GOOD COP, BAD COP
AN IMMUNE SYSTEM THAT FIGHTS ONLY WHEN NEEDED IS GREAT. BUT AN IMMUNE SYSTEM THAT’S STUCK WAGING A CONSTANT WAR COULD BE DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD
Inflammation is usually good when it’s ‘acute’: the kind that ramps both up and down rapidly when we get an infection or injury. Immune cells rush to the site of the problem, clean things up and then disperse as soon as things are back to normal.
Problematic inflammation is usually ‘chronic’ – a low-level thrum of immune activity, whose chorus often builds to a crescendo with advancing age. This perpetual paranoia on the part of the immune system doesn’t serve a useful protective function. In fact, it can drive a range of issues as we get older, from cancer to heart disease and dementia.