Inflammation is a process by which your body’s white blood cells, and substances they produce, protect you from infection, illness or injury. As a part of the inflammatory response, your body increases its production of white blood cells, immune cells and substances called cytokines to help fight infection.
However, in some diseases, like arthritis, the body’s defense system – your immune system – triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign invaders to fight off. In these diseases, called autoimmune diseases, the body’s normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal.
Symptoms of Inflammation
- Redness
- Swollen joint that is sometimes warm to the touch
- Joint pain
- Loss of joint function
- Fever
- Chills
- Fatigue & loss of energy
- Headaches
- Muscle stiffness
- Metabolic diseases (diseases that occur when the metabolism process fails and causes the body to have either too much or too little of the essential substances needed to stay healthy. Our bodies are very sensitive to errors in metabolism.)
Symptoms of organs affected by inflammation
Inflammation affects organs as a part of an autoimmune disorder or cardiovascular disease. The type of symptoms depends on which organs are affected. For example:
- Inflammation of the heart causes shortness of breath and/or fluid retention
- Inflammation of the small tubes that transport air to the lungs causes shortness of breath and fatigue
- Inflammation of the kidneys causes high blood pressure and/or kidney failure
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Tissue inflammation resulting in obesity
- Gut flora – inflammation causes disruption in the maintenance of proper microbiota (small organisms) in the gut which directly relates to a myriad of health problems.
There are direct links between chronic inflammation and obesity and metabolic diseases. The obesity and Type 2 Diabetes epidemics have forced us to recognize the role of inflammation in the health complications of metabolic diseases such as obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Eczema, Psoriasis & inflammatory bowel diseases. This has led to the need to combine immunology and nutrient physiology and understand that they are linked. The establishing of obesity as an inflammatory condition has had a significant impact on our understanding of metabolic diseases.
Metabolic Syndrome is an inflammatory disorder. 80% of all Americans suffer from a metabolic disorder that needs to be addressed to prevent a lower quality of life and early death.
The most powerful natural antioxidant discovered to date is hydroxytyrosol
Hydroxytyrosol is a compound drawn from the olive tree and its leaves. Hydroxytyrosol has an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity – its ability to absorb cell-damaging free radicals) of 68,576 – which is considered to be 15 times higher than green tea and 3 times greater than CoQ10. It is recognized by scientists, because of numerous, well-documented studies, for its powerful anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antioxidant and cardioprotective effectiveness.
Hydroxytyrosol has the highest level of free radical absorption ever reported for a natural antioxidant.
It has some very special characteristics that contribute to its effectiveness. It is:
- Rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and tissues where it can perform its free radical scavenging duties
- The only phenol (organic compound) that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which allows it to absorb free radicals throughout the central nervous system
- Both fat and water-soluble, giving it the highest bioavailability of any antioxidant.
The Science Behind Hydroxytyrosol
In numerous human, animal and in vitro (test tube) studies, hydroxytyrosol has been shown to:
- Reduce markers/indicators of inflammation
- Support healthy mitochondrial function and significantly increase ATP (a molecule that carries energy within cells) energy production
- Promote significant and rapid reduction of LDL (bad cholesterol)
- Boost eye health and reduce risk of macular degeneration
- Have a therapeutic effect on the heart and cardiovascular system.