Inflammatory aging is chronic, stealthy and can pose a serious threat to health.

“Inflammaging” sounds like another wellness company buzzword. But the most sensible thing is to take it seriously.

Combining inflammation and aging, the term describes a form of latent inflammation – the immune system’s response to a perceived threat – that is chronic and low-grade, and becomes more pronounced with age. It is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks, cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

Inflammatory aging affects everyone as we age, and some people don’t develop it much. But scientists say we should pay more attention to it. More and more studies show the damage this can cause.

Researchers are studying possible drug treatments, and some doctors are calling for more and better tests to detect chronic inflammation. In the meantime, there are simple measures to combat inflammation: such as exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, and eating a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low in red meat.

“Inflammation is an intrinsic component of all chronic diseases,” explains Dr. Luigi Ferrucci geriatrician and scientific director of the National Institute on Aging, who has studied this phenomenon in older people for almost three decades.

The term “inflammatory” was coined by Dr. Claudio Franceschi retired professor of immunology from the University of Bologna, in a 2000 article. Last year, scientists proposed adding chronic inflammation to a list of biological characteristics that manifest with age and can ‘accelerate, nicknamed “signs of aging “.

Inflammation is not inherently bad. It is the body’s natural way of protecting itself from damage. It can be useful to fight a viral infection, such as Covid, or to treat a cut finger. What is normal is that it will subside once healed.

Chronic inflammation is also caused by the body trying to protect itself. But it doesn’t go away and can cause harm instead of healing. People develop systemic inflammation as they age, as their body reacts to substances or conditions that it perceives as abnormal: a buildup of fat cells in the abdomen, for example.

A likely source of inflammation is cellular senescence, when aged and damaged cells stop dividing, accumulate, and secrete inflammatory proteins.

Levels of chronic inflammation increase with age, but people develop it at different ages and to different degrees. “In some people it can start immediately, even when you are a child. In other people, it can stay at a very low level until 70 or 80 years old,” explains Franceschi.

Studies demonstrate the important role that chronic inflammation plays in major diseases of aging, both by triggering them and aggravating them.

“It’s a vicious cycle,” Ferrucci says. “Inflammation generates damage and tissue damage generates inflammation.”

According to a study of blood samples from more than 160,000 patients, high levels of inflammation were associated with an increased risk of death from any cause – a risk seven times higher than that of people exhibiting the lowest levels of inflammation.

According to another study published in August According to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who followed women for 30 years, women with high levels of chronic inflammation had a 70% higher risk of having a heart attack, stroke or dying. of a cardiovascular cause than those presenting low levels. .

Dr. Paul Ridker, lead author of the study and director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s, says, “Inflammation alone carries enormous risk. We need to start prevention much earlier.

Chronic inflammation is also the cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Plaques and tangles that build up over the years can trigger a chronic inflammatory response, says Rudolph Tanzi, director of the McCance Center for Brain Health at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

As people age, their bodies accumulate cellular damage, fueling chronic, low-grade inflammation that can lead to disease. Some examples:

Blood tests measure markers of inflammation such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and ferritin, but most do not distinguish between inflammation temporary and long term. Nor can they determine its origin.

“Is it due to arthritis, liver disease, or polymyalgia, an autoimmune disease?” says Dr. Ardeshir Hashmi, section chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.

A team of researchers in the United Kingdom analyzed the records of 160,000 patients who had undergone screening tests for inflammatory markers. In about 85% of cases where the markers were higher than normal, doctors found no signs of infection or disease.

Treating chronic inflammation can be complicated.

A medication must reduce inflammation without blocking the immune system. Some patients with atherosclerosis or at high risk of cardiovascular disease are treated for inflammation with a low-dose version of the drug colchicine, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2023 for this use. The drug has been used for years to treat gout, a condition that causes joint pain.

Researchers are studying whether other drugs, including GLP-1, can reduce inflammatory markers. And Novo Nordisk and CSL Behring are testing potential anti-inflammatories in patients with cardiovascular disease or at high risk.

Some people have experimented with medications such as metformin and rapamycin to combat inflammation. Both drugs, approved by the FDA for other uses, have shown potential for fighting inflammation, but more studies are needed in humans.

For the rest, what are the best ways to prevent inflammation today? All you should be doing anyway: exercise regularly, don’t smoke, maintain a healthy weight, and eat healthily.

Some research suggests that the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes nuts, whole grains, fish, fruits and vegetables, is particularly protective against inflammation. Red meat, on the other hand, promotes inflammation.

According to Tanzi, the most important thing for brain health is getting seven to eight hours of sleep a night. The brain then gets rid of the amyloid that triggers inflammation, he said.

“Any time you go from REM sleep to deep sleep, I call it a brightening cycle.”

Translated from English by Trends.