What is inflammaging?
Inflammaging is a real and well-described ageing mechanism, but the science is still at an early stage when it comes to measuring it and translating it into concrete treatment advice; for those looking to reduce their risk, the strongest current evidence points to the importance of a fibre-rich diet containing inulin and resistant starch.
Inflammaging is a chronic, low-grade inflammation that builds up slowly with ageing and causes no noticeable symptoms for a long time. Yet this silent inflammation drives the biological ageing process and increases the risk of disease and premature death in older adults. The term is a contraction of 'inflammation' and 'aging' and is considered one of the central mechanisms underlying biological ageing.
A key driver of inflammaging is the failing of autophagy: the system by which cells clear out their own damaged components. When that clearance mechanism works less effectively, damaged proteins accumulate, mitochondrial function deteriorates, and oxidative stress increases. All of these disruptions further fuel the low-grade inflammation, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
Inflammaging is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer, and contributes to sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and muscle strength that makes older adults frail and less mobile. There is also limited evidence that inflammaging may accelerate the development and progression of osteoarthritis through the ageing of cartilage cells, a process called chondrosenescence.
An important caveat: the precise causal role of inflammaging in most age-related diseases has not yet been fully established. Most associations are currently just that, associative; inflammaging and these diseases occur together, but it has not always been proven that the inflammation is the direct cause. In addition, a standardised method for reliably measuring inflammaging in clinical practice is still lacking.
In the area of nutrition, certain dietary fibres show some promise. Inulin and resistant starch demonstrate short-term anti-inflammatory effects that may be relevant to inflammaging. For other fibres such as pectins, beta-glucans, and psyllium, the results are less convincing. Because the studies differ considerably from one another, no clear-cut dietary recommendations can yet be made on the basis of current research.
Based on multiple review articles and observational studies (PMID 27501488, 30287177, 25637957, 31148100, 39861412, 25962896, 40076626, 41361441). No randomised intervention studies with hard endpoints are available in the supplied sources. Causality is plausible but not definitively proven for most outcomes.