If you're dealing with chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, frequent outbreaks, or getting sick multiple times a year, I strongly encourage you to consider checking inflammation markers.
Inflammation occurs when your body responds to infection or injury, known as acute inflammation. However, when your body releases inflammatory cells without any sickness or injury, it may indicate chronic inflammation.
While acute inflammation usually has a specific cause like an injury, infection, allergen, or toxic exposure, chronic inflammation can persist for months or even years. It develops gradually due to poor diet, environmental toxins, chronic stress, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, and other lifestyle factors. Chronic inflammation involves your body sending inflammatory cells even when there is no immediate danger.
There are 12 inflammatory markers, but we'll focus on 6 that are particularly important:
C-reactive protein: Produced in the liver from inflammatory cytokines, this marker reflects chronic inflammation, especially in the mouth and gums. Functional medicine suggests an optimal value of less than 0.55 for males and less than 1.5 for females. Higher values may indicate increased risk of heart attacks, Alzheimer's, dementia, and depression especially in men. It indicates also increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Sugar, peiodontal disease, smoking and oral contraceptives can increase it.
Since blood sugar imbalances are a significant cause of inflammation, checking Hgb A1C and fasting insulin is crucial.
Hgb A1C: This measure reflects glucose levels over the past 3-4 months. The standard value is less than 5.7, but the optimal range is 4.6-5.5. Hypoglycemia is detected at levels below 4.6, while diabetes is indicated at levels greater than 6.5.
Fasting insulin: Another essential lab check for blood sugar imbalances. The standard range is 6-27, but optimal levels should be below 5. Measuring your insulin levels can reveal imbalances that occur long before glucose or HbA1C levels indicate a problem. This test can be used as a pre-diabetes screening.
Here's a study linking insulin resistance to inflammation: [URL]
Ferritin: This is a protein that helps store iron in your body. It measure the level of ferritin in your body to help identify iron deficiency anemia and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, and liver disease. The standard range is 24-307. A level of 200 to 300 nanograms per milliliter is too high for optimal health. The range should be closer between 30 to 60 ng/ml for adult male or non-mentruating female. Values greater than 160 (female) or 200 (male) indicate iron overloaad.
Inflammation occurs when your body responds to infection or injury, known as acute inflammation. However, when your body releases inflammatory cells without any sickness or injury, it may indicate chronic inflammation.
While acute inflammation usually has a specific cause like an injury, infection, allergen, or toxic exposure, chronic inflammation can persist for months or even years. It develops gradually due to poor diet, environmental toxins, chronic stress, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, and other lifestyle factors. Chronic inflammation involves your body sending inflammatory cells even when there is no immediate danger.
There are 12 inflammatory markers, but we'll focus on 6 that are particularly important:
C-reactive protein: Produced in the liver from inflammatory cytokines, this marker reflects chronic inflammation, especially in the mouth and gums. Functional medicine suggests an optimal value of less than 0.55 for males and less than 1.5 for females. Higher values may indicate increased risk of heart attacks, Alzheimer's, dementia, and depression especially in men. It indicates also increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Sugar, peiodontal disease, smoking and oral contraceptives can increase it.
Since blood sugar imbalances are a significant cause of inflammation, checking Hgb A1C and fasting insulin is crucial.
Hgb A1C: This measure reflects glucose levels over the past 3-4 months. The standard value is less than 5.7, but the optimal range is 4.6-5.5. Hypoglycemia is detected at levels below 4.6, while diabetes is indicated at levels greater than 6.5.
Fasting insulin: Another essential lab check for blood sugar imbalances. The standard range is 6-27, but optimal levels should be below 5. Measuring your insulin levels can reveal imbalances that occur long before glucose or HbA1C levels indicate a problem. This test can be used as a pre-diabetes screening.
Here's a study linking insulin resistance to inflammation: [URL]
Ferritin: This is a protein that helps store iron in your body. It measure the level of ferritin in your body to help identify iron deficiency anemia and is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, and liver disease. The standard range is 24-307. A level of 200 to 300 nanograms per milliliter is too high for optimal health. The range should be closer between 30 to 60 ng/ml for adult male or non-mentruating female. Values greater than 160 (female) or 200 (male) indicate iron overloaad.
While there are 8 other tests available, these are the ones I would recommend for now. It's crucial to detect and address any inflammation in your body to maintain your overall health and well-being.
