This “chronic, smoldering low-grade inflammation” as one researcher described it, is associated with many health issues.
As we age, we tend to have more aches, pains and diseases. Researchers believe that some of these may be related to persistent inflammation.
They call it “inflammaging” — age-related inflammation, which is present even in the absence of injury or illness.
It is considered a hallmark of aging and is characterized by a “chronic, smoldering low-grade inflammation,” said Vishwa Deep Dixit, a professor of pathology and immunobiology and the director of the Yale Center for Research on Aging.
This chronic smoldering is unfortunately associated with a host of health issues, but new research suggests that not everyone may experience inflammaging. Some Indigenous people don’t seem to get inflammaging at all compared with people in industrialized countries.
Either way, researchers are studying how to curb this type of inflammation to stave off its health effects.
Inflammaging “sets up the environment” for potential neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia or Parkinson’s, said Juan Pablo de Rivero Vaccari, an associate professor of neurological surgery at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine who has been studying the immune response for 20 years.
Understanding inflammaging is crucial for understanding the biology of aging and what we “can do to stall the degenerative diseases that emerge from inflammaging,” Dixit said.
Inflammaging has been strongly associated with several age-related health conditions, including atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, frailty, dementia and death.
It may be the “predecessor” for many of these diseases, Vaccari said.
For example, Alzheimer’s disease — the most common type of dementia — is believed to start up to 20 years before cognitive changes become apparent, and there is growing evidence that an underlying inflammatory response is already present during this time, Vaccari said.
Known risk factors for inflammaging include increased visceral fat, which wraps around internal organs, and uncontrolled blood sugar levels, Vaccari said.
Read the full story: Is ‘inflammaging’ part of getting older? Here’s what experts say. (WaPo)