Metaflammation and Inflammaging: Why You Can’t Lose Weight
I’m currently in the process of getting my post-graduate fellowship in anti-aging and metabolic medicine. I’ve been out of the grind of school for long enough now that learning has me on FIRE again!
Recently, in one of my classes with other inspiring PharmDs, MDs, DOs, one of my professors coined two phrases I simply LOVE: metaflammation and inflammaging.
As I’m writing this blog in old-school Microsoft Word, both metaflammation and inflammaging are urging me to PLEASE correct the spelling, because they are not yet technically words! But in my world and in my brain – yes they are! Now I am going to teach you the meaning of these two not-yet words and how they relate to obesity or just those extra pounds you’re holding onto and why you can’t seem to get rid of them.
Metaflammation
Let’s start with Metaflammation. This is a combination of the two words “metabolic” and “inflammation” that belong together when a person is carrying around extra adipose tissue aka fat!
Metaflammation describes the metabolic inflammation or, to put it simply, inflammation that occurs due to your metabolism being out of whack. This can, and usually does, involve adipose tissue (fat) and insulin. It can often also involve sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone and adrenal hormones such as cortisol. Fat itself STIMULATES the immune and inflammatory system! It is NOT just an inert blob of substance. Fat speaks through chemical messengers ultimately resulting in inflammation, which leads to insulin resistance and cardiovascular dysfunction.
So what do you do? Is this the type of inflammation that you take ibuprofen for? ABSOLUTELY NOT! We need a precision medicine approach and ibuprofen is NEVER a precision medicine approach to inflammation. But Low Dose Naltrexone or LDN could be! We’ll get to that later.
Inflammaging
Now let’s talk about Inflammaging. This one is a little easier to discuss because you now understand metaflammation. First I’ll use both our new words in a sentence: Metaflammation causes Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease through its inflammaging effects on the body. Inflammaging is damaging inflammation.
But did you know that inflammation can be healthy and healing? Well, it can! Inflammaging does not refer to healthy inflammation like when you acutely injure yourself and your inflammatory and immune system heal the injury. Inflammaging is referring to chronic, nasty, damaging inflammation. The kind that slowly over time damages tissues like your vascular tissues, liver, and pancreas.
Now that you have a primer into how fat and inflammation go hand in hand, you can imagine how patients often get stuck in a cycle of gaining weight and becoming inflamed. The metaflammation and excess weight lead to excess insulin, thus making it impossible to lose the fat causing the metaflammation. This is why I keep inflammation and insulin sensitization top of mind when approaching my weight-loss formulations for patients. Stay tuned on how I use Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) to help with metaflammation and more.
TANYA MANONI is a Chattanooga-native but earned her BS in chemistry and PharmD at the University of Utah. She brings with her years of experience in compounding and pharmacy corporate management. Tanya's professional interests include not only BHRT, women’s health, and dermatology, but also nutrition and fitness, in which she became interested while playing NCAA Division I college soccer. While living in Utah, Tanya earned her level 1 certification in avalanche search and rescue, and she continues to enjoy snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking. She lives in Chattanooga with her husband and two kids, so you will find her running between soccer fields and dance studios in her free time.