The inflammation you've been told is inevitable... isn't
Now let's talk about something you can actually act on this week.
"Inflammaging" is the chronic, low-grade inflammation that accumulates as we age. Not the acute inflammation from a sprained ankle—a slow, systemic smolder. Elevated CRP. Pro-inflammatory cytokines ticking up year after year.
Why should you care? This background inflammation is linked to nearly every age-related disease: heart disease, Alzheimer's, cancer, frailty. Many researchers consider it the central driver of biological aging.
For years, the assumption was that this inflammatory creep was simply inevitable. Part of getting old.
A study published in Nature Aging says otherwise.
The study that broke the model
Researchers compared inflammatory markers across four populations: two industrialized (Italy and Singapore) and two non-industrialized (the Tsimane in Bolivia and the Orang Asli in Malaysia).
The Tsimane and Orang Asli don't develop inflammaging. Their inflammatory profiles stay flat throughout their entire adult lives. No age-related rise in CRP. No chronic smoldering.
Here's what makes this wild: these populations have massive pathogen exposure. Roughly 66% of Tsimane and 70% of Orang Asli harbor parasitic infections. By conventional thinking, they should be MORE inflamed, not less.
But they're not.
What this actually means
The researchers conclude that inflammaging isn't intrinsic to human aging—it's a mismatch disease.
Our immune systems evolved for constant pathogen defense, daily physical activity, and whole foods. Instead, we've given them sedentary lifestyles, ultra-processed diets, and disrupted circadian rhythms.
The chronic inflammation we've been told is "normal aging"? It's our biology screaming that something is wrong with our environment.
What you can actually do about it
If inflammation isn't hardwired, it's addressable. Here's the "ancestral alignment" framework I keep coming back to:
Movement – The Tsimane walk 15,000+ steps daily. You don't need to match that, but daily movement isn't optional. It's anti-inflammatory medicine.
Whole foods – Not a specific diet. Just: things that were recently alive, minimally processed. The less it looks like what your great-grandmother ate, the more inflammatory it probably is.
Circadian alignment – Light exposure in the morning, darkness at night. Your immune system runs on a clock. Disrupting it drives inflammation.
Social connection – Loneliness is inflammatory. Literally. The Tsimane live in tight-knit communities. This Thanksgiving, the time with family might be doing more for your longevity than any supplement.
Pathogen exposure (controversial) – Some researchers think our lack of immune challenges contributes to inflammaging. I'm not saying go get parasites. But maybe don't Purell everything, let your kids play in the dirt, and stop fearing every microbe.
For Thanksgiving specifically
I'm not saying skip the pie. One meal doesn't drive inflammaging—chronic daily mismatches do.
The Tsimane aren't doing keto. They're not intermittent fasting. They're not taking supplements. They're living in metabolic congruence with their environment.
Enjoy the feast. Then go for a walk with your family afterward instead of collapsing on the couch. That's ancestral alignment in action.
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