The prevalence of pain and inflammation among Americans
According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 50 million Americans- just over 20 percent of the adult population – have chronic pain. About 20 million of them have “high-impact chronic pain” meaning pain severe enough that it frequently limits life or work activities.
Also, according to the CDC, of the ten leading causes of death by disease in the United States, chronic low-level inflammation contributes to the onset and progression of at least seven such conditions: heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and nephritis.
The difference between chronic and acute inflammation
Inflammation is a mechanism that is crucial for the body. When a tissue in your body is going through a trauma like an injury or microbial invasion, acute inflammation is initiated and acts as an essential immune response. Your body will then trigger various compounds and immune cells to treat the injury or deal with the invasion.
Acute inflammation is a short-term response and should gradually diminish until eventually be completely deactivated once the injury or infection is fully healed.
Chronic inflammation happens when the inflammatory response does not gradually diminish and lingers for a long period of time – several months to years.
What are the main causes of inflammation?
Some Factors that can trigger ongoing inflammatory response are:
- Diet and high blood sugar – Our diet being higher in simple carbohydrates with reduction in healthy fats, reduction in dietary fiber paves the way through multiple mechanism for our blood sugars to rise, our insulin activity to reduce and ultimately that leads to inflammation. Glucose-derived triglycerides in the bloodstream contribute to the formation of plaque in the arteries that acts as a trigger for both chronic-inflammation and oxidation.
Our diet also affects the microbiome – when the gut lining is damaged some damaging chemicals that should stay in the gut, get out of the gut and that stimulate immune cells to create cytokines that are the mediator of inflammation chemicals. - Hormone Imbalance – our sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) helps to regulate both our immune and inflammatory responses. As the supply of these hormones decline, there can be an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines.
- Obesity – Being overweight or obese results in an increase of fat tissues in the body. These fat tissues store and produce hormones as well as cytokines that are linked to inflammation.
- Poor Sleep – research now shows that lack of healthy sleep is another causative factor of chronic inflammation as the body’s production of pro-inflammatory cytokines follow its natural circadian rhythm. These cytokines are likely involved in the regulation of sleep. Moreover, poor sleep results in an elevated production of these cytokines as well as stress-related, pro-inflammatory hormones.
- Stress – chronic stress can cause or perpetuate chronic inflammation. In response to stress, your body secretes various pro-inflammatory cytokines and stress hormones, such as cortisol, which have also been linked to a chronic inflammatory state.
- Smoking – smoking cigarettes exposes the body to a variety of inflammation triggering substances, including reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS are highly reactive molecules that when left unchecked can cause free radical damage. This, in turn can cause chronic inflammation. Smoking also results in increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
How can chronic inflammation contribute to other system-wide chronic conditions?
Because chronic inflammation does not present with the obvious symptoms’ characteristic of acute inflammation, it can be difficult to diagnose.
Very often, when the inflammatory response becomes chronic the immune cells and compounds that play a role in the acute inflammation process can start to become harmful and potentially leading to tissue damage or disease.
In addition to chronic pain, research has now established that chronic inflammation plays a primary role in nearly all degenerative diseases, including today’s most serious diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, dementia ,coronary artery disease, depression, ADHD, autism, Parkinson’s, migraine headaches, cancer and more.
Another downstream effect of inflammation is turning on the production of free radicals – chemicals that damage our protein, our fat, our DNA and even our mitochondria which are the cell’s energy producers.
What have been some of the more traditional treatments Americans would seek when trying to combat pain and inflammation? Have these methods fallen out of favor for more natural approaches, and if so, why?
Americans would typically try using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as Motrin, Ibuprofen, Aleve and Meloxicam for pain and inflammation. Another medication Americans would use to treat inflammatory states is steroids such as prednisone or solumedrol. Utilizing these medications for both short and long term relief of pain and inflammation is problematic for various reasons: there are adverse side effects from these medications including gastritis, kidney insufficiency, bleeding and for prednisone side effects including, but not limited to, osteoporosis, glaucoma and worsening glycemic control.
Utilizing NSAIDS, steroids and other analgesics has fallen out of favor for more natural approaches such as the anti-inflammatory diet, homeopathic medications and turmeric for its anti-inflammatory properties. Patients would like to minimize their dependency on pharmaceutical drugs, are concerned about adverse side effects from conventional medications and prefer taking a more natural approach.
What are the best general natural approaches that are considered beneficial toward pain and inflammation?
The best natural approach is to look for the root cause of the pain and inflammation. A combination of anti-inflammatory diet, stress relieve methods, regular moderate exercise and stretching, taking 500 mg of high-absorbency curcumin twice daily and 2-3 grams of fish oil a day – all these will help set the patient on the right track to reduce pain and inflammation.
Research has shown that both turmeric and curcumin not only can reduce symptoms of inflammation but can also prevent chronic inflammation from occurring. Turmeric and curcumin provide a much broader spectrum of anti-inflammatory benefits than pharmaceutical drugs and they do so with no risk of damaging side effects.
Why choose Curcumall?
Cucumall is a liquid herbal extract of turmeric and curcumin.
Curcumall® contains Curcumin C3 Complex®, the patented high-quality formula of three main curcuminoides – Curcumin, Demethoxycurcumin and Bisdemethoxycurcumin in optimal ratio.
Curcumin C3 complex® enjoys a special place among curcumin products. It is patented for its unique composition ratio and use and offer anti-inflammatory and anti-pain properties.
In addition to Curcuminoids, Curcumall® contains herbal extracts of Turmeric (Curcuma Longa), Ginger (Zingiberis Officinalis), and Aloysia (Lippia Citriodora). These extracts contain over twenty-four volatile oils, among them compounds such as Turmerone, Zingiberene, Cineole, and Germacrone that have shown anti-inflammatory properties.
Curcumall’s innovative
liquid extract formula offers high bioavailability of the active components of
turmeric.
Curcumall® was developed by scientists after five years of experiments to increase the bioavailability of turmeric without causing stomach upset and thus increase the positive health impact of the product. It does not contain piperine that can cause gastrointestinal upset for some patients.
Curcumall® is guaranteed to be free of sugar, gluten, yeast, milk or milk derivatives, preservatives, artificial color, artificial flavor, sodium, and any animal products.
