Future Pharm’s products help combat inflammation and for those seeking a more natural alternative to over the counter medicines, they’re a wonderful option to consider. What exactly is inflammation and how does it affect your health and well-being? We’ll look at how inflammation impacts your health and why you should do everything you can to combat it to stay healthy, and review facts about inflammation that you should know.

A quick note: What is inflammation?

According to WebMD, inflammation is a process by which the body’s white blood cells and substances they produce protect us from infection with foreign organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Inflammation is a healthy and very necessary function for healing, but it should also be temporary: when the infection or illness is gone, inflammation should go away as well. However, in some instances, like arthritis, the body’s immune system triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign organisms to fight off. The body’s normally protective immune system causes damage to its own tissues. The body responds as if normal tissues are infected or somehow abnormal. When inflammation occurs, chemicals from the body’s white blood cells are released into the blood or affected tissues to protect your body. This release of chemicals increases the blood flow to the area of injury or infection and can cause redness and warmth or swelling. This may stimulate nerves and cause pain.

What can cause inflammation?

Harmful or chronic inflammation can have several causes, including a virus or bacteria, an autoimmune disorder, ongoing injuries or the way stress is handled. There are even certain foods that may cause inflammation. Try to avoid or limit these foods as much as possible:

  • Refined carbohydrates, such as white bread and pastries
  • Fried foods
  • Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages
  • Red meat and processed meat
  • Margarine, shortening, and lard

Some other possible causes?  Excess weight, smoking, gut bacteria, alcohol and birth control pills.

How does inflammation impact our bodies?

There are positive and negative affects of inflammation. Again, normal inflammation is meant to protect the body. Ongoing or abnormal inflammation is the issue for many. So how does inflammation impact our bodies? Health wrote a great article listing several ways, good and bad, that inflammation impacts our health; here are just a few:

  • It fights infection
  • It helps prepare you for emotional stress
  • It can harm your joints
  • It’s linked to heart disease
  • It’s linked to a higher risk of cancer
  • It can impact sleep
  • It can make weight loss more difficult

Many major diseases including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, depression, and Alzheimer’s have been linked to chronic inflammation.

What can you do to fight ongoing inflammation?

There are several actions that you can take to combat inflammation, starting with diet. In addition to avoiding the foods listed previously, incorporate foods such as tomatoes, olive oil, leafy green vegetables, nuts, fatty fish and fruit. Good hydration, regular movement, reduced stress and better sleep will also help reduce inflammation.  Over-the-counter solutions include a few different types of NSAIDs such as Aspirin, Ibuprofen and Naproxen.

A natural solution to reduce inflammation

There are several more natural options to reduce inflammation. Turmeric is a healing member of the ginger family and amazing natural resource has been used over centuries for its therapeutic antioxidant properties, anti-inflammatory ingredients and herbal compounds. Wild Oil of Oregano’s active ingredient carvacrol has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect and has been proven to reverse or reduce bacterial infections, allergies, inflammation, viruses and much more.

Ideally, having a lifestyle that includes low stress, healthy eating, good sleep and natural anti-inflammatory options such as turmeric and wild oil of oregano will lend itself greatly to avoiding or reducing inflammation. Having all the facts about inflammation that you should know will guide you to healthier living.