Long before COVID-19 put intense focus on the immune system, research into the wide effects of inflammation on human health was growing.
More than ten years ago, research in the journal EMBO Reports stated that “inflammation has long been a well-known symptom of many infectious diseases, but molecular and epidemiological research increasingly suggests that it is also intimately linked with a broad range of non-infectious diseases, perhaps even all of them.”
What is inflammation? It is normally a foundational immune response and takes place whenever the body is injured or identifies a foreign invader, like a pathogen. That’s acute inflammation. But in a culture where people constantly eat unhealthy food—which can look like poison to the body—or experience ongoing stress, environmental toxins, or problematic drugs, people can also suffer ongoing inflammation, also known as chronic inflammation….