Читать книгу You: Staying Young: Make Your RealAge Younger and Live Up to 35% Longer - Michael Roizen F. - Страница 35

Major Ager Declining Defences Why Bacteria and Viruses May Be Your Most Powerful Enemies

The word infection means different things to different people. For a city, infection can be bad publicity. For your body, it can mean green mucus oozing from nostrils or ingrown toenails that are more inflamed than an irate boss. Parents may think of ear infections, women may think of yeast infections, and teens usually think of the zitty infections that can ruin a day, a date or some very fragile self-esteem.

All of those examples certainly fit our classical definition of infection: when some foreign invader is attacking our bodies, and our bodies are working hard to show it the anatomical exit door.

When it comes to ageing, however, we’re concerned not only with the acute infections – the bacteria and viruses that make you sick. We’re also concerned with the chronic infections: when bacteria and other germs trigger a behind-the-scenes inflammatory response in your body that ages your entire system. This kind of inflammatory response predisposes you to more cell replications, which increases the risk of mutations that can lead to cancer. As you see in Figure D.1, just as a plague scares away visitors from our metaphorical city, you may not want to live in your own body after a while.

Figure D.1 Tainted Image An infection is like bad press for a city: news spreads and spreads, and infects the image of the city for a long time. The reverse is also true; “best cities to live in” lists give towns years and years of good publicity.

Much of the ageing process is a side effect of defence mechanisms that our body has designed – and infection might be the best example of all. Historically, infections are what killed us, and even fifty years ago, pneumonia was called an old man’s best friend. Viral infections still cause cancers, like some lymphomas, cervical cancer and perhaps prostate cancer, while bacterial infection of your gums can increase your risk of pancreatic cancer, heart disease and stroke.