The Link Between Inflammation and Your Immune System
Inflammation and your immune system response to pathogens or disease go hand in hand. When your immune system detects an invader or damage to the body, part of the response is inflammatory, which helps to restore health. Inflammation is part of your body’s defense mechanism, but too much of it can be harmful. Another important factor that relates to your immune inflammatory response is your baseline inflammation level. This is the amount of inflammation you have in your body when your body is normally functioning without infection. A recent paper published in Integrative Medicine, A Clinician’s Journal, by Yanuck, et al. suggests that higher levels of baseline inflammation may be linked to more severe outcomes in relation to the progression of COVID-19. We hope to help you understand how your baseline inflammation levels may have an impact on the severity of an infection like COVID-19 and what you can do in prevention.
In the paper titled, “Evidence Supporting a Phased Immuno-physiological Approach to COVID-19 from Prevention through Recovery”, the authors discuss how lower baseline levels may aid in preventing the inherent inflammatory immune response from reaching a “threshold” level in which the patient may have higher risk for severe disease progression of COVID-19. They mention that in those with higher levels of baseline inflammation, “the same incremental additional inflammation associated with the immune system’s choreography of responding to the virus moves the patient correspondingly further up the vertical axis, moving the patient closer to the threshold of manifesting acute respiratory distress syndrome or other fatality risks” (Yanuk et al., 2020).
What causes higher levels of baseline inflammation? Chronic diseases and stress are the main factors. The inflammatory nature of chronic disease plays a role in why the known non-pulmonary related comorbidities of COVID-19 are obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. This is important because there are preventable actions we can take to lower inflammation levels and at the same time prevent such chronic diseases.
By now you may have a clue on what preventable actions you can take because they aren’t any different from the recommendations we make to generally prevent chronic disease. That is: eat nutrient rich foods, move your body, and take care your mental health.
It is important to keep in mind that your baseline inflammation levels are not the sole factor in determining the severity of disease progression. According to the authors of the article, “It’s noteworthy that, in some cases, inflammation may rapidly escalate from a low baseline to an excessively vigorous inflammatory response that puts the patient in jeopardy, for a host of reasons both known and unknown” (Yanuck et al., 2020). While it does not appear that low baseline inflammation levels are the key to beating a disease like COVID-19, it certainly seems to play a part in potentially preventing a more severe disease progression. We also know low inflammation levels are beneficial to overall health for a host of other reasons, so keep on eating well, exercising, and being mindful.
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Sources:
Chen, L., Deng, H., Cui, H., Fang, J., Zuo, Z., Deng, J., … Zhao, L. (2017, December 14). Inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated diseases in organs. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5805548/
Yanuk, S. F., Pizzorno, J., Messier, H., & Fitzgerald, K. N. (2020). Evidence Supporting a Phased Immuno-physiological Approach to COVID-19 from Prevention through Recovery. Integrative Medicine, 19. Retrieved from http://imjournal.com/oa/evidence_supporting-a_phased_immuno-physiological_approach_to_covid-19_from_prevention_through_recovery/.