and this is probably because Alzheimer is the most prominent cause of dementia. Almost 70% of all people with dementia have Alzheimer's. Other causes of dementia are stroke; Parkinson's; Lewy Body Dementia (also called Dementia with Lewy bodies, is a form of dementia that shares characteristics with both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; Pick's Disease or frontotemporal dementia (a rare form of dementia caused by an overabundance of a protein called Tau, which causes shrinking of the frontal and temporal lobes, and it can occur as early as age 20, but the general age at which it occurs is 54); Huntington's Disease (caused by a genetic defect on chromosome #4, and it causes destruction of brain cells. There is adult-onset Huntington's and another form that can start during childhood); and even Aids/HIV.