Four things you can do to reduce inflammation and cut heart disease risk, according to the experts
Key Points:
- Inflammation is a natural immune response that protects the body from harmful invaders, but chronic low-level inflammation can cause long-term damage and is linked to age-related diseases like heart disease and some cancers.
- Recent research challenges the idea that inflammation inevitably increases with age, showing that lifestyle and environmental factors play significant roles, with non-industrial societies exhibiting less age-related inflammation.
- Dr Owen Kavanagh highlights four key lifestyle strategies to reduce unwanted inflammation: regular moderate exercise, a healthy diet rich in diverse plant-based foods and probiotics, spending time outdoors in clean air, and limiting harmful habits such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and chronic stress.
- Maintaining gut health is crucial for controlling inflammation, as a diverse gut microbiome supports