Inflammation is most of what ails us.
Inflammation is pain.
Inflammation is tissue destruction.
Inflammation is joint destruction.
Inflammation is organ dysfunction.
Inflammation is autoimmune disease.
Inflammation is Alzheimer’s.
Inflammation is cancer.
Inflammation is aging.
Let’s get better.
Inflammation is an essential, healthy response to trauma or infection. Chronic inflammation is destructive.
Banjo provides fast, effective relief from pain and inflammation because it enables your body’s immune system to function properly. It works just like the fruits and vegetables you eat every day – by naturally inhibiting NF-kB, the inflammation Master Switch.
Banjo works better because it combines the most effective natural extracts and delivers them in a form that ensures maximum bio-availability. You get the full spectrum of phytonutrients your body needs to turn off excess inflammation.
Scroll past "thoughts" for a list of recent posts in each category.
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I don't want to read - I just want something to relieve inflammation.
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Inflammation is very complex – but we’re going to keep it simple by sticking with the basics – even oversimplifying at times. Our purpose is “getting better” – not “getting a Ph.D.”
To keep things simple we need to start with a simple definition of inflammation. Asking “Is there inflammation in the body?” is like asking “Is there warmth in the air?” There is always “warmth” – it’s just that there’s a little more of it at 110 than there is at 45.
Like “warmth,” there is always ‘inflammation’ in your body. It’s a sliding scale, not an on-off button. That’s an important concept.
I like the analogy of inflammation as heat. The word inflammation means “on fire,” we can talk about “degrees” of inflammation, and most of us are familiar with heating systems.
What makes a heating system useful as an analogy are its various feedback mechanisms and especially its central point of control. The thermostat is a master switch. Adjust the thermostat and you control the entire system.
Inflammation also has a central point of control. The ‘inflammation thermostat’ is a little protein called NF-kB. Adjust NF-kB and you control the entire system. Here’s a brief summary of NF-kB – though all you need to remember is that it’s the Master Switch.
The NF-kB ‘thermostat’ often gets set too high – resulting in excess inflammation. How much is too much? How hot is too hot? It varies with the individual. At some point you’re uncomfortable, or sick, or dying. But the solution to ‘excess heat’ is always the same – turn down the thermostat.
That can be done. In fact that’s how most treatments for inflammation work. Aspirin, steroids (corticosteroids,) and many natural substances exert their anti-inflammatory effect, at least in part, by inhibiting NF-kB. It seems the extent to which these agents inhibit NF-kB determines how effective they are, while their actions on other parts of the system often result in unwanted side effects.
Generally speaking, natural products are relatively weak, but have few side effects. Synthetic drugs are stronger, but have many side effects. Banjo is an attempt to provide the best of both worlds by enhancing the effect of natural products – for powerful relief from inflammation without side effects.
For a basic (generic) overview of inflammation go here.
For more on my theory of inflammation – and why Banjo works – go here.
Inflammation is often an acute, localized and self-limiting protective response to trauma or microbial invasion that destroys, dilutes, or walls-off the injurious agent and injured tissue. It has been characterized in its gross form by the classic signs and symptoms of pain, heat, redness, swelling, and sometimes loss of function. Microscopically, it involves a complex series of events, including dilation of arterioles, capillaries, and venules, with increased permeability and blood flow, exudation of fluids, including plasma proteins, and leukocyte migration into the area of inflammation.
Acute inflammation is often beneficial but can also be detrimental to the host, depending on its cause, severity, duration and specific circumstances. For example, acute inflammation is often responsible for much of the permanent damage that occurs as a result of heart attacks and strokes. Acute inflammation can also exacerbate pre-existing conditions, such as by precipitating asthma attacks, migraine headaches or seizures in those suffering from the underlying malady.
Whereas acute inflammation can be either beneficial or detrimental, chronic inflammation always involves detriment to the host. Chronic inflammation may result from an ongoing insult, or as a consequence of immune system dysfunction or dysregulation, or from some unknown cause. Effects of chronic inflammation can include scarring, tissue breakdown, and loss of function at the site of inflammation. It has also been associated with the development of certain cancers. The chronic inflammation that results from abnormal recognition of host tissue as foreign is a central feature in autoimmune disease such as systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Conditions such as osteoarthritis and chronic back pain are also associated with chronic inflammation.
Researchers now recognize that chronic inflammation may be present in a low grade, asymptomatic form for many years before its effects manifest as overt disease. This asymptomatic form of chronic inflammation is often referred to as subclinical inflammation (also silent inflammation, subacute inflammation, low grade inflammation, or systemic inflammation.) Subclinical inflammation can only be detected by laboratory tests or biochemical assays that assess levels of various markers of inflammation such as c-reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, anti-nuclear antibodies, cytokines, or other components, modulators or products of inflammation.
Subclinical inflammation is increasingly recognized as the cause of, or a substantial contributor to, a wide range of ailments, such as for example atherosclerosis, osteoarthritis, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes type 2, Alzheimer’s disease, some cancers, macular degeneration and a great many other ailments. Subclinical inflammation has been shown to increase disease risk, hasten disease onset and worsen disease prognosis. Subclinical inflammation is believed to increase the rate and severity with which signs and symptoms of aging appear.
Collectively, inflammation in its various forms and manifestations is central to both the development and subsequent course of many ailments. Effective control of inflammation is therefore of paramount concern in the prevention, treatment, control and cure of disease – to reduce pain, suffering, disability and death.
Better therapies for the treatment of inflammation are urgently needed. Existing medications are often marginally effective or entirely ineffective, and their use is associated with frequent side effects that may be severe or even fatal.
Current medications for inflammation generally fall into two broad categories: steroidal and non-steroidal drugs. Steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs include medications, such as cortisone, which are based on naturally occurring hormonal substances. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) include medications such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen.
NSAIDs are of limited efficacy but are nonetheless associated with significant side effects. NSAIDs have been known to cause, among other things, edema, stomach upset, stomach bleeding, stomach ulcers, kidney problems, kidney failure and hearing problems. The occurrence and severity of these side effects increases with prolonged use, which further limits their usefulness, especially as many of the conditions associated with inflammation are chronic conditions requiring long term treatment.
Steroidal drugs are generally more effective than NSAIDs but their systemic administration is associated with more frequent and more serious side effects. Steroidal drugs have been known to cause, among other things, loss of bone mass, thinning skin, cataracts, serious infection, weight gain, mood changes, psychiatric problems, hypertension, and bone marrow dysfunction. Clinicians must therefore use steroidal drugs only with great caution. Their side effects preclude long term systemic use except in the most serious conditions.
As a simple illustration of the urgency with which better therapies for inflammation and its associated maladies are required, one need only consider osteoarthritis. The lack of a safe and effective treatment for inflammation means that perhaps 40 million Americans suffer daily with the pain and disability of osteoarthritis. Steroidal medications are not useful – the side effects are worse than the disease. As a result – and lacking a better alternative – millions rely on NSAIDs. NSAIDs provide only marginal relief for most, but their chronic use results in many thousands of hospitalizations and a substantial number of deaths each year.
Aging Alzheimer's Arthritis Asthma Atherosclerosis Back Pain Banjo Cancer Chronic Pain Cluster Headache Crohn's Diabetes Fatigue Fibromyalgia Gout Headache Heart Disease IBD Inflammation Joint Pain Lupus Migraine Multiple Sclerosis Muscular Dystrophy Neck Pain Neuropathic Pain NF-kB Osteoarthritis Pain Parkinson's Psoriasis Rheumatoid Arthritis Sjogren's Stroke TMJ Ulcerative Colitis
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