RT3 Adrenals Inflammation

Acute inflammation

• Part of the body’s natural defense system

• Pro-inflammatories are released to aid infection or injury

Chronic inflammation

• Systemic

• A factor in all chronic, degenerative disease

• Damages healthy tissue

• blood vessel linings (as in atherosclerosis)

• pancreatic tissue (in diabetes)

• joint tissue (in arthritis)

• digestive tract mucosa (in lactose and gluten intolerance)

• Results in

• increased body temperature

• hormone disruption

• reduced conversion of T4 to T3

• elevated reverse T3 (RT3)

• iron sequestered into ferritin

Conditions causing and/or caused by inflammation

• Hypothyroidism

• Diabetes

• Insulin resistance

• Heart disease

• Digestive conditions

• celiac

• gluten intolerance

• leaky gut

• autoimmune gastritis

• irritable bowel syndrome

• Periodontal disease

• Depression

• Sleep apnea

• Chronic fatigue syndrome

• Fibromyalgia

• Insomnia

• Injury

• Cancer

• Alzheimer’s disease

• Arthritis

• Autoimmune disease

• lupus

• Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

• multiple sclerosis

• rheumatoid arthritis

Sources of chronic inflammation

• Obesity

• High circulating insulin

• High circulating glucose

• Smoking

• Infection with pathogens

• viral

• bacteria

• fungal

• h. pylori

• spirochetes such as Borrelia that causes Lyme

• Dysbiosis or "bad bacteria" intestinal overgrowth

• Chronic food allergies, most often to milk, wheat, corn or soy

• Toxins such as heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs

• Radiation exposure

• Emotional stress

• Some drugs

Contributing factors

• Low free T3

• Low vitamin B12

• Low vitamin B6

• Low vitamin D

Indicators of inflammation

• High ferritin

• Elevated homocysteine

• Elevated galectin-3

• High inflammatory cytokines

• C reactive protein (CRP)

• IL-1

• IL-6

• TNF-alpha

• IFN-gamma

Homocysteine

• Non-protein amino acid synthesized from nutrients in the diet

• Elevated levels increase risk of heart disease, fractures in the elderly,

and Alzheimer’s disease

• Opimal level under 8

• Treat with large doses of methylation-enhancing supplements

C-reactive protein

• Produced by the liver

• Participates in the clearance of foreign and damaged cells

• Believed to play a role in defense against infections

• Normally only very small amounts in the blood

• Increases after acute occurrences such as injury, infection or

inflammation and then disappears when the cause is resolved

• Release of cytokines triggers production

• Rises rapidly and then declines (half-life 18 hours)

• Continually elevated in chronic inflammatory conditions

• Ongoing elevated levels increase risk for

• heart disease

• stroke

• high blood pressure

• insulin resistance

• diabetes

Anti-inflammatory eating

• Limit starch and simple sugars

• Favor omega-3 fats over omega-6 fats (corn, safflower, sunflower)

• Eat foods high in omega-3 fats

• salmon, sardines, mackeral, halibut, tuna, shrimp, scallops

• flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts

• kale, collard greens, spinach, winter squash, romaine lettuce,

avocado, olive

• raspberries, strawberries

• Avoid trans fats

• Avoid glycotoxins (formed from the reaction of sugars and oxidized

fats with protein in foods cooked at very high temperatures)

• Emphasize organic, unprocessed food to reduce chemicals

• Eat meat raised without antibiotics or hormones

• Enjoy dark chocolate

Anti-inflammatory supplements

A number of supplements are known to improve inflammation.

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