6 ms·

So statins lower LDL; what lowers inflammation?

PantaloonFlames 1y ago
Avoid allergenic foods, Highly processed foods. Get plenty of sleep. Manage stress. Avoid toxins like alcohol or smoking. Avoid chemical irritants including perfumes, dyes, fragrances in detergent or soap, ….
- amatecha 1y ago
  Not sure why this is downvoted, this is correct on all points. I've been on a journey to lower chronic inflammation and you would not believe how hard it is to find stuff that doesn't have "fragrance" or other mysterious potentially-inflammation-causing substances. https://cancerblog.mayoclinic.org/2025/02/17/want-to-reduce-chronic-inflammation-start-with-your-grocery-list/ https://cancerblog.mayoclinic.org/2025/02/17/want-to-reduce-... https://health.clevelandclinic.org/anti-inflammatory-diet https://health.clevelandclinic.org/anti-inflammatory-diet https://health.clevelandclinic.org/foods-that-can-cause-inflammation https://health.clevelandclinic.org/foods-that-can-cause-infl... https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory... https://health.osu.edu/health/general-health/how-fragrances-affect-health https://health.osu.edu/health/general-health/how-fragrances-... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9163252/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9163252/ https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(25)00549-2/abstract https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(25)00549-2/abstrac...
  - maerF0x0 1y ago
    from the heartandstroke.ca > Grains (mainly whole grains): 7-8 servings > 1 slice bread Who the heck is eating 7-8 slices of bread -- A DAY??? (or the equivalent)... Of a healthy bread that's about 900 calories just from breads... That's like 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast, 2 sandwiches for lunch, and 2 servings of pasta for dinner, whoa.
    - amatecha 1y ago
      Sorry, where did you find that text? I can't find the words "mainly whole grains", or even the word "servings" anywhere on https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory... .. maybe you navigated to another page afterward or something?
      - maerF0x0 1y ago
        You're right, I actually navigated to their dash diet page: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/dash-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/...
    - modo_mario 1y ago
      Honestly that used to be a common midday break for me at work. 2 slices of bread per sandwich with ham and/or cheese inbetween the 2 I never gained weight and always ate a lot tho and as i got older i've become more active.
  - lemonlearnings 1y ago
    One says > People at highest risk are those who work in environments where they’re continuously exposed to fragrances, such the cleaning industry, cosmetics industry or agriculture industry. You also may be at slightly higher risk if you are continuously exposed to fragrance through personal overuse.
bequanna 1y ago
Improvements in diet, stress, and environment.
- luv2code 1y ago
  and sleep.
- hirvi74 1y ago
  I have never understood how one supposed to reduce stress. For me, stress is a signal that there is some threat in my environment. Such threats are often outside of my control. How is one supposed to reduce something that he or she has little control over?
  - IncreasePosts 1y ago
    Well, not with that attitude. Surely you've seen people on life that you felt overly stressed themselves. It's not just a natural bodily reaction, how you react to the reaction. Some people can spiral out of control with stress, amplifying it. Other people can relax and not let it get to them. Try meditation? Not the religious stuff, just breathing exercises and trying to clear your mind
    - hirvi74 1y ago
      > Some people can spiral out of control with stress, amplifying it. Other people can relax and not let it get to them. That is what I have never been able to figure out. At face value, I believe some people are just 'built' more resilient that others, but that is purely conjecture. I've tried meditation, but it never really provided any relief. Sure, in the moment, it might reduce stress or a bit, but at least for me, the relief isn't really persistent. If I mediate for 10 minutes, then I get 10 minutes of relief and then after 30 minutes, I am back to where I was before meditating. Same with any other methods I have attempted. How do you reduce stress? How effective are your methods?
      - gardnr 1y ago
jgalt212 1y ago
Statins also have an anti-inflammatory response.
breadwinner 1y ago
Low dose aspirin can lower inflammation.
- hn_throw2025 1y ago
  Please be very careful with low dose aspirin. I am 5 months into NSAID Gastritis. Would not recommend.
  - alexey-salmin 1y ago
    How low was your dose? 75-125mg?
    - hn_throw2025 1y ago
      It was 75mg. Soluble, not gastro resistant ones.
  - breadwinner 1y ago
    Yes, there is that risk. On the other hand there is the risk of stroke, which I am more scared of, which is why I take aspirin. What is the impact of NSAID Gastritis? How bad is it and can you recover from it?
    - hn_throw2025 1y ago
      If you have been prescribed the Aspirin then it’s important to continue or discuss with your Physician. But as I mentioned in another comment, there are gastro protective Aspirin pills available. The impact has been significant. Small servings of non-irritating food for months. I’m told the stomach lining does heal given time, and my symptoms are better now than a few months ago. The post I originally replied to sounded like a recommendation to take Aspirin speculatively as a preventative, which is exactly the mistake I made. Gastro resistant tablets might have helped, but the general advice is to be very careful with NSAIDs on the stomach (although I still use topical Ibuprofen gel when needed).
- georgeburdell 1y ago
hn_throw2025 1y ago
I saw an interesting video that mentioned a study. Even though 10K steps a day is considered an arbitrary amount, this study found that level of activity counteracted inflammation. https://youtu.be/bDGA82wts2g?t=2015&si=lmZeD_KE1F7TvOPA https://youtu.be/bDGA82wts2g?t=2015&si=lmZeD_KE1F7TvOPA
- gardnr 1y ago
  Consider: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.024
bradleyjg 1y ago
Click the link.
- maerF0x0 1y ago
  > Lifestyle: Anti-inflammatory diets (Mediterranean, DASH), regular exercise, smoking cessation, and maintaining a healthy weight all lower hs-CRP and reduce risk. also they list a big list of drugs that are in various stages
Workaccount2 1y ago
Exercise. I don't even know. But exercise is the god-tier reigning champion of all things health. You can count on it pretty reliably to show up as a positive effect source in any health study. "Just exercise" should be a meme at this point.
- RajT88 1y ago
  It's quite a lot harder than just taking a pill every day, of course.
  - ltbarcly3 1y ago
    It's not though. To get a statin you have to go to the doctor, get a blood test, get a prescription for the statin, and start taking it, get blood retested, adjust dose (possibly), etc. Then you have to go to the pharmacy, pay for it and take it every single day. To exercise you literally have to walk for 30 minutes. That's it.
    - hombre_fatal 1y ago
      Walking for 30 min isn't going to do it either. If you have high cholesterol, you probably have to change your diet to put any real dent in it, like reduce consumption of your favorite foods. Meanwhile a low dose statin can drop your cholesterol by 30%.
      - zargon 1y ago
        If someone goes from not exercising at all to walking 30 minutes a day, it will make a definite dent in blood pressure. Changing diet will add another dent. Walking for 90 minutes a day will make a bigger dent than 30. The degree of the changes reflects the degree of the results.
      - ltbarcly3 1y ago
        Walking for 30 minutes/day when you previously walked 0 minutes/day will have a dramatically larger mortality reduction than taking a statin. For the record adding a statin reduced my (genetically very high) cholesterol by over 50%, and I will almost certainly take it for the rest of my life. Diet and exercise changes led me to lose over 80lbs, required 0 doctor visits, cost $0, and has completely changed my life and my likely health trajectory. So yes take statins, but no statins aren't 'easy' unless you are very well integrated into a health care system and actively having checkups where your cholesterol levels are being checked and reviewed, which is only true of a very low % of people in the US, even those with gold plated healthcare coverage.
toomuchtodo 1y ago
GLP-1s. https://www.derekthompson.org/p/why-does-it-seem-like-glp-1-drugs https://www.derekthompson.org/p/why-does-it-seem-like-glp-1-... (Control-F "Theory 2: GLP-1 is a miraculous “moderation molecule,” and it has docking portals all throughout the body that reduce inflammation.") https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/do-glp-1-drugs-reduce-inflammation https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/do-gl...
bgnn 1y ago
Lifestyle. Not sitting a lot (more than 1 hour at a time), walking or cycling everywhere, not eating a kot of sugar/refined carbs..
purplerabbit 1y ago
Just to throw into the mix: apparently sitting in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber does. Who would've thought.
lr4444lr 1y ago
Prednisone and other corticosteroids. They are not good to use long term for many reasons. There is no free lunch or magic bullet (yet) to health. We're all going to die.
cheald 1y ago
I'm not a doctor, but I am passionate about this stuff in my own life. tl;dr: Exercise, sleep, and diet. Plus a zillion different supplements and medicines as adjuncts to a healthy lifestyle. First, consider what inflammation is. It's fundamentally an immune response designed to attack unhealthy tissue and to facilitate repair of healthy tissue - the effects of inflammation are largely driven by cytokines like TNF-alpha (which is responsible for killing unhealthy cells and recruiting immune cells), IL-1 (which recruits immune cells), and IL-6 (which drives cRP production - the biomarker that you usually look for to gauge systemic inflammation). The production of these is mediated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). Other major factors are things like reactive oxygen species (or "free radicals"), which can oxidize all sorts of things in the body and cause damage (which is good when the thing being damaged is a pathogen or damaged cell, bad when it's healthy tissue). Damaged tissue provokes immune responses. So, if you want to "reduce inflammation", you want to: 1. Reduce stimuli or downregulate processes which are causing the production of inflammatory cytokines 2. Upregulate the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines 3. Ensure sufficient antioxidant capacity to deal with ROS production and oxidative stress If you've got a chronic illness or autoimmune disorder, you're dealing with inflammation just because your "make immune defenses" signals are stuck on. But you can also have chronic inflammation through too much fat (adipose tissue is an endocrine organ!), environmental or diet factors, or just behaviors which result in an imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory responses in the body (for example: smoking induces consistent tissue damage, which drives immune responses). Exercise upregulates production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and improves mitochondrial efficiency, which results in less ROS production during cellular respiration. Sugar surges cause elevated ROS production, and chronically-elevated blood glucose results in insulin resistance, which promotes inflammatory cytokine production. Lipopolysaccharides from gut bacteria in the bloodstream stimulate immune responses. Insufficient sleep upregulates NF-kB directly, but also contributes to dysfunction of other systems which can upregulate NF-kB. If you're sleeping plenty, eating well, and exercising, and you don't have a chronic health condition, your inflammation levels are probably pretty good. But you can generally further reduce them with supplementation of things like: * Omega-3 fatty acids (which compete with omega-6 fatty acids - "seed oils", which produce inflammatory prostaglandins) - this is why your doctor wants you to take fish oil * Turmeric, resveratrol, and green tea extracts (which contain compounds which inhibit NF-kB and are ROS scavengers), * Vitamin D (which inhibits cytokine production and supports your natural antioxidant systems) * NAC, which replenishes glutathione (the primary driver of the body's antioxidant systems) There are medications, of course, like your regular old aspirin and ibuprofen, which reduce prostoglandin production (which is one upstream of NF-kB), corticosteroids (which block NF-kB), as well as more exotic entries such as GLP-1 peptides (which, among other things, improve insulin sensitivty and reduce adipose tissue, which results in reduced systemic inflammation) or BPC-157 peptides (which acutely inhibit NF-kB, upregulate antioxidant enzymes, and help regulate nitrous oxide, which is how they can help heal NSAID-induced leisons). This is by no means comprehensive - there are plenty more mechanisms and interventions to explore - but it should be a pretty good clue as to why "diet and exercise" are standard health advice. You don't want to turn off your inflammation responses - they're responsible for taking out pathogens, killing tumors and maintaining a healthy body - but you don't want them chronically upregulated, either.
kleinishere 1y ago
Potentially inhibiting IL-6 or reducing Lp(a). We'll get an early glimpse from some robust Phase 3's next year. These have been in the works for several years with tens of thousands of patients enrolled - it'll be an exciting set of readouts. Novo Nordisk purchased Corvidia Therapeutics in 2020 [1] for their IL-6 antibody and will read out the first of three Phase 3's in 2026 [2]. Their programs, however, are focused on individuals with higher risk factors like chronic kidney disease (2026 topline), a couple kinds of heart failure (2027), and a prior myocardial infarction (heart attack; 2027). These trials notably are on top of "standard of care" existing therapies, so they're looking for additional benefit beyond what is commonly sought, like LDL reduction (highlighted in other comments). Novartis recently announced an intended acquisition of Tourmaline Bio for their IL-6 antibody [3]. So attention to the biological target is heating up. Another target mentioned in the comments is Lp(a). Genetic studies suggest a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease. Therapeutics aimed at reducing Lp(a) levels are being explored separate from IL-6 for a similar end goal of avoiding cardiovascular events (i.e. heart attacks, death). Novartis will read out a Phase 3 of an Lp(a) reducing therapeutic in the first half of 2026 [4]. Amgen will likely read out theirs likely sometime thereafter [5]. These have been a long time coming: Amgen in-licensed their asset from Arrowhead in 2016 [6], Novartis in-licensed their asset from Ionis/Akcea in 2017 [7]. If any of these work, there's a chance that they'd be explored in patients with less pronounced risk than the original studies in these Phase 3's. Amgen has already announced an intent to explore their Lp(a) drug in a Phase 3 with participants with elevated Lp(a) at "high risk" for a first cardiovascular event in 2H25/1H26. [1] https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e7e162e5-a2f3-4ff2-ab58-9ce1bdf9026f https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e7e162e5-a... [2] Page 113 - https://cdn.ipaper.io/iPaper/Files/ffd0326c-1fa6-41e5-a82d-0f0cc8c77e8a.pdf https://cdn.ipaper.io/iPaper/Files/ffd0326c-1fa6-41e5-a82d-0... Page 225 - https://investor.novonordisk.com/q2presentation2025/?page=225 https://investor.novonordisk.com/q2presentation2025/?page=22... [3] https://ir.tourmalinebio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tourmaline-bio-enters-agreement-be-acquired-novartis-ag https://ir.tourmalinebio.com/news-releases/news-release-deta... [4] https://ir.ionis.com/static-files/66c5e90a-3651-480d-a596-1cf0d1a52991 https://ir.ionis.com/static-files/66c5e90a-3651-480d-a596-1c..., https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04023552 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04023552 [5] https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05581303?rank=1 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05581303?rank=1, Page 15 - https://investors.amgen.com/static-files/27fcb898-9cee-48db-9684-1da25888c845 https://investors.amgen.com/static-files/27fcb898-9cee-48db-... [6] https://www.amgen.com/newsroom/press-releases/2016/09/amgen-and-arrowhead-pharmaceuticals-announce-two-cardiovascular-collaborations https://www.amgen.com/newsroom/press-releases/2016/09/amgen-... [7] https://ir.ionis.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ionis-and-akcea-enter-strategic-collaboration-global https://ir.ionis.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ioni...
elchief 1y ago
Exercise,sleep,vitamin d, omega 3, curcumin And avoiding putting stuff in your body that makes your immune system react like air pollution, microplastics, hyper processed foods
- southernplaces7 1y ago
  >And avoiding putting stuff in your body that makes your immune system react like air pollution, microplastics, Good luck avoiding either of those. For the first one, if you live in a heavily industrialized or urban area and can't just leave for X reasons, should you perhaps breathe less? As for microplastics, from all I've read about them, they're now in nearly everything and many modern humans who haven't spent their lives living and eating/drinking entirely off the land in the deep remote country are unavoidably saturated with them to the point where (need to find the source again) the average modern adult human in the developed world has something like a teaspoon worth of microplastic inside their body. They've become essentially impossible to avoid if you eat or consume any modern food item.

Avoid allergenic foods, Highly processed foods. Get plenty of sleep. Manage stress. Avoid toxins like alcohol or smoking. Avoid chemical irritants including perfumes, dyes, fragrances in detergent or soap, ….

amatecha 1y ago
Not sure why this is downvoted, this is correct on all points. I've been on a journey to lower chronic inflammation and you would not believe how hard it is to find stuff that doesn't have "fragrance" or other mysterious potentially-inflammation-causing substances. https://cancerblog.mayoclinic.org/2025/02/17/want-to-reduce-chronic-inflammation-start-with-your-grocery-list/ https://cancerblog.mayoclinic.org/2025/02/17/want-to-reduce-... https://health.clevelandclinic.org/anti-inflammatory-diet https://health.clevelandclinic.org/anti-inflammatory-diet https://health.clevelandclinic.org/foods-that-can-cause-inflammation https://health.clevelandclinic.org/foods-that-can-cause-infl... https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory... https://health.osu.edu/health/general-health/how-fragrances-affect-health https://health.osu.edu/health/general-health/how-fragrances-... https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9163252/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9163252/ https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(25)00549-2/abstract https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343(25)00549-2/abstrac...
- maerF0x0 1y ago
  from the heartandstroke.ca > Grains (mainly whole grains): 7-8 servings > 1 slice bread Who the heck is eating 7-8 slices of bread -- A DAY??? (or the equivalent)... Of a healthy bread that's about 900 calories just from breads... That's like 2 bowls of cereal for breakfast, 2 sandwiches for lunch, and 2 servings of pasta for dinner, whoa.
  - amatecha 1y ago
    Sorry, where did you find that text? I can't find the words "mainly whole grains", or even the word "servings" anywhere on https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/articles/the-anti-inflammatory... .. maybe you navigated to another page afterward or something?
    - maerF0x0 1y ago
      You're right, I actually navigated to their dash diet page: https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/dash-diet https://www.heartandstroke.ca/healthy-living/healthy-eating/...
  - modo_mario 1y ago
    Honestly that used to be a common midday break for me at work. 2 slices of bread per sandwich with ham and/or cheese inbetween the 2 I never gained weight and always ate a lot tho and as i got older i've become more active.
- lemonlearnings 1y ago
  One says > People at highest risk are those who work in environments where they’re continuously exposed to fragrances, such the cleaning industry, cosmetics industry or agriculture industry. You also may be at slightly higher risk if you are continuously exposed to fragrance through personal overuse.

bequanna 1y ago

Improvements in diet, stress, and environment.

luv2code 1y ago
and sleep.
hirvi74 1y ago
I have never understood how one supposed to reduce stress. For me, stress is a signal that there is some threat in my environment. Such threats are often outside of my control. How is one supposed to reduce something that he or she has little control over?
- IncreasePosts 1y ago
  Well, not with that attitude. Surely you've seen people on life that you felt overly stressed themselves. It's not just a natural bodily reaction, how you react to the reaction. Some people can spiral out of control with stress, amplifying it. Other people can relax and not let it get to them. Try meditation? Not the religious stuff, just breathing exercises and trying to clear your mind
  - hirvi74 1y ago
    > Some people can spiral out of control with stress, amplifying it. Other people can relax and not let it get to them. That is what I have never been able to figure out. At face value, I believe some people are just 'built' more resilient that others, but that is purely conjecture. I've tried meditation, but it never really provided any relief. Sure, in the moment, it might reduce stress or a bit, but at least for me, the relief isn't really persistent. If I mediate for 10 minutes, then I get 10 minutes of relief and then after 30 minutes, I am back to where I was before meditating. Same with any other methods I have attempted. How do you reduce stress? How effective are your methods?
    - gardnr 1y ago

jgalt212 1y ago

Statins also have an anti-inflammatory response.

breadwinner 1y ago

Low dose aspirin can lower inflammation.

hn_throw2025 1y ago
Please be very careful with low dose aspirin. I am 5 months into NSAID Gastritis. Would not recommend.
- alexey-salmin 1y ago
  How low was your dose? 75-125mg?
  - hn_throw2025 1y ago
    It was 75mg. Soluble, not gastro resistant ones.
- breadwinner 1y ago
  Yes, there is that risk. On the other hand there is the risk of stroke, which I am more scared of, which is why I take aspirin. What is the impact of NSAID Gastritis? How bad is it and can you recover from it?
  - hn_throw2025 1y ago
    If you have been prescribed the Aspirin then it’s important to continue or discuss with your Physician. But as I mentioned in another comment, there are gastro protective Aspirin pills available. The impact has been significant. Small servings of non-irritating food for months. I’m told the stomach lining does heal given time, and my symptoms are better now than a few months ago. The post I originally replied to sounded like a recommendation to take Aspirin speculatively as a preventative, which is exactly the mistake I made. Gastro resistant tablets might have helped, but the general advice is to be very careful with NSAIDs on the stomach (although I still use topical Ibuprofen gel when needed).
georgeburdell 1y ago

hn_throw2025 1y ago

I saw an interesting video that mentioned a study. Even though 10K steps a day is considered an arbitrary amount, this study found that level of activity counteracted inflammation. https://youtu.be/bDGA82wts2g?t=2015&si=lmZeD_KE1F7TvOPA https://youtu.be/bDGA82wts2g?t=2015&si=lmZeD_KE1F7TvOPA

gardnr 1y ago
Consider: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.024 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2016.02.024

bradleyjg 1y ago

Click the link.

maerF0x0 1y ago
> Lifestyle: Anti-inflammatory diets (Mediterranean, DASH), regular exercise, smoking cessation, and maintaining a healthy weight all lower hs-CRP and reduce risk. also they list a big list of drugs that are in various stages

Workaccount2 1y ago

Exercise. I don't even know. But exercise is the god-tier reigning champion of all things health. You can count on it pretty reliably to show up as a positive effect source in any health study. "Just exercise" should be a meme at this point.

RajT88 1y ago
It's quite a lot harder than just taking a pill every day, of course.
- ltbarcly3 1y ago
  It's not though. To get a statin you have to go to the doctor, get a blood test, get a prescription for the statin, and start taking it, get blood retested, adjust dose (possibly), etc. Then you have to go to the pharmacy, pay for it and take it every single day. To exercise you literally have to walk for 30 minutes. That's it.
  - hombre_fatal 1y ago
    Walking for 30 min isn't going to do it either. If you have high cholesterol, you probably have to change your diet to put any real dent in it, like reduce consumption of your favorite foods. Meanwhile a low dose statin can drop your cholesterol by 30%.
    - zargon 1y ago
      If someone goes from not exercising at all to walking 30 minutes a day, it will make a definite dent in blood pressure. Changing diet will add another dent. Walking for 90 minutes a day will make a bigger dent than 30. The degree of the changes reflects the degree of the results.
    - ltbarcly3 1y ago
      Walking for 30 minutes/day when you previously walked 0 minutes/day will have a dramatically larger mortality reduction than taking a statin. For the record adding a statin reduced my (genetically very high) cholesterol by over 50%, and I will almost certainly take it for the rest of my life. Diet and exercise changes led me to lose over 80lbs, required 0 doctor visits, cost $0, and has completely changed my life and my likely health trajectory. So yes take statins, but no statins aren't 'easy' unless you are very well integrated into a health care system and actively having checkups where your cholesterol levels are being checked and reviewed, which is only true of a very low % of people in the US, even those with gold plated healthcare coverage.

toomuchtodo 1y ago

GLP-1s. https://www.derekthompson.org/p/why-does-it-seem-like-glp-1-drugs https://www.derekthompson.org/p/why-does-it-seem-like-glp-1-... (Control-F "Theory 2: GLP-1 is a miraculous “moderation molecule,” and it has docking portals all throughout the body that reduce inflammation.") https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/do-glp-1-drugs-reduce-inflammation https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/do-gl...

bgnn 1y ago

Lifestyle. Not sitting a lot (more than 1 hour at a time), walking or cycling everywhere, not eating a kot of sugar/refined carbs..

purplerabbit 1y ago

Just to throw into the mix: apparently sitting in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber does. Who would've thought.

lr4444lr 1y ago

Prednisone and other corticosteroids. They are not good to use long term for many reasons. There is no free lunch or magic bullet (yet) to health. We're all going to die.

cheald 1y ago

I'm not a doctor, but I am passionate about this stuff in my own life. tl;dr: Exercise, sleep, and diet. Plus a zillion different supplements and medicines as adjuncts to a healthy lifestyle. First, consider what inflammation is. It's fundamentally an immune response designed to attack unhealthy tissue and to facilitate repair of healthy tissue - the effects of inflammation are largely driven by cytokines like TNF-alpha (which is responsible for killing unhealthy cells and recruiting immune cells), IL-1 (which recruits immune cells), and IL-6 (which drives cRP production - the biomarker that you usually look for to gauge systemic inflammation). The production of these is mediated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB). Other major factors are things like reactive oxygen species (or "free radicals"), which can oxidize all sorts of things in the body and cause damage (which is good when the thing being damaged is a pathogen or damaged cell, bad when it's healthy tissue). Damaged tissue provokes immune responses. So, if you want to "reduce inflammation", you want to: 1. Reduce stimuli or downregulate processes which are causing the production of inflammatory cytokines 2. Upregulate the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines 3. Ensure sufficient antioxidant capacity to deal with ROS production and oxidative stress If you've got a chronic illness or autoimmune disorder, you're dealing with inflammation just because your "make immune defenses" signals are stuck on. But you can also have chronic inflammation through too much fat (adipose tissue is an endocrine organ!), environmental or diet factors, or just behaviors which result in an imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory responses in the body (for example: smoking induces consistent tissue damage, which drives immune responses). Exercise upregulates production of anti-inflammatory cytokines and improves mitochondrial efficiency, which results in less ROS production during cellular respiration. Sugar surges cause elevated ROS production, and chronically-elevated blood glucose results in insulin resistance, which promotes inflammatory cytokine production. Lipopolysaccharides from gut bacteria in the bloodstream stimulate immune responses. Insufficient sleep upregulates NF-kB directly, but also contributes to dysfunction of other systems which can upregulate NF-kB. If you're sleeping plenty, eating well, and exercising, and you don't have a chronic health condition, your inflammation levels are probably pretty good. But you can generally further reduce them with supplementation of things like: * Omega-3 fatty acids (which compete with omega-6 fatty acids - "seed oils", which produce inflammatory prostaglandins) - this is why your doctor wants you to take fish oil * Turmeric, resveratrol, and green tea extracts (which contain compounds which inhibit NF-kB and are ROS scavengers), * Vitamin D (which inhibits cytokine production and supports your natural antioxidant systems) * NAC, which replenishes glutathione (the primary driver of the body's antioxidant systems) There are medications, of course, like your regular old aspirin and ibuprofen, which reduce prostoglandin production (which is one upstream of NF-kB), corticosteroids (which block NF-kB), as well as more exotic entries such as GLP-1 peptides (which, among other things, improve insulin sensitivty and reduce adipose tissue, which results in reduced systemic inflammation) or BPC-157 peptides (which acutely inhibit NF-kB, upregulate antioxidant enzymes, and help regulate nitrous oxide, which is how they can help heal NSAID-induced leisons). This is by no means comprehensive - there are plenty more mechanisms and interventions to explore - but it should be a pretty good clue as to why "diet and exercise" are standard health advice. You don't want to turn off your inflammation responses - they're responsible for taking out pathogens, killing tumors and maintaining a healthy body - but you don't want them chronically upregulated, either.

kleinishere 1y ago

Potentially inhibiting IL-6 or reducing Lp(a). We'll get an early glimpse from some robust Phase 3's next year. These have been in the works for several years with tens of thousands of patients enrolled - it'll be an exciting set of readouts. Novo Nordisk purchased Corvidia Therapeutics in 2020 [1] for their IL-6 antibody and will read out the first of three Phase 3's in 2026 [2]. Their programs, however, are focused on individuals with higher risk factors like chronic kidney disease (2026 topline), a couple kinds of heart failure (2027), and a prior myocardial infarction (heart attack; 2027). These trials notably are on top of "standard of care" existing therapies, so they're looking for additional benefit beyond what is commonly sought, like LDL reduction (highlighted in other comments). Novartis recently announced an intended acquisition of Tourmaline Bio for their IL-6 antibody [3]. So attention to the biological target is heating up. Another target mentioned in the comments is Lp(a). Genetic studies suggest a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease. Therapeutics aimed at reducing Lp(a) levels are being explored separate from IL-6 for a similar end goal of avoiding cardiovascular events (i.e. heart attacks, death). Novartis will read out a Phase 3 of an Lp(a) reducing therapeutic in the first half of 2026 [4]. Amgen will likely read out theirs likely sometime thereafter [5]. These have been a long time coming: Amgen in-licensed their asset from Arrowhead in 2016 [6], Novartis in-licensed their asset from Ionis/Akcea in 2017 [7]. If any of these work, there's a chance that they'd be explored in patients with less pronounced risk than the original studies in these Phase 3's. Amgen has already announced an intent to explore their Lp(a) drug in a Phase 3 with participants with elevated Lp(a) at "high risk" for a first cardiovascular event in 2H25/1H26. [1] https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e7e162e5-a2f3-4ff2-ab58-9ce1bdf9026f https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/e7e162e5-a... [2] Page 113 - https://cdn.ipaper.io/iPaper/Files/ffd0326c-1fa6-41e5-a82d-0f0cc8c77e8a.pdf https://cdn.ipaper.io/iPaper/Files/ffd0326c-1fa6-41e5-a82d-0... Page 225 - https://investor.novonordisk.com/q2presentation2025/?page=225 https://investor.novonordisk.com/q2presentation2025/?page=22... [3] https://ir.tourmalinebio.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tourmaline-bio-enters-agreement-be-acquired-novartis-ag https://ir.tourmalinebio.com/news-releases/news-release-deta... [4] https://ir.ionis.com/static-files/66c5e90a-3651-480d-a596-1cf0d1a52991 https://ir.ionis.com/static-files/66c5e90a-3651-480d-a596-1c..., https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04023552 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04023552 [5] https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05581303?rank=1 https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05581303?rank=1, Page 15 - https://investors.amgen.com/static-files/27fcb898-9cee-48db-9684-1da25888c845 https://investors.amgen.com/static-files/27fcb898-9cee-48db-... [6] https://www.amgen.com/newsroom/press-releases/2016/09/amgen-and-arrowhead-pharmaceuticals-announce-two-cardiovascular-collaborations https://www.amgen.com/newsroom/press-releases/2016/09/amgen-... [7] https://ir.ionis.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ionis-and-akcea-enter-strategic-collaboration-global https://ir.ionis.com/news-releases/news-release-details/ioni...

elchief 1y ago

Exercise,sleep,vitamin d, omega 3, curcumin And avoiding putting stuff in your body that makes your immune system react like air pollution, microplastics, hyper processed foods

southernplaces7 1y ago
>And avoiding putting stuff in your body that makes your immune system react like air pollution, microplastics, Good luck avoiding either of those. For the first one, if you live in a heavily industrialized or urban area and can't just leave for X reasons, should you perhaps breathe less? As for microplastics, from all I've read about them, they're now in nearly everything and many modern humans who haven't spent their lives living and eating/drinking entirely off the land in the deep remote country are unavoidably saturated with them to the point where (need to find the source again) the average modern adult human in the developed world has something like a teaspoon worth of microplastic inside their body. They've become essentially impossible to avoid if you eat or consume any modern food item.