 Chronic inflammation wreaks havoc on the body, contributing to fatigue, depression, weight gain and many diseases. Insulin, sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) and cortisol play big roles in how the body controls inflammation. So how to you control these hormones? What is Chronic Inflammation? Inflammation itself is not a bad thing, in fact it is necessary for the body to be able heal from wounds and injury. Acute Inflammation is the body’s response to the sudden onset of a specific trauma or harmful stimuli, and generally lasts for several days, perhaps a few weeks. The function of inflammation is to initiate tissue repair to the damaged cells, and without inflammation our wounds would never heal. Chronic inflammation however is long term, lasting several months or even years and can eventually cause several diseases and conditions, including some cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, hay fever, cardiovascular disease, asthma, depression and weight gain. It can result from: · Failure to eliminate whatever was causing the acute inflammation · The immune system attacking healthy tissue mistaking it for something harmful · A long term persistent irritant Essentially, acute inflammation heals, chronic inflammation destroys; its causes and treatments should be discussed with a doctor and reduced as much as possible. In the meantime, understanding how our lifestyle and nutritional choices affect our hormones can help us start to fight inflammation’s causes and keep it at bay. Cortisol Cortisol is known as the stress hormone as it is produced within the adrenal gland in response to stress, as well as in times of low blood sugar. Once released it works to increase blood sugar in order to give us more energy to fight the stressful event, as well as suppress the immune system which diverts more of our bodily functions towards our muscles needed to fight. Cortisol is often thought of negatively, but it is a powerful and necessary hormone to counter stress, metabolize protein and carbohydrates, as well as help fight inflammation. Cortisol prevents the release of certain chemicals in the body that cause inflammation and is often used in synthetic medical form to help fight inflammatory diseases and allergies (corticosteroids). If the stressor is short lived then cortisol levels return to normal with no negative effects, however if stress remains constantly high so does cortisol levels and this can cause damage, including:
The good news is that there are things we can do to help fight the effects of cortisol:
Insulin For over 100 years researchers have been studying the link between inflammation and insulin resistance, going back to 1876 when Ebstein found a powerful anti-inflammatory (with unfortunately high side effects) which completely cured the symptoms of type 2 diabetes. Inflammation often begins in our stored fat cells; the fat cells expand as they fill up with fat and as they expand they become inflamed. As more and more glucose is delivered to the fat cells it causes oxidative stress and mitochondria dysfunction (the cells’ “power cells”), producing an inflammatory cascade within the cell. As the cells become increasingly inflamed several proteins released during the inflammatory response have been shown to cause insulin resistance: cytokine, MCP- 1 and C-Reactive Protein. This insulin resistance is now a vicious cycle of the body producing more and more insulin, which causes more and more fat storage, which increases insulin resistance……and so it continues. So how to we control insulin to reduce inflammation? Simply put, the less insulin the body produces, the more insulin sensitive we are, ie, less insulin resistant:
Leptin Leptin is one of the hormones related to our hunger and satiety (fullness); it is produced by the body’s fat cells and released in the blood and into the brain. Once it reaches the hypothalamus (the hormone control centre in the brain) it sends a satiety signal indicating we have enough stored fat and can stop eating. Leptin is stored in our fat cells, so the more fat we have the greater capacity we have to store and release leptin. In theory this would mean that the more fat we have, the more leptin is released leading to greater satiety and therefore weight loss. However, unfortunately, like insulin, the body also becomes resistant to leptin. As we produce more and more leptin our body becomes desensitized to it, prompting us to eat more and more in order to reach the same level of satiety and promoting a viscous cycle of overeating and fat storage. As we saw with insulin, leptin also increases the release of proinflammatory cytokines, and is associated with an increased level of white blood cells, which can increase inflammation in the body. High levels of leptin are also associated with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, CFS, especially in women (as testosterone plays a role in suppressing leptin), and leptin levels increase even more when CFS is combined with cortisol. Ensuring that we stay leptin sensitive is key to reducing the inflammatory effects of leptin:
Estrogen & Testosterone As with most of our hormones, estrogen can have both positive and negative effects on inflammation. Women often start experiencing joint pain during perimenopause due to the drop in estrogen levels; up until this drop, estrogen has been acting as an anti-inflammatory, essentially dampening the inflammatory “noise” in our joints — along with the noise in many other parts of the body. (R). High estrogen levels however have a pro-inflammatory effect, in both women and men. Estrogen dominance is a term used to describe an imbalance of estrogen to progesterone in women, and estrogen to testosterone in men. These hormones are usually present in a specific ratio, and when either estrogen rises too high, or progesterone or testosterone drop too low it causes an imbalance. This imbalance can cause many disruptions: in women estrogen dominance often leads to heavier menstrual flow, PMS and mood disruptions, and in men it can manifest in reduced libido and erectile dysfunction, enlarged breasts, as well as increased risk for prostate issues and cancer. In both men and women it can be to blame for fatigue, anxiety, depression, loss of muscle mass and increased belly fat. Estrogen and testosterone are closely linked to insulin; increased insulin levels lead to amplified production of testosterone which is converted to estrogen by our belly fat, where it is stored. This excess estrogen signals our body to store even more fat in our fat cells, and in turn the fat cells produce more estrogen, creating a vicious cycle leading to abdominal weight gain and estrogen dominance. And this is not the only vicious cycle created by extra belly fat; this increase in fat storage signals the liver to produce extra fatty acids, the building blocks of fat cells. This elevated level of fatty acids also contributes to insulin resistance, prompting more and more insulin to be released, which again signals the liver to produce more fatty acids…..hence the vicious cycle. (read more: PMS and Sugar: The Link Between Sugar, Insulin and PMS) Estrogen dominance is caused by many things:
Summary While there are many causes for inflammation, often the symptoms can be reduced by simple changes in our diet and lifestyle. Looking at all the recommendations to help balance each of these hormones we can see that they all respond well to basically the same thing:
*All nutritional and fitness info must be discussed with your doctor before any changes to diet or exercise regime are implemented. Change nothing and nothing will change; without change, there can be no progress!
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