The Silent Killer: Chronic Inflammation The ECS
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Posted On: 01/20/2024 4:56:32 PM
The Silent Killer: Chronic Inflammation
The ECS to the Rescue
Many times, when we turn on the television or the radio nowadays, we are given a blurb of information with a bunch of words that can be foreign to our normal television viewers or radio ear. Words like oxidative stress, antioxidant, free radicals, and ECS can leave the audience in a state of confusion. There is more alarming news when we see the current news stating that colorectal cancer is occurring in a much younger population. Colorectal cancer is designated as the number one cause of death for men and the number two cause of death for women under age 50. Current medical research states that three out of five deaths around the world are related to inflammation. Let’s find out why these two things are related.
Inflammation
To reduce these words to an everyday term called inflammation lends itself to a better understanding of this commonly used everyday term. What is the definition of inflammation? Inflammation is a biological response of the body to injury, infection, or irritation. We are all familiar with the characteristics of acute inflammation as it is characterized by redness, swelling, heat, and pain in the affected area.
To understand inflammation, we must understand the reason why. Inflammation is to remove the harmful stimuli and initiate the healing process. The inflammatory process involves the release of various chemicals and the immune cells that help to eliminate the source of damage and repair the tissues.
While inflammation is a natural defense mechanism, chronic inflammation is a “Silent Killer” and can be harmful and contribute to various diseases that we shall discuss below. Science has proven that chronic low-grade inflammation can turn into a Silent Killer that contributes to cardiovascular disease, cancer, Type II diabetes, and other conditions. The fact that three out of five people around the world die from a disease linked to inflammation raises “red flags”. How do we fight against this killer!
Chronic inflammation is now considered in the pathophysiology (the reason why) of many different disease states. This single word, inflammation, has new emphasis in disease prevalence and clinical management. We shall try to keep it simple. We must try to understand the deleterious effects of inflammation when it comes in a chronic longstanding form, like inflammatory bowel disease. What happens to the human cell when it faces long-term inflammation?
Cell Life Expectancy
Each cell in our body has a natural life expectancy which goes through a process from the beginning with the birth of that cell to the eventual death of that cell, which is called apoptosis, which is mother nature’s normal course for all living species, i.e. one-third of our blood cells turn over every 120 days. Please do not let this word scare you. We shall explain it in detail.
Apoptosis is the process of eventual programmed cell death. It is used during early development to eliminate unwanted and damaged cells. In adults, apoptosis is used to rid the body of cells that have been damaged beyond repair. Apoptosis also plays a role in preventing cancer. If apoptosis is for some reason prevented, it can lead to the lingering of this aged or damaged cell, leading to uncontrolled cell division and the subsequent development of a tumor or some form of cancer.
In chronic inflammation, tissue destruction occurs faster than cellular regeneration, causing pathological fibrosis to replace physiological apoptotic cells. Eventually, the tissue function will be reduced or even lost and clinically, inflamed tissue, the stimulus for the immune system is persistent.
There is current research which is drawn from a recent article aimed to determine the biomarker levels of several inflammation indicators in people. The study looks at a common practice which the public believes and uses to fight inflammation by taking supplements like fish oil, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids for the purpose of reducing inflammation. However, the study did not show any reduction in the biomarkers of inflammation when taking these supplements. However, the study did give science a measuring stick to follow low-grade inflammation.
As a doctor, I know about inflammation and its different types. I have been trained to detect and treat acute inflammation commonly known as infection. Sometimes it is even necessary for me, as a doctor, to write prescriptions and treat people with antibiotics, rest, elevation, ice and/or heat, or many other modalities like surgery for these acute episodes of inflammation.
Here is the new spin—low-grade chronic inflammation is a key sign of several life-threatening and disabling conditions, especially those associated with aging and obesity. We talked in our introduction about those fancy words which do not have much meaning to the public-at-large. What is a free radical and what is oxidative stress, what is the ECS? How do we fight these free radicals, and the oxidative stress of our aging cells? Answer, our body uses our Endocannabinoid System (ECS). More on the ECS coming up.
Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress
A free radical is an atom, molecule, or ion that has an unpaired electron, making it highly reactive. Free radicals can be formed naturally in the body as a byproduct of normal metabolism. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. When we make energy for our body, with the heart and brain using most of that energy, a byproduct of that energy creation is an unpaired electron denoted as a free radical which makes oxidative stressors.
These free radicals and oxidative stress seek to stabilize themselves by reacting with other molecules, which can cause potential damage to cells, DNA/RNA, proteins, and other cellular components. These free radicals as a result of energy production creates oxidative stress. This oxidative stress must be eliminated or these stressors become a toxic element within the body, as stated above. These stressors help to perpetuate a negative feedback mechanism that increases inflammation into a chronic long-standing status which becomes “The Silent Killer” of our body’s building blocks.
The Inner Workings of Inflammation
The research says our power-plant of our bodies, the mitochondria, do not work as well with age and the cleaning of our organ system falters and builds up a chronic low-grade inflammation causing cellular disruption, damage, and cell death. Now, we have to change our thinking about chronic low-grade inflammation also as a cause of aging. Obesity, diabetes mellitus, dementia and more are all considered a low-grade chronic inflammatory disease that will and can lead to the same endgame of tissue disease, aging and death, the “Silent Killer”. Chronic inflammation can also impact cardiovascular disease, heart failure, osteoporosis, some neurodegenerative conditions (including Alzheimer's disease), diabetes, and some cancers. Wow!!!!!!!!
This new thinking must be on how we fight these aging diseases by understanding the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and how it works, making our body’s endocannabinoid balancing system more important than ever.
Endocannabinoid System (ECS)
We have a bodily balancing system which Americans are just starting to learn about and pay attention called the Endocannabinoid System (ECS), which helps to eradicate those free radicals and oxidative stress. This is a balancing and regulatory system within our bodies.
The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) helps to regulate and reduce inflammation by modulating immune cell activity, inhibiting the release of pro-inflammatory molecules, and influencing pain receptors. The ECS is composed of cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2), which are found throughout the body and help to regulate the autoimmune system through a neurotransmission system that keeps us in balance. It is the endogenous (made by the body) and exogenous cannabinoid (plant based), which helps to support this ECS, that are so very important for stasis.
We need to have external phytocannabinoids added to our diet when our bodies do not or cannot make enough endogenous (made by the body) cannabinoids to be in homeostasis. Unbeknownst to most people we, the public, have been dependent on getting these phytocannabinoids, an exogenous source (from outside the body) from our foods in the past, but our nutrient soil has been degraded to dirt and no longer supplies these much-needed cannabinoids via our normal daily diet.
From Surgeon to Farmer
After nearly 40 years in the operating room, I transitioned from a career as an orthopaedic surgeon to being a hemp farmer in 2018. I was searching for a root cause to reduce inflammation which was part of my research subject as a Research Fellow very early on in my orthopaedic career. My research on the ECS says that this is a homeostatic balancing neurotransmission system and is responsible for hundreds of synaptic regulations throughout our body. Stay with me, I will explain.
Under a special provision in the 2014 Farm Bill, hemp, a major source of Cannabinoids, once again, was allowed to be grown for research purposes under the duration of that Farm Bill. So, retired from surgery, this type A personality needed another mountain to climb. So, I grew organic hemp in early 2018, just prior to the passage of the Farm Bill of 2018, making hemp legal for the first time in 50 years.
However, no one told me how hard growing 10 acres of hemp would be. lol! I wanted to learn every step from planting, to cultivating, to harvesting, to bucking, to processing, and to formulation. These are the steps required in extracting the resin from the unfertilized female hemp plant to get to a compound known as Cannabidiol (CBD).
Of note, it should be understood that hemp was a major agricultural component in our dietary consumption when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and long before. However, this hemp crop was vilified and eliminated from our agricultural ethos approximately 80 years ago, which is another discussion for another time. However, I believe today we are having some deleterious effects on our health as a result of diseases linked to cannabinoid deficiencies.
Why the Hemp Renaissance
The renaissance of the plant Cannabis sativa L can supply many of these essential cannabinoids that help fight this chronic low-grade inflammation in our bodies. This little fact from this little plant was proven by science in 1999 by four researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and patented in 2003 for its neuroprotective, neuroproliferative, and anti-inflammatory attributes which makes it a great antioxidant.
As the public pushes to have this essential plant re-entered into our food chain, beware of where your source of your Cannabinoids originates from, and you want them to be organic. Organic Full-Spectrum Cannabinoids are what you want. Many vendors are fractionating this full spectrum oil and taking out the components like THC and stripping out the entourage effect and presenting the public with an isolate which is not the answer for the ECS and the fight against low-grade chronic inflammation.
As a doctor for five decades, I went out and grew our product from seed-to-shelf. I know what I know and suggest you read more and learn more at : www.dailyvitaminCBD.com
Please and thank you!
Author: Eric I. Mitchell, MD MA FACPE CPE
The ECS to the Rescue
Many times, when we turn on the television or the radio nowadays, we are given a blurb of information with a bunch of words that can be foreign to our normal television viewers or radio ear. Words like oxidative stress, antioxidant, free radicals, and ECS can leave the audience in a state of confusion. There is more alarming news when we see the current news stating that colorectal cancer is occurring in a much younger population. Colorectal cancer is designated as the number one cause of death for men and the number two cause of death for women under age 50. Current medical research states that three out of five deaths around the world are related to inflammation. Let’s find out why these two things are related.
Inflammation
To reduce these words to an everyday term called inflammation lends itself to a better understanding of this commonly used everyday term. What is the definition of inflammation? Inflammation is a biological response of the body to injury, infection, or irritation. We are all familiar with the characteristics of acute inflammation as it is characterized by redness, swelling, heat, and pain in the affected area.
To understand inflammation, we must understand the reason why. Inflammation is to remove the harmful stimuli and initiate the healing process. The inflammatory process involves the release of various chemicals and the immune cells that help to eliminate the source of damage and repair the tissues.
While inflammation is a natural defense mechanism, chronic inflammation is a “Silent Killer” and can be harmful and contribute to various diseases that we shall discuss below. Science has proven that chronic low-grade inflammation can turn into a Silent Killer that contributes to cardiovascular disease, cancer, Type II diabetes, and other conditions. The fact that three out of five people around the world die from a disease linked to inflammation raises “red flags”. How do we fight against this killer!
Chronic inflammation is now considered in the pathophysiology (the reason why) of many different disease states. This single word, inflammation, has new emphasis in disease prevalence and clinical management. We shall try to keep it simple. We must try to understand the deleterious effects of inflammation when it comes in a chronic longstanding form, like inflammatory bowel disease. What happens to the human cell when it faces long-term inflammation?
Cell Life Expectancy
Each cell in our body has a natural life expectancy which goes through a process from the beginning with the birth of that cell to the eventual death of that cell, which is called apoptosis, which is mother nature’s normal course for all living species, i.e. one-third of our blood cells turn over every 120 days. Please do not let this word scare you. We shall explain it in detail.
Apoptosis is the process of eventual programmed cell death. It is used during early development to eliminate unwanted and damaged cells. In adults, apoptosis is used to rid the body of cells that have been damaged beyond repair. Apoptosis also plays a role in preventing cancer. If apoptosis is for some reason prevented, it can lead to the lingering of this aged or damaged cell, leading to uncontrolled cell division and the subsequent development of a tumor or some form of cancer.
In chronic inflammation, tissue destruction occurs faster than cellular regeneration, causing pathological fibrosis to replace physiological apoptotic cells. Eventually, the tissue function will be reduced or even lost and clinically, inflamed tissue, the stimulus for the immune system is persistent.
There is current research which is drawn from a recent article aimed to determine the biomarker levels of several inflammation indicators in people. The study looks at a common practice which the public believes and uses to fight inflammation by taking supplements like fish oil, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids for the purpose of reducing inflammation. However, the study did not show any reduction in the biomarkers of inflammation when taking these supplements. However, the study did give science a measuring stick to follow low-grade inflammation.
As a doctor, I know about inflammation and its different types. I have been trained to detect and treat acute inflammation commonly known as infection. Sometimes it is even necessary for me, as a doctor, to write prescriptions and treat people with antibiotics, rest, elevation, ice and/or heat, or many other modalities like surgery for these acute episodes of inflammation.
Here is the new spin—low-grade chronic inflammation is a key sign of several life-threatening and disabling conditions, especially those associated with aging and obesity. We talked in our introduction about those fancy words which do not have much meaning to the public-at-large. What is a free radical and what is oxidative stress, what is the ECS? How do we fight these free radicals, and the oxidative stress of our aging cells? Answer, our body uses our Endocannabinoid System (ECS). More on the ECS coming up.
Free Radicals and Oxidative Stress
A free radical is an atom, molecule, or ion that has an unpaired electron, making it highly reactive. Free radicals can be formed naturally in the body as a byproduct of normal metabolism. “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. When we make energy for our body, with the heart and brain using most of that energy, a byproduct of that energy creation is an unpaired electron denoted as a free radical which makes oxidative stressors.
These free radicals and oxidative stress seek to stabilize themselves by reacting with other molecules, which can cause potential damage to cells, DNA/RNA, proteins, and other cellular components. These free radicals as a result of energy production creates oxidative stress. This oxidative stress must be eliminated or these stressors become a toxic element within the body, as stated above. These stressors help to perpetuate a negative feedback mechanism that increases inflammation into a chronic long-standing status which becomes “The Silent Killer” of our body’s building blocks.
The Inner Workings of Inflammation
The research says our power-plant of our bodies, the mitochondria, do not work as well with age and the cleaning of our organ system falters and builds up a chronic low-grade inflammation causing cellular disruption, damage, and cell death. Now, we have to change our thinking about chronic low-grade inflammation also as a cause of aging. Obesity, diabetes mellitus, dementia and more are all considered a low-grade chronic inflammatory disease that will and can lead to the same endgame of tissue disease, aging and death, the “Silent Killer”. Chronic inflammation can also impact cardiovascular disease, heart failure, osteoporosis, some neurodegenerative conditions (including Alzheimer's disease), diabetes, and some cancers. Wow!!!!!!!!
This new thinking must be on how we fight these aging diseases by understanding the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and how it works, making our body’s endocannabinoid balancing system more important than ever.
Endocannabinoid System (ECS)
We have a bodily balancing system which Americans are just starting to learn about and pay attention called the Endocannabinoid System (ECS), which helps to eradicate those free radicals and oxidative stress. This is a balancing and regulatory system within our bodies.
The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) helps to regulate and reduce inflammation by modulating immune cell activity, inhibiting the release of pro-inflammatory molecules, and influencing pain receptors. The ECS is composed of cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2), which are found throughout the body and help to regulate the autoimmune system through a neurotransmission system that keeps us in balance. It is the endogenous (made by the body) and exogenous cannabinoid (plant based), which helps to support this ECS, that are so very important for stasis.
We need to have external phytocannabinoids added to our diet when our bodies do not or cannot make enough endogenous (made by the body) cannabinoids to be in homeostasis. Unbeknownst to most people we, the public, have been dependent on getting these phytocannabinoids, an exogenous source (from outside the body) from our foods in the past, but our nutrient soil has been degraded to dirt and no longer supplies these much-needed cannabinoids via our normal daily diet.
From Surgeon to Farmer
After nearly 40 years in the operating room, I transitioned from a career as an orthopaedic surgeon to being a hemp farmer in 2018. I was searching for a root cause to reduce inflammation which was part of my research subject as a Research Fellow very early on in my orthopaedic career. My research on the ECS says that this is a homeostatic balancing neurotransmission system and is responsible for hundreds of synaptic regulations throughout our body. Stay with me, I will explain.
Under a special provision in the 2014 Farm Bill, hemp, a major source of Cannabinoids, once again, was allowed to be grown for research purposes under the duration of that Farm Bill. So, retired from surgery, this type A personality needed another mountain to climb. So, I grew organic hemp in early 2018, just prior to the passage of the Farm Bill of 2018, making hemp legal for the first time in 50 years.
However, no one told me how hard growing 10 acres of hemp would be. lol! I wanted to learn every step from planting, to cultivating, to harvesting, to bucking, to processing, and to formulation. These are the steps required in extracting the resin from the unfertilized female hemp plant to get to a compound known as Cannabidiol (CBD).
Of note, it should be understood that hemp was a major agricultural component in our dietary consumption when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock and long before. However, this hemp crop was vilified and eliminated from our agricultural ethos approximately 80 years ago, which is another discussion for another time. However, I believe today we are having some deleterious effects on our health as a result of diseases linked to cannabinoid deficiencies.
Why the Hemp Renaissance
The renaissance of the plant Cannabis sativa L can supply many of these essential cannabinoids that help fight this chronic low-grade inflammation in our bodies. This little fact from this little plant was proven by science in 1999 by four researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and patented in 2003 for its neuroprotective, neuroproliferative, and anti-inflammatory attributes which makes it a great antioxidant.
As the public pushes to have this essential plant re-entered into our food chain, beware of where your source of your Cannabinoids originates from, and you want them to be organic. Organic Full-Spectrum Cannabinoids are what you want. Many vendors are fractionating this full spectrum oil and taking out the components like THC and stripping out the entourage effect and presenting the public with an isolate which is not the answer for the ECS and the fight against low-grade chronic inflammation.
As a doctor for five decades, I went out and grew our product from seed-to-shelf. I know what I know and suggest you read more and learn more at : www.dailyvitaminCBD.com
Please and thank you!
Author: Eric I. Mitchell, MD MA FACPE CPE
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