Where Does Inflammation Occur?
We tend to think of inflammation as being isolated to our joints. In reality it occurs throughout the body at all times. One can have excessive inflammation in the bowels (colitis), the heart (myocarditis), the kidneys (nephritis), the lungs (bronchitis), and more. In excess it can contribute to dangerous chronic diseases. Lets take cancer as an example. More advanced cancers tend to express higher levels of COX-2, an inflammatory marker in the body. Many of the risk factors for heart disease are synergistic with inflammatory pathways. For example, inflammation increases the release of free radicals which cause cell death, abnormal fat deposits, constriction of blood vessels and sticky platelets, all processes correlating with heart disease. Inflammation in our core organs is particularly dangerous because we cannot feel pain or symptoms until we are at a stage of acute disease or advanced chronic disease. There are laboratory tests using inflammatory markers that can identify our risk
