Sounds like kind of a mixed up question, doesn’t it? “Anti” generally means opposed to, as in stopping. But what if anti-inflammatories are so damaging to your system that they initiate inflammation?
You know, of course, that I wouldn’t be asking such a rhetorical question if it didn’t have something to do with this particular article.
In it, researchers take a good, hard look at what NSAIDs do to us from a physiological standpoint. And it’s not a pretty picture.
You are probably aware that mainstream medicine hands NSAIDs out with Butterfingers to Halloween trick or treaters (at our house, we usually liberally hand out cruciferous veggies and hummus). Unfortunately, beyond the risk of a bleeding ulcer, I don’t think most of these providers are aware of the growing list of problems caused by this class of drugs. (If you’re interested in learning more, you can check out my eBook on the dangers of the NSAIDs by clicking here).
Back to the article…
As mentioned, there is a very clear and well known association between NSAID use and the development of bleeding ulcers. Depending on the year, this side effect kills anywhere from 16,000-21,000 unsuspecting users per year. The deaths from the cardiac side effects likely dwarfs these numbers.
Since the GI side effects are the most legendary, these researchers looked at what happens to the cells of the stomach under the influence of one of the more notorious anti-inflammatories, indomethacin.
The use of indomethacin in rats leads to the damaging of the mitochondria. I won’t go into how much I LOVE this organelle and how important they are to life and health, but just suffice it to say that this is a very, very bad thing to happen. This mitochondrial damage, which is not good for a cell, kicks off inflammation, leading to the production of chemical messengers in the cell with exotic names like intercellular adhesion molecule 1(ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1(VCAM-1), interleukin1β (IL-1β), and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1).
This inflammation acts as a beacon for more inflammatory chemicals to come to the aid of the NSAID-damaged tissue, wreaking havoc. Then here’s where the story gets complicated (just in case it wasn’t already).
When the cells recognize the mitochondrial damage and resulting oxidative stress, the cells produce a protective enzyme known as heme oxygenase-1 (aka HO-1), Sounds good, right?
Wrong.
It turns out that, if antioxidants like zinc containing compounds are present, the release of HO-1 may be blocked.
Great. It’s safer to take NSAIDs if you avoid healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and spices just so you don’t run the risk of massive inflammation in the lining of your stomach.
Personally, I’d opt for finding a good chiropractor instead. Sounds a whole lot less complicated. But then again, my opinion is pretty biased.