John Arts - Natural health researcher John Arts is a natural health researcher and supplement formulator. If you have questions or would like a free health plan you can contact John on 0800 423 559 or join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz.

The front page of Time Magazine Feb 2004 had a brilliant article called 'The Fires Within'. The front cover headline was 'The Secret Killer'.
This article looked at the role of inflammation in a number of diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD), Type 2 Diabetes, non-allergy asthma, autoimmune diseases, cancer and Alzheimer's.

The article quoted experts like cardiac researcher Paul Ridker, who gave strong evidence that high levels of inflammation rather than cholesterol alone were responsible for CHD and commented on the seldom published statistic that almost half of the people who develop CHD have normal or low cholesterol. I recently wrote a three part series on this very topic. You can read this at www.johnarts.co.nz
Last month I wrote about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and fielded calls from many people. If you missed the article, please contact me for a copy.
Those that had CFS for years often develop other health problems, usually other inflammatory autoimmune problems. The most common is women with CFS often years later develop body pain usually diagnosed as fibromyalgia.
The answer is of course to try and turn off the excess inflammation by adding nutrients including anti-inflammatory fats that allow our healing processes to start working again. Almost every non-infectious illness has an inflammatory component and this is invariably characterised by a breakdown in cell antioxidant defenses, especially those that protect our energy conversion. These are the common factors in seemingly unrelated diseases including CFS, fibromyalgia, autoimmune arthritis, osteoarthritis, Type 2 Diabetes, CHD, most asthma, and COPD and even swollen and bleeding gums.
Every programme I create has a strong anti-inflammatory component and of course this will vary based on the individual's circumstances. We pay close attention to micro-nutrients as these combine with good fats to lower inflammation and associated free radical activity. Deal with these underlying causes and so often the body's suppressed healing processes fire up and healing can begin.

John Arts is a natural health commentator and researcher. If you have questions or would like a free health plan you can contact John at john@johnarts.co.nz or phone 07 578 9051 or 0800 423 559. You can join his newsletter at www.johnarts.co.nz