There's no definitive test for inflammation, or a baseline for what's considered normal

Chronic, low-grade inflammation linked to aging is a byproduct of our industrialized lifestyles, according to recent research. The work compared two industrialized populations with two Indigenous, non-industrialized populations in Bolivia and Malaysia, and found that inflammation levels in the Indigenous groups—unlike the industrialized ones—did not seem to differ by age.

Research suggests humans can reduce inflammation by limiting foods that are already known to be unhealthy for the human body—because they alter gut bacteria and stress the immune system—such as highly-processed foods, deep fried foods, sugary drinks, trans fats, red meats, and foods made with white flour. Foods that help the body include fatty fish such as salmon, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.

Over time, this cellular defense system can inadvertently damage cells and tissues when it's in this heightened alarm mode over a prolonged period. This occurs because, when immune cells are sent somewhere without a true target, they may attack healthy cells and tissues.

The term refers to the idea that largely invisible but consistent low-level inflammation as humans age fuels chronic diseases and cellular aging. Inflammaging, this article says, is due to lifestyle factors like poor sleep, low levels of activity, and poor diet, acting in concert to cause cellular damage and trigger inflammation.

A large analysis of existing studies published in 2021 found that systemic inflammation is associated with fatigue, appetite changes, and sleep disruption, rather than some of depression's broader symptoms including hopelessness about the future, or feeling fearful. This may suggest that inflammation influences specific symptoms of the condition, rather than the disease as a whole.

Inflammation is the body's way of healing itself, and acute inflammation saves our lives when we have injuries or infections. It increases blood flow to the affected areas to bring immune cells to fight off invaders. This often results in short-term swelling, redness, and pain.

Skin prick tests and blood tests, the two most common allergy tests, both detect the presence of allergen-specific antibodies. But just because the body has those antibodies doesn’t mean that a person is “allergic” to a substance or that they will develop symptoms of an allergy when encountering the substance. Allergists work with families to interpret the results and sometimes combine that data with approaches including exposure challenges—giving someone a tiny bit of the food or substance they may be allergic to—under medical supervision.

Elevated acute levels can enhance the immune system's ability to fight off infection or respond to injury. Chronic heightened cortisol levels, however, can lead to inflammation that harms cells and tissues over time.

This article's writer, who has Hashimoto's Disease and characteristic symptoms from her body attacking her thyroid—like exhaustion, hair loss, and brain fog—shares big take-aways from an anti-inflammatory retreat in Italy. The writer suggests that a holistic approach to eating, sleeping, and stress management, are the only sustainable ways to lower inflammation.

Doctors do not recommend at-home allergy test kits because their results may be inaccurate and confusing, and lead people to make lifestyle changes that are not warranted. Tests that require sending in a hair sample, for example, will not be helpful because hair does not have the relevant antibodies that blood testing would detect.

The length of the ends of chromosomes (known as "telomeres"), the gradual change in collections of DNA molecules called "methyl groups", and the secretion of inflammatory proteins are all used as indicators of biological age.

Known as aging clocks, these tests compare various metrics, like DNA methylation patterns and protein profiles, to healthy baselines. However, the non-uniformity of these baselines across individuals limits testing accuracy and prevents their clinical use.

Stress is a normal human response that has evolved over millions of years to handle changes or threats in our environment. This article is a helpful overview of the biological basics of this response. While it is not harmful to our physiology in the acute setting, chronic stress can lead to damaging changes in the human body over many years.

Certain unhealthy foods can promote gut bacterial growth and inflammation in the lining of the gut, potentially disrupting its lining—leading to a leaky gut that may allow pathogens to dribble out into the bloodstream, fueling further inflammation that can both cause disease flare-ups and set the stage for future disease development.

Researchers theorize that environmental factors, including shifts to less healthy diets, air pollution, infections, stress, climate change, and exposures to xenobiotics—substances like pesticides, plastics, and toxins that incite immune responses—may all be fueling epigenetic changes to our bodies that make people's immune responses go awry.

In this video, a physician claims that he reversed a patient's Type 2 diabetes in six weeks by addressing inflammation drivers such as diet. More broadly, he argues that society needs to better consider and address numerous disease factors that are modulated by inflammation, such as stress, sleep, diet, and movement.

These specialized immune cells are first responders during inflammation, responding to a threat or injury and then performing other inflammatory response tasks, including summoning neutrophils to help attack invaders.

The 2026 research finding from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis—if validated in broader populations—suggests that an already available blood test could estimate when Alzheimer's symptoms may begin within a margin of several years. The test detects a protein called p-tau217 found in blood plasma and the researchers incorporated the findings from that blood test into a statistical model to come up with the symptom timeline predictions.

It describes a constellation of symptoms attributed to a persistent Lyme infection—meaning the bacteria have remained present even after antibiotics. It often occurs among people who have never received a positive test for Lyme. Doctors do recognize "post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome," however, which can include muscle and joint pain, fatigue, and cognitive difficulties after treatment for confirmed Lyme.

It can take several weeks for Lyme antibodies to develop, which is what blood tests would be detecting. That's why many clinicians will prescribe antibiotic treatment immediately after a bite if the individual develops the characteristic bullseye rash of Lyme or gets bitten in an area of the country known to have high rates of Lyme.

A particularly difficult arthritis subtype is rheumatoid arthritis, a painful condition provoking a vicious cycle of joint inflammation, destruction, and dysfunction. It begins with a misfiring of the patient’s own immune system—for unknown reasons, it identifies joint and cartilage cells as foreign, initiating an attack to eliminate the supposed "invaders."

Researchers have shown that being around someone who is stressed can trigger a stress response in your body, such as elevated cortisol levels and elevated heart rate. One way this was recently studied was by having people watch stressful activities, like a recorded job interview or solving challenging math problems, and then sampling hormones in observers' spit.

These novel tests for multifactorial conditions evaluate the probability of traits like elevated blood pressure, diabetes, or high cholesterol based on what researchers currently know about different gene variants and their links to various traits. The tests are predictive, not definitive, partly because environmental factors influence the expression of genes. What's more, knowledge about cumulative effects from individual genes continues to evolve. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine states that these tests are too unreliable and nascent for clinical use.

Across human trials, seed oils have not been shown to increase rates of disease or inflammation, with a study of over 800 Swedish men finding that higher seed oil diets were linked to living longer. Reviews of these trials found better health outcomes when saturated fats were replaced with seed oils.

Many common modern diseases humans struggle with may in fact have their origins in our ancient fight-or-flight stress response. Long-term effects of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline—in this case, triggered by things like workplace stressors—can wreak havoc on the delicate internal balance of our organ systems.

The 2025 Nobel Prize was awarded to scientists who discovered how immune system soldiers are typically stopped from attacking healthy tissue. The work furthered autoimmune understanding and cancer therapies.

While an acute stress response is a normal bodily function, the effects of chronic stress can be extremely damaging to the human body. This is particularly true with regard to the brain. This article explores the effects of stress on the human brain, including how chronic stress may lead to psychological conditions such as depression and memory loss.

Stress is our body’s internal mechanism to deal with changes in our internal balance. As such, the stress response affects nearly every organ system through a cascade of both fast and slow hormonal changes. While short-term stress can be adaptive, long-term stress may cause serious health issues.

Already used to treat type 2 diabetes, the novel medications are showing some early promise in experimental studies at reducing inflammation and treating autoimmune conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions. But researchers caution that side effects are still under investigation—rarely the medication has caused lupus, an autoimmune disease.

In this video, a Salk Institute Researcher offers daily habit tips focused on aligning with your circadian rhythms. She notes heart rate and blood pressure are highest in the afternoon, for example, and there’s a triglyceride peak in the morning. Generally, she says, it’s a good idea to schedule your doctor’s checkups at the same time of day each year so there’s consistency across your data.

An analysis of existing GLP-1 research, published in April 2025, indicated that GLP-1 drugs reduce inflammation, with numerous health benefits. The work notes that GLP-1s were linked with a statistically significant reduction in dementia in randomized clinical trials.

Why do certain substances trigger an immune response while others don't? Listen to researchers explain the science in this five-minute video. Food allergies affect around 8% of children and 2% of adults in the US, and—unlike sensitivity or intolerance—they involve the immune system mistaking certain harmless proteins in foods as dangerous invaders, triggering a rapid and sometimes severe defense response.

Since a landmark study of the common cold in 1925, researchers have learned much more about the seasonal ailment. Despite continuous study, people still contract colds for similar periods of time at the same rate with the same symptoms, and there's no vaccine. This article explains how the many viral strains make it hard to control.

Why do some people have allergies while others don’t? One theory suggests allergies are a relic of our evolutionary past. Our immune system, once primed to fight parasites, now mistakes harmless substances for threats.

There's no definitive test for MS, but to make a diagnosis doctors typically use MRIs of the brain and spinal cord to hunt for telltale lesions. Also, optic nerve tests to see how quickly information travels down the optic nerve—since degraded myelin sheaths will slow electrical signals between the eye and brain.

The UK's National Health Service has launched a trial for a blood test that can detect a dozen types of cancers with just ten drops of blood. An AI tool looks for genetic material known to be released by tumors, allowing for cancer detection before tumors are large enough to be imaged.

For scientists pursuing the cure for arthritis, the holy grail of discoveries lies in how to regrow healthy cartilage inside human joints. While this feat has so far resisted our best scientific attempts, there are plenty of other human tissues—such as the liver and fingertips—that will successfully regenerate.