When we think of inflammation most of us envision the reddened swollen toe of the gout sufferer or the hot tender knee of the weekend warrior. Indeed these devilish conditions are a direct result of inflammation, yet this natural process impacts much more than over used appendages. For example, many people don’t associate inflammation with heart disease, yet research is conclusive that the inflammatory response is partly responsible for the artery clogging plaques that lead to chest pain and heart attacks.
Let’s take a brief repose to review what happens in a typical inflammatory response. I promise to not make your eyes bleed by using eight syllable medical jargon, but a basic understanding is critical in knowing how reducing inflammation can promote long term health and wellness.
Inflammation is basically a response of tissue to any type of insult. I don’t mean the liver retaliates against the heart for hurting its feelings. I’m not talking about that kind of insult, but more as something that causes an injury like infection, trauma, lack of nutrients (like a decreased blood supply), or intense heat or cold. This life saving cascade is responsible for both protection and healing and is characterized by the production of chemicals that have a multitude of effects on the injured tissue. This is a good thing, right? Yes it is…in most cases. However, if the inflammatory response is not limited or becomes chronic, problems arise; kind of like when your in-laws come to visit. A typical inflammatory reaction leads to redness and swelling in the surrounding tissue often accompanied by tenderness. That is why anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen are some of the most popular medications consumed by folks. None of us like pain, except the guy wearing the leather pants and carrying a whip, and the meds medicate the ouch by reducing the inflammation. Most of the time the body will stop the inflammation on its own, but in our “I want it yesterday” society sooner is always better than later. The real problem with inflammation is when it stakes its claim more permanently. Certain conditions like arthritis and auto-immune disorders stimulate “inflammation gone wild” and set up environments where pain and tissue destruction becomes more long lasting. We can also see this inflammatory tsunami from poor dietary choices, chronic couch potato-hood, and smoking.
The more we learn about the inflammatory response the more we discover the wide ranging impact it has on multiple tissues and organ systems. I mentioned earlier that clogging up the heart pipes is linked to inflammation. The cells that line the blood vessels like wallpaper are called endothelial cells and they can get irritated and inflamed by fats and other nasties in your diet. This sets off a whole cascade of events that leads to the gunking up of the artery and soon, Poof!, you get chest pain while chasing squirrels from your rutabaga garden. Doctors now use some simple blood tests that analyze your total body’s state of inflammation (called inflammatory markers), and they can predict your chance of getting a heart attack. There also seems to be a connection between chronic inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, and certain cancers. I don’t claim to be as smart as Barak Obama, but it would make sense to me then that reducing the inflammatory response (especially the chronic kind) would be a very good thing, and science, in fact, agrees.
So how do we make the response to inflammation a happy face and not a sad face? The obvious answer would be to take a daily dose of anti-inflammatories with the same gusto that a wino sloshes down a quart of Ripple. But often the obvious response is the wrong answer, as it is in this case. Yes, taking an aspirin (the mother of all anti-inflammatories) a day has been associated with a number of benefits, and I will not dispute that some are helped from this, but there is a better way. In fact there are a number of better ways. One such healthy approach is to eat what I call an anti-inflammatory diet. By that I mean hog down on almost any fruit or vegetable you can get your little meat-stained hands on. Most fruits and vegetables contain substances such as omega three fatty acids that have a natural anti inflammatory effect. These substances swim around in the bloodstream and act like little vacuum cleaners sucking up bad stuff that would otherwise make you forget where you left your keys or who that chubby person standing next to you in the picture on the mantle is. Eat whole foods that are as close to the way God made them; the more processed the less beneficial. A good rule of thumb about eating is that if you can get it from a window without ever leaving your car, it’s probably not good for combating inflammation. Decrease your consumption of white flour products and sugar then double up on whole grains and nuts. Boycott saturated fats, like those found in most red meats and oils, and instead ingest polyunsaturated fats from cold water fish (salmon, tuna) and use olive oil. Drink enough water to drown a camel and eat fiber like it is banana cream pie.
Everyone would agree that the ideal source of anti-oxidants are whole foods, but the reality is that most of us don’t follow a consistently healthy diet think that chocolate is one of the four main food groups. Therefore supplements can be of great benefit, especially with the content of the Standard American Diet (SAD). You must be a critical consumer when assessing vitamins and supplements as there is shelf after shelf of expensive garbage in every grocery store and pharmacy in the country. These products are not regulated by any government agency (yet) so you have to rely on the integrity of the manufacturer, and just let me say that is a bit like trusting the IRS to be compassionate. As a marathon runner and a physician I have both a personal and professional interest in natural anti inflammatories that are effective and have minimal side effects, so I have done my due diligence in researching what is out there. I believe I have come upon a product that satisfies both my scientific cynicism and my personal requirements. I would have never thought that one of the most powerful anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory substances commercially available was extracted from the New Zealand Green Lipped mussel (I’m not kidding!).
Omega XL is a concentrated powerhouse of omega 3 fatty acids that has stood the rigor of numerous double blind studies and shown to be a stupendous reliever of pain, muscle soreness, and irritation secondary to both acute and chronic inflammation. Of course the most important test was the highly touted “Eaker study” which consisted of a 51 year old middle of the pack marathoning gynecologist and his use of Omega XL while training and recovering from his last 4 marathons. Needless to say I wouldn’t even be mentioning this product if I hadn’t had great results from its use myself. In 21 years of medical practice I have never endorsed a specific product, but my own experience and the bountiful, credible studies convinced me that Omega XL is the real deal. To give you some perspective, most people understand the benefits of fish oil supplements, well, a recent study from Australia showed that Omega XL was 200 times more powerful in reducing the inflammatory changes of arthritis than standard fish oil extracts. And that’s just the beginning of the remarkable wealth of literature that has documented this product’s benefits.
I won’t bore you with my own sordid tales of marathon agony, but let it suffice to say that for years I would struggle for days, sometimes weeks, after a marathon to recover from muscle soreness and weakness. Once I started Omega XL I found I recovered from training runs quicker and therefore was able to not only run more marathons in a shorter period of time, but also run them faster than I had ten years earlier! My wife doesn’t share my enthusiasm as she says this new found vigor has only fueled my obsession with running and further kept me from my household chores. My kids love it as it gets me out of the house more often and at greater intervals so I bug them less about their homework.
The bottom line in the war against the ravages of acute and chronic inflammation is to eat well, exercise, get adequate rest, and use supplements wisely. For my money (and for my knees) Omega XL is a vital part of that regimen.
To find out more go to www.OmegaXL.com
