Body-wide inflammation is tied to most chronic diseases, limiting people’s health and longevity.

Gracia Lam

by Jane E. Brody

“The quest for a fountain of youth is many centuries old and marred by many false starts and unfulfilled promises. But modern medical science is now gradually closing in on what might realistically enable people to live longer, healthier lives — if they are willing to sacrifice some popular hedonistic pleasures.

“Specialists in the biology of aging have identified a rarely recognized yet universal condition that is a major contributor to a wide range of common health-robbing ailments, from heart disease, diabetes and cancer to arthritis, depression and Alzheimer’s disease. That condition is chronic inflammation, a kind of low-grade irritant that can undermine the well-being of virtually every bodily system.

“Chronic inflammation occurs to varying degrees with advancing age in all mammals independent of any existing infection.”

Click here to continue reading this article at The New York Times.