Medicine has a nasty habit of accusing the wrong guy. For years, it was convinced that ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol was responsible for cardiovascular disease and especially atherosclerosis, when arteries become blocked and stiffen from a plaque buildup, but it currently recognizes LDL as a healing agent trying to fix artery damage. Now it could be about to make the same mistake with inflammation.
Inflammation is the new bad kid on the block. It’s this, and not cholesterol, that’s responsible for heart disease and atherosclerosis, the new theory suggests. It’s also responsible for Alzheimer’s and dementia, and has a hand in psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and even the whole aging process, which has been given the catchy name of “inflammaging.”
But how did the body’s own healing response get such a bad rap? Inflammation heals injuries and protects the body from invading viruses, but the inflammaging theory says it becomes a destructive force when it
