I seem to be reading more and more about inflammation these days, and its role in various disease states – what’s the current state-of-the-art?

Medical science is learning more every day about this process of inflammation, and perhaps we can simplify it. We now know that there are two types of inflammation, known as pro-inflammatory response, and anti-inflammatory response. When damage occurs in the body, our first immune response is pro-inflammatory – its function is cell destruction. It simply clears away damaged cells so that the body can rebuild. This response is then followed by the anti-inflammatory response – its function is one of cell rejuvenation. It rebuilds and replaces damaged cells, and might be best understood as “the healing process.” What we understand as wellness can be described as a proper balance between these two functions. Problem: an unbalanced diet, one high in “negative” fatty acids, strongly supports the pro-inflammatory response, which becomes harmful when it a) continues the cell destruction phase when no longer needed, and b) continues to negatively impact the cell rejuvenation phase. The result is an increase in chronic inflammatory diseases over time. Such conditions as arthritis, asthma, cancer, type II diabetes, Crohn’s disease, heart disease, and others have been linked to this uncontrolled, ongoing pro-inflammatory response.