Hallmark of Aging 11 Inflammation

July 21, 2024

Hallmark of Aging 11, Inflammation

Inflammation increases with aging. No kidding! Does anyone not feel that? Those systemic effects work their way down to observable phenomena like large, aching knuckles, coronary artery disease, spine degeneration with disk collapse, and vision deterioration. There are many inflammatory cytokines but they are synthesized into a common pathway through hsCRP. You want a CRP below 1, if you can get it. IL-6, a commonly measured inflammatory cytokine is being used as an “all-cause mortality” predictor. Along with those inflammatory cytokines, you can show that immune function deteriorates. You can see that in simple situations the elderly don’t make fevers like they used to. You can also measure discrete populations of exhausted T cells called Taa cells that spew out inflammatory cytokines of their own via Granzyme K.

The unique role of visceral fat is still being uncovered. This is the fat inside your body cavity around your organs and arteries. It turns out to be a very potent source of inflammatory cytokines compared to the uniquely quiet subcutaneous fat that looks problematic but is not very inflammatory. We have done this to ourselves. Ultra-processed foods are the culprit. They are too nutritious, too calorie-dense, too good tasting, too rapidly digested to match our physiology. Calories flood in and overwhelm our normal digestive and hormonal responses and fat accumulates in all sorts of awkward places including the beta-cells of our pancreases, driving our adult-onset diabetes epidemic and in our muscles. (What do you expect? Our “steaks” get marbled and filled with fat just like cows develop fatty muscles when we eat dense calories not part of our biological history. In beef, we like that juicy effect. In ourselves, we mourn our loss of muscle mass, our loss of strength, and our libido.)

There are multiple examples of anti-inflammatory therapies reducing disease burden or prolonging life. For example,block the inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha and aging mice live longer. Or, genetically knock out the “inflammasome” called NLRP3 and one more time, reduce inflammation and mice live longer. There is a curious 70-90% reduction in cancer in populations that eat lots of curcumin, a potent anti-inflammatory agent. (India vs USA comparison). The product Bisdemethoxycurcumin appears to mimic mRNA that stimulates the production of cancer-reducing ultralong gastrointestinal acids.

www.What will Work for me. We may have done this to ourselves with our ultra-processed food supply giving some 90% of us visceral fat. Notably, populations heralded as the most long-lived live in exercise-rich areas and famously eat little ultra-processed foods. We have just achieved a site in Milwaukee that will do MRIs of the abdomen for visceral fat. But we have to pay cash for it as the health care system isn’t about keeping you well. I can take Prodrome BDMC, the bisdemethoxycurcumin product that stimulates ultra-long fatty acids that protect against cancer. This aging stuff is fatiguing. For now, I’m staying tuned and seeing what we can benefit from. I think inflammation always turns into damage to mitochondria, and then electrons escape, peroxide is made, plasmalogens are depleted and every cell in the body becomes functionally degraded. What I have observed is that my CRP, which has been over 2 for decades, is now below 1 for the first time in my life when I’m taking Prodrome Glia. There you have it. There must be some interplay and synergy. You die when your plasmalogens run out.

References: Cell, Immunity, Medicine, Aging, Biomed Res Inter., Mediat Inflammation, Research Gate,

Pop Quiz

1. What does inflammation do?                     Answer: OMG. There are 20+ journals dedicated to inflammation. It creates a tilt that degrades every organ system

2. How does turmeric work?                       Answer: A lovely, tasty spice that is eaten by 2 billion people on a daily basis binds to theinflammatory generating pathways and blocks them. It also generates the production of ultra-long-chain fatty acids that are protective.

3. What’s the link to plasmalogens?                      Answer: Inflammation always is associated with more reactive oxygen species and more hydrogen peroxide. Plasmalogens are the antioxidants of FIRST RESORT on the surface of every cell. They become depleted and the loss of their functionality reduces the functionality of every cell.

4. What is likely the primary source of inflammation?                   Answer: Visceral fat in our body cavity, is generated by ultra-processed foods, stress, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise.

5. Ok, just name one egregious ultra-processed food and explain to me why it is ultra-processed.      Answer: Sugar. It is too pure. In nature it is found in sugar cane or sugar beets. Eat those foods and you can have the sugar. Sugar cane is hard to chew, takes half an hour to get a couple of sweet mouthfuls. Concentrate it, purify it, add it to 80% of grocery store foods and you have public enemy #1.