We cannot escape aging. However, inflammation is a major...

20 views Feb 11, 2025 ~6 min read

We cannot escape aging.

However, inflammation is a major accelerator of aging.

Lower your inflammation = slow down your aging

I will cover the tests that measure your inflammation levels to see where you stand.

THREAD

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Not only will inflammation accelerate aging, inflammation is also a major root cause involved in all chronic diseases.

The diseases that plague our modern society:

•Heart Disease
•Diabetes
•Obesity
•Autoimmune Diseases
•Dementia & Alzheimer’s
•Cancer
•And Many More

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Additionally, more and more research is coming out showing connections to chronic systemic inflammation and mental health issues too.

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So, lowering your inflammation will:

•Reduce the rate at which you age
•Significantly reduce your risk for the above disease processes
•Improve your mental health

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How Do You Know Your Inflammation Levels In Your Body?

There are 5 bio markers found in lab work that are great indicators of your inflammation levels.

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Additionally, there are also 4 other bio markers commonly found in routine lab work, that can also help indicate where your levels stand.

This will be an info packed thread to bookmark.

Let’s dive into all of it…

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Here Are The 5 Biomarkers That Are Great for Measuring Inflammation

1)CRP

C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is a protein made by the liver.

The level of CRP increases when there's inflammation in the body.

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While not run on routine lab work, it's a common test doctors run on many patients.

Normal levels are considered to be under 2.0 mg/L

If you are 8.0 mg/L or more, you are at very high risk for chronic diseases and a heart attack.

Ideally, you want your CRP level under 1.0 mg/L

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2)Homocysteine 

Homocysteine is an amino acid. Amino acids are placed together and create proteins. 

Think of an amino acid like an individual Lego block. You put Lego blocks together to build Lego structures. The possibilities of what you can build are almost endless.

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Proteins are the Lego structures that are built by the individual Lego blocks (amino acids).

Vitamins B12, B9 (folate), and B6 break down homocysteine to generate methionine and cysteine.

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Cysteine is a nonessential amino acid synthesized from methionine that:

•Reduces inflammation
•Increases communication between immune cells
•Increases liver health

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High homocysteine levels increase your risk for:
•Heart Disease
•Dementia
•Stroke

This is due to not having sufficient levels of cysteine, and subsequent elevated inflammation levels.

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Normal homocysteine levels are:
5–15 μmol/L

High homocysteine levels fall into three categories:

•Moderate 16–30 μmol/L
•Intermediate 31–100 μmol/L
•Severe if over 100 μmol/L

Ideal homocysteine levels:
5 – 7.2 μmol/L

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3)Fasting Insulin

Fasting Insulin is very predictive of overall metabolic health.

This test shows up "positive" even before the other metabolic tests show up in the abnormal range.

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Fasting insulin is also an indicator of inflammation, indirectly.

The higher your insulin levels, your body will be more inflamed.

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By looking at your fasting insulin, you can truly see how metabolically healthy you are... or unhealthy you are.

Which will also give you an indication of the inflammation level in your body.

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"Normal" fasting insulin levels are:
2.6 - 24.9 µIU/mL

However, ideally you should be:
Less than 10 µIU/mL

And optimally, you should be:
Less than 5 µIU/mL

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4)Vitamin D

Vitamin D is technically not a vitamin. It is a steroid hormone.

Steroid hormones help regulate inflammation in the body.

The lower your vitamin D levels, the more prone you are to have increased levels of inflammation.

I could write an entire thread on the importance of Vitamin D alone… which I have.

You can read it here:

Dr. BP | Metabolism 2.0@DrBPHealth

It is currently “cold & flu season” in the northern hemisphere

We have shorter days of sunlight compared to summer

In February, people are the most deficient in Vitamin D

This significantly increases the odds of “catching” the common cold or flu

Let me explain

THREAD

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“Normal” levels of Vitamin D with most labs are considered to be 30-100 ng/mL

So, someone with a 32 or 34 thinks they are in the normal range. But through my experience with patients over the years, this is still too low and not normal.

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Ideally, you want your Vitamin D level over 50 ng/mL.

Optimally, you really want your Vitamin D in the 70s or 80s.

If you’re below 50, you should really consider taking Vitamin D3.

It’s probably one of the supplements I have recommended the most to my patients.

It is very cheap too.

The one I personally use has a healthy carrier oil of MCT and is $6.62/mo

You can get it here:
us.fullscript.com/protocols/drbp…

If you want a Vitamin D with Vitamin K2 to help with absorption, I recommend this one to patients regularly:
us.fullscript.com/protocols/drbp…

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5)The Omega-3 Index Plus

Omega 3’s are known to help regulate inflammation in the body.

Additionally, they are essentially fatty acids. Meaning your body needs them, but can’t make them.

So, you have to get them from your food.

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Omega 6’s (predominant in seed oils) increase inflammation in the body.

The Omega-3 Index Plus test measures fatty acid levels in the blood and reports omega-3, omega-6 and trans fat blood levels.

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When you take an Omega-3 Index test it gives you a percentage, which is simply a measure of the amount of EPA and DHA in your blood.

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An Omega-3 Index of 8% or higher is ideal, the lowest risk zone.

However, most people hover around 6% or below.

And unfortunately, in the US, most people are at 4% or below—the highest risk zone.

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Raising your Omega-3 Index to the desirable zone of 8% or more will help ensure you are getting enough of the right omega-3s—EPA and DHA—keep your inflammation levels lowered.

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In a close 2nd to Vitamin D, Omega 3’s are also one of the most common supplements I recommend to patients.

So many people are deficient in them with our modern food system.

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The 3 keys are getting:

•A high-quality supplement
•At a therapeutic dosage
•At a great price per dosage.

The one I personally take & recommend to patients is below.

In only 2 capsules per day, I get 1,400 mg of DHA & EPA.

For the quality & price, it is an incredible value!
us.fullscript.com/protocols/drbp…

If you are vegan or vegetarian, I recommend the below to patients since it has sufficient levels of EPA & DHA

Most vegan Omega 3’s don't have sufficient (if any) levels of EPA

EPA loweras inflammation, which is why I utilize this product with patients.
us.fullscript.com/protocols/drbp…

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In addition to these 5 biomarkers, there are 4 additional markers that are good indicators of overall systemic inflammation & metabolic function in your body.

These are found more commonly on routine bloodwork.

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The below are indicative of and associated with increased levels of inflammation in your body.

•Triglycerides over 150 mg/dL 
•Low HDL of 40 mg/dL or lower 
•Fasting blood sugar of 100 mg/dL or higher 
•A1c of 5.9 or higher

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Tomorrow, I will cover the items that increase inflammation the most, so you can avoid them:

•5 most pro-inflammatory lifestyle habits
•3 most pro-inflammatory foods
•1 additional supplement to lower inflammation

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this:

1. Follow me @DrBPHealth for more
2. Bookmark this thread
3. Share the post below if you got value out of this.
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