Inflammation - what it is, and how to avoid it

I can’t feel it, so why the fuss?

If you cut yourself, your immune system triggers a chain of events to limit the damage. This is known as acute (short-term) inflammation. First, blood flow increases at the injury site, providing white blood cells that can neutralise any bacteria present and prevent infection. Other proteins arrive to seal off the area, preventing germs spreading. “Accumulation of cells and fluids from the bloodstream cause swelling, heat and pain in the tissue,” says Kemp. These symptoms are your body’s way of telling you to slow down. It’s a nifty system. “Inflammation has evolved to fight infection – it’s very effective at getting an immediate and appropriate immune response to the site of infection,” she says.

But the type of inflammation causing a stir among scientists and doctors is more complex than this. You can’t see or feel chronic (long-term), systemic inflammation the way you can a scraped knee. Undetected or not, inflammation that overstays its welcome is dangerous. “In most cases, when it starts causing problems, the inflammation is simply being maintained. It hasn’t been turned off when it should have been,” says Brown.

You may not see or feel this chronic inflammation, but it leaves a trail of markers, including something called C-reactive protein (CRP), which shows up in a simple blood test.