Health News Update: Aging is Driven by Inflammation

Health News Update: Aging is Driven by Inflammation                         6.23.25

Hello again, everyone: Here you will view some links in the scientific literature showing that regardless of age, inflammation drives accelerated aging and the creation of all causes of death and illness…and it much worse when we are older. Do you think it would be a good idea to start to manage your inflammatory burden at a younger age?

Abstract: Human aging is characterized by a chronic, low-grade inflammation, and this phenomenon has been termed as "inflammaging." Inflammaging is a highly significant risk factor for both morbidity (illness) and mortality (death) in the elderly people, as most if not all age-related diseases share an inflammatory pathogenesis.   https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24833586/

Abstract: Aging is the greatest risk factor for the development of chronic diseases such as arthritis, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease, macular degeneration, frailty, and certain forms of cancers. It is widely regarded that chronic inflammation may be a common link in all these age-related diseases. This raises the question, can one alter the course of aging and potentially slow the development of all chronic diseases by manipulating the mechanisms that cause age-related inflammation? https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4400872/

It turns out that one of the primary drivers of inflammation is activation of inflammasome biology…a part of the immune system. What activates this inflammasome assemblage? Here is what the authors state:

“The NLRP3 inflammasome is especially relevant to aging as it can get activated in response to structurally diverse damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) such as extracellular ATP, excess glucose, ceramides, amyloids, urate and cholesterol crystals, all of which increase with age. Interestingly, reduction of NLRP3-mediated (inflammasome) inflammation prevents age-related insulin-resistance, bone loss, cognitive decline and frailty. NLRP3 (inflammasome formation) is a major driver of age-related inflammation and therefore dietary or pharmacological approaches to lower aberrant inflammasome activation holds promise in reducing multiple chronic diseases of age and may enhance healthspan.”

Bottom Line: If you read the last sentence above this one, your next question is are there any dietary choices that can lower inflammasome activation? Well yes there are, and would you guess that it a whole-food, plant-based, unprocessed polyphenol rich diet? Would you also guess that that diet is associated with a better healthspan and lifespan? If so, why wouldn’t you eat that way? If you don’t, you are inviting illness, accelerated aging, a shorter health span, a shorter lifespan and living sicker is no fun.

Results: In hierarchical linear regression, foods investigated as polyphenolic modulators of DNA methylation (green tea, oolong tea, turmeric, rosemary, garlic, berries) categorized in the original study as methyl adaptogens showed significant linear associations with epigenetic (environmentally induced) age change (B = -1.21, CI = [-2.80, -0.08]), after controlling for baseline epigenetic age acceleration and weight changes. Although the intervention group lost significantly more weight than the control group, these changes were not associated with epigenetic age changes in the regression model. These findings suggest that consuming foods categorized as methyl adaptogens may reduce markers of epigenetic aging (inflammaging).         https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12074822/

While this was a ‘flexitarian’ dietary approach, what are the primary foods these studies found produced the greatest benefits? If you read the study, you will find it was: “Colorful vegetables and fruit were the most frequently consumed food groups.”  If you want more info, you can read ‘Younger You’ by Kara Fitzgerald…an excellent book and she was significantly ahead of the research!!