Inflammation - the River of Fire
We don’t normally associate swollen joints or chronic pain with cancer, but swol- len joints and chronic pain are caused by inflammation, and inflammation that is chronic deregulates normal cell functioning and can drive the process of carcino- genesi (normal cells turning into cancer cells). Chronic inflammation is the big silent killer, and everyday aches and pains are caused by inflammation that’s be- come chronic - permanent and perpetual.
Athletes suffer from inflammation caused by injuries from muscle, joint, and connective tissue over extension. Rheumatoid arthritis (which runs in families) is caused by chronic inflammation and can begin to gradually debilitate healthy people by the time they turn 40. It usually starts in the hands, transforming joints into painful twisted knobs and eventually causes a sharp decline in mobility, until normal everyday activities
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In the
4th and 5th centuries B. C., an average human being lived about 30 years. Life- spans didn’t reach 45 years until the early 20th century.
Before mass production of penicillin during World War II, a person with a pro- truding broken bone had a 50% chance of dying. Common accidents, like being thrown from a horse, kicked by a mule, or bitten by an animal was a serious, potentially fatal circumstance. By the time the automobile was being mass pro- duced, secondary infections (infections that take hold following treatment of a primary infection) were common place. They’re caused by suppression of the im- mune response.
In the old days, the only way to avoid an inevitable sequence of infections was a strong inflammatory reaction. If a person couldn’t mount a powerful inflamma- tory response, he/she wasn’t likely to live long enough to pass on his/her DNA. Those with strong immune systems became ancestors. A weakened immune sys- tem has no survival