Dear Osa community,
Please enjoy this synopsis of an interesting new study on inflammation and a moment of mindfulness to bring things home.
- A shift in our understanding of inflammation
One anchoring tenet of functional medicine which sets it apart from conventional medicine is that it seeks the reasons for dysfunction–what we like to refer to as the “root causes.” One of my mentors in my nutrition and functional medicine program taught me an essential question that helps to get at a patient’s root causes: Why does the body think this is a good idea? What I love about this is its implication that the body has good ideas. If, like me, you have spent a majority of your life in a conventional medical setting, you may have unwittingly taken to heart the idea that health is something achieved largely by exerting control over the body, by fixing all the things that are wrong with your body, and this is typically done by adding something external, often something that stops your body from doing its wrong thing. When we consider that the body has its own reasons for doing what it does, and–importantly–that these reasons are rooted in an innate desire to protect and sustain life, this really turns the whole paradigm of health by external control on its head.
I’m telling you this because it relates to some new information that came to me this past week. A study published in January in the journal Cell Reports found that fasting (abstaining from food for a period of time) may reduce inflammation in some surprising ways. Because chronic inflammation underlies all major modern diseases including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, we are always on the lookout for ways to reduce inflammation in the body, and fasting is one tool which has come to the research forefront in recent years.
This particular study is interesting because it found that one mechanism by which fasting may reduce inflammation is actually through a molecule that was previously thought to be the primary provoker of inflammation in the body: a fatty acid called arachidonic acid. New information like this is humbling and so interesting because it causes us to challenge previously held conceptions that we had been hanging our hats on.
In brief, this study involved 21 adult volunteers who underwent a 24-hour fast, before and after which levels of certain molecules in the blood were measured. It was found that levels of a signaling molecule (“cytokine” in science-speak) which recruits the pro-inflammatory immune system (the defense forces of your body) were reduced after the 24-hour fast, while levels of arachidonic acid, the lipid that I mentioned is typically associated with pro-inflammatory pathways, were increased. The net result was a decrease in overall inflammation.
A cell culture component of the study, in which researchers examine what is happening in cells under certain conditions, found that the arachidonic acid inhibited a major inflammatory signaling platform called the NLRP3 inflammasome. This may sound really abstract, but you are likely familiar with the idea, for example, that diets high in saturated fats can provoke inflammation, and it is through this NLRP3 inflammasome that this occurs.
What this study says to me is that the ways in which the body protects itself by increasing and decreasing inflammation are more interwoven than we currently understand. We have a tendency to want to sort things into boxes of “good” and “bad”, while the body doesn’t necessarily work that way. Everything has its purpose, and nothing in the body is inherently good or bad. Also, it’s very important to recognize that molecules in the body can have multiple functions, which appears to be what we are seeing with arachidonic acid. So, just because we discover that a molecule has one action does not mean that it is its only action.
2. A moment of mindfulness
What I hope information like this study offers you is a deepening awe for your one and only body. We think about new frontiers being on some faraway planet, or perhaps hidden somewhere in the deepest reaches of the ocean floor, but the truth is that there are new frontiers still within yourself at this very moment.
And also, how might things be different if you release your hold, even just slightly, on the idea that your body is working against you, or that you have to work against your body to attain health?
Wishing you a beautiful week,
