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Today we’ll be discussing the causes, effects and remedies for high levels of CRP?in the blood and it’s relationship to inflammation.
CRP stands for C-reactive Protein, which plays specific, beneficial roles for the body. In this post we will use both names interchangeably.
CRP is a native protein that’s first synthesized by the liver and then found in blood plasma where part of its role is to respond to?inflammatory stress.
One of it’s?physiological roles is to bind to compounds found on the surface of dead or dying cells. Once bound, it helps activate other bodily systems related to the inflammatory response, acting?as?an important support for the bodies innate immunity as it plays a role in an early defense system against infections.
With the help of CRP the body eventually clears deceased cells and unhelpful bacteria, as well as thwarting viral or bacterial attacks.
As stated above, levels of the protein can?elevate in response to any form of inflammation in the body.
What’s most important though for health warning signs are the causes of?inflammation.
Sometimes?a?reactive protein test can show high results from a non-chronic, non-threatening condition. In these cases inflammation can heighten from strenuous daily activities or seemingly small colds and sicknesses.
But other times high levels of inflammation can prove a marker for much worse conditions.
When these conditions are present in the body the liver could?trigger high production of the protein for it’s immune response.
CRP levels raise within about?two hours of the inflammations onset, peaking around?two days, and has a half life of around two days. The half life means that level can easily rise and stay chronic.
Because of it’s strong relationship to inflammation, c-reactive protein can be used as a marker of inflammation. A potential?interfering factor that could mess up the proteins production relationship relative to inflammation is in the case of liver/renal failure. If the liver isn’t working right, then production may falter; regardless of inflammatory levels.
While elevated levels will show a clear indication that there’s inflammation in the body, they will not likely help determine where in the body the condition is located.
The levels below are averages. Consult your doctor about what is deemed medically sound for you
Normal range levels?in a healthy individual are most commonly lower than 10mg/L.?They can be a little bit higher in older individuals.
Moderately high levels, which can be found during pregnancy, in cases of mild inflammation and viral infections. These levels typically hover around can?10-40 mg/L.?Medications which effect estrogen (birth control, hormone therapy) can also slightly raise levels above average.
High levels of 40-200 mg/L?will occur in active inflammation or chronic bacterial infection.
Very high levels (above 200 mg/L) result from bacterial infections, burns and severe chronic conditions. Those with elevated levels are at an increased risk for diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
So you’ve got your results back and you want to improve your situation.
What can you do now?
First of all it’s good to rule out non-serious causes that may have spiked your levels temporarily.
For example:
- You have just exercised.
- You have a mild infection.
- You have an intrauterine device (IUD) in place.
- You are pregnant.
- You are very overweight
If you’ve ruled out those possibilities and still think something is up then?you’ll want to pinpoint what it is that’s causing the elevated CRP levels. Maybe it’s still just something passing through your system, but it might be a serious infection or disorder.
But how to find out?
Since C-reactive protein is so closely related to inflammation, you’ll want to ask your doctor about investigating deeper into inflammatory disorders/diseases that you might be prone to developing or have already succumb to.
There’s broader tests that can show more indicators?of inflammation and can help you and your doctor pinpoint the cause of your symptoms.
A test I highly recommend (for everyone to take, actually) is a broad health check which looks at a bunch of markers in your blood.
The Health Check Plus test from True Health Labs looks at these markers, is inexpensive and can be done without an appointment with your doctor. (feel free to bring your results to your doctor though.)
So assuming you’ve taken further testing, let’s now look at what we can do with the results that you got back.
If you’re suffering from a chronic condition or disease, it’s a good idea to consult your doctor for what to do next.
But if it’s nothing major, and instead just a result of a not-so-healthy lifestyle, then there’s lots you can do to alleviate your inflammation and lower your CRP levels on your own.
Here are some things that you could focus on to lower inflammation:
Exercise.?
Fitness is a great way to lower chronic inflammation. Oddly enough exercise actually produces inflammation itself, but it is a different kind – acute rather than chronic. Acute inflammation is helpful and necessary for the body to remain healthy, while chronic inflammation is not. Exercise causes the release of certain hormones – like cytokine – that signal the body to lower the inflammatory response.
Of course, everything in moderation. Too much exercise can cause damage to the body, as many intensive athletes have found out.
Clean up your diet.
Unhealthy foods are a major culprit in inflammatory conditions. Food allergies and unhealthy foods will directly interact with and increase C-reactive protein levels.
Over eating sugar, refined flours, PUFA’s (poly-unsaturated fats) and processed foods will cause inflammation. Eating healthy, regenerative foods will reverse it. To learn more about cleaning up your diet for inflammation we highly recommend reading up on how to adjust your diet. Clean Cuisine by Ivy Larson offers an 8-week program for easing into a low-inflammation diet. Even if you don’t try out a whole 8-week program there are plenty of good nutritional tips.
Supplement your diet for improved inflammation response.
Below are some powerful supplements that help your body respond to inflammatory problems
Astaxanthin
Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant found in sea life such as salmon, shrimp and algae. It directly aids the body in many ways, including inflammatory control, eye and skin health. Here are 5 reasons to take it every day. You can find it in high-potency supplement form here on Amazon.
Omega-3 essential fatty acid
Omega-3 oils are an important and essential part of the human diet. And one we modern humans are not getting enough of.
Omega-3 controls inflammation and supports a myriad of psychological factors that aid our bodies. Not only are we not getting enough of them today, we are getting far too much of their counterparts – omega-6 and omega-9.
Omega 6 is especially overabundant in the standard American diet and can single handedly raise our CRP levels when over consumed. The human body should receive a nutritionally balanced ratio of omega-3/omega-6 at a 1:1 ratio.
But instead of a 1:1 ratio, most people in the west are getting a 1:20 ratio. Sometimes even as high as 1:40 ratio. Having 20-40 times as much omega-6 in our diet causes broad and chronic inflammation in the body if continually consumed.
If you want to take control of your omega-3 levels then we advise supplementing it. Krill oil is the best source of omega-3 (DHA & EPA.) It’s up to 50x as potent as fish oil. Our prefered source of Krill oil is from Viva Labs. You can find it here.
Rest your body and relax your mind.
Once you have essentials like diet, supplementation and exercise figured out, the next best thing for you to do is to learn to relax your body and mind.?These days its far to easy to keep ourselves constantly busy and tense. It becomes habit to “always be on” and not calm and relaxed.
When we get caught up in a crazy-busy lifestyle our body responds by constantly activating the stress response “fight-flight” mode.?And when we get stuck in this cycle we don’t sleep as much and constantly seek out distractions that reinforce our stresses.
With a stressed out body and mind our system never gets the opportunity to slow down and heal. After awhile of this we get stuck with chronic inflammation.
So make sure to get plenty of sleep and make time to do relaxing activities that aren’t overly stimulating. Soon enough your CRP levels should drop to a normal level.
