Inflammaging is the term scientists use for a specific kind of chronic, low-grade inflammation that builds gradually with age. Unlike the inflammation from an injury or infection, it has no obvious signs. It simply persists. But research now recognises it as a hallmark of ageing, connected to most of the conditions that become more common as the years pass.

This article explains what it is, what drives it, and what may actually help.

• Inflammaging is a low-grade, persistent inflammation that builds with age. It is different from the acute inflammation that follows an injury.
• It is formally recognised as a hallmark of ageing, connected to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cognitive decline, cancer, and more.
• The main drivers include ageing immune cells, changes in gut bacteria, cellular energy problems, poor sleep, and a diet low in fibre and antioxidants.
• A Mediterranean-style eating pattern, regular movement, and good sleep are among the most evidence-supported ways to reduce it.
• Several herbs, including turmeric, ginger, and boswellia, have specific roles in the inflammation processes involved in inflammaging.

There is a kind of tiredness that rest does not quite fix. A stiffness in the joints that is most noticeable in the morning. Recovery from illness or exertion that takes longer than it used to. A low background sense of feeling more fragile, more reactive, more easily depleted than you did a decade ago.

These are the kinds of changes that rarely get a clear explanation. Blood tests come back normal. Nothing flags up as specifically wrong. And yet something has changed.

For many women in their 40s and beyond, what has changed may be inflammaging. The word was coined in the year 2000 by researchers studying immune function in people who had reached extreme old age.

It describes a specific biological process. A chronic, low-grade inflammation that increases with age and spreads throughout the body. One that arises without any obvious infection or disease.

It is not dramatic. It does not cause acute pain in the way a flare-up does. But it is persistent. And that persistence, over years, is now understood to drive most of the conditions that become more common as we age.

Baechle et al. published a major review in Molecular Metabolism in 2023. It examined the relationship between chronic inflammation and all twelve current hallmarks of ageing. The authors concluded that inflammaging is both a cause and a consequence of biological ageing. It sits at the centre of a web of processes.

Those processes, together, determine how well the body holds up over time.

Inflammation is not the enemy. It is a survival mechanism. When you injure yourself or pick up an infection, inflammation sets the repair in motion. Blood flow increases. Immune cells arrive. Damaged tissue is cleared. The job done, the process settles back down.

This kind of inflammation is acute. It is purposeful, time-limited, and self-resolving. It is what keeps you alive.

Inflammaging is different. It does not have a clear trigger, and it doesn’t resolve. It’s a state where the immune system stays partially switched on and never fully returns to rest. That busy, distracted immune system is one reason women over 40 seem to catch everything.

The immune system uses chemical messengers called cytokines to coordinate its activity. In inflammaging, cytokines such as IL-6 and TNF-alpha are present throughout the body at low levels. There is no clear threat to respond to, but the immune system never fully stands down.

The distinction matters. Acute inflammation is protective. Chronic low-grade inflammation, over time, is damaging. It is the same system, running at a setting it was never designed to sustain.

Understanding where inflammaging comes from helps explain why daily habits have real influence on it. Several converging processes drive it. None of them operates in isolation.

Ageing immune cells and the SASP

As cells age, some reach a point where they stop dividing but do not die. They persist in tissues in a changed state. Researchers call these senescent cells. They accumulate gradually with age and become a significant source of inflammatory activity.

Senescent cells continuously release a mixture of inflammatory molecules into their surroundings. This is called the senescence-associated secretory phenotype, often shortened to SASP. Think of it as a distress signal that never switches off. It keeps the surrounding tissues in a low-level state of inflammation.

It can also trigger neighbouring cells to behave the same way. This creates a slow spread of inflammatory activity through the body.

A 2025 review in Frontiers in Immunology (Müller and Di Benedetto) described this as a self-reinforcing cycle. Ageing immune cells produce chronic inflammation. That chronic inflammation accelerates further immune ageing. Each process drives the other.

You may not feel this directly. But it shows up as slower recovery, reduced resilience, and the low energy that does not lift fully after rest.

Gut dysbiosis and intestinal permeability

The gut plays a more central role in systemic inflammation than most people expect. It is also one of the connections I find myself explaining most often in clinic. A healthy gut microbiome supports the integrity of the intestinal wall. The lining of the gut acts as a selective barrier. Nutrients pass through, but larger molecules and bacterial products don’t.

As we age, the variety of bacteria in the gut tends to decline. Beneficial bacteria that produce anti-inflammatory compounds become less abundant. The integrity of the gut lining can begin to reduce. When this happens, bacterial products can pass from the gut into the bloodstream.

One of these is called lipopolysaccharide, or LPS. It is a potent trigger for the immune system. Even small amounts in the circulation can keep inflammation active throughout the body.

This is one of the key mechanisms linking gut health to the broader inflammaging process. A diet rich in diverse plant foods, fibre, and fermented foods helps support both the microbiome and the barrier. Supporting the gut is therefore one of the most direct ways to reduce background inflammation.

You might also like my post:  How Gut Health Affects Insulin Resistance; Beyond Sugar and Willpower

Mitochondrial stress

Every cell in the body contains mitochondria, the structures responsible for producing energy. With age, mitochondrial function gradually declines. Damaged mitochondria begin to release distress signals that the immune system interprets as a threat. These trigger inflammatory responses from within the cell itself.

In effect, the body’s own energy-producing structures begin contributing to the inflammatory background.

Poor sleep, high blood sugar, excess body fat, and chronic psychological stress all accelerate mitochondrial ageing. Each of these factors compounds the others. The result is a background level of cellular stress that feeds directly into the inflammaging process.

Nutrient sensing and insulin resistance

The body has internal sensors that monitor how much energy is available. When blood sugar and insulin are chronically elevated, these sensors become dysregulated. They start responding as if the body is always in a state of excess. This activates inflammatory pathways and suppresses the cellular processes that normally clear away damaged components.

One of the key sensors involved is a protein called mTOR. When mTOR is persistently overactivated by high nutrient availability, it promotes inflammation and disrupts cellular maintenance. The Baechle et al. (2023) review highlighted these pathways as a significant driver of inflammaging. Eating patterns that support blood sugar stability appear to have a real anti-inflammatory effect over time.

Inflammaging does not cause one condition. It creates the conditions in which many conditions become more likely. This is what makes it worth understanding.

Cardiovascular disease

Chronic low-grade inflammation drives the build-up of fatty plaques inside artery walls. Two inflammatory markers are particularly relevant here: IL-6 and CRP. CRP is a protein the liver produces in response to inflammation. Both are elevated in inflammaging. They damage the cells that line blood vessel walls, making the arteries less flexible and more prone to narrowing.

Over time, this can raise blood pressure. It also creates an environment in which those plaques are more likely to rupture. The Baechle et al. review noted that inflammaging is a recognised driver of atherosclerosis, the gradual narrowing of arteries.

Type 2 diabetes and metabolic conditions

Inflammatory molecules interfere with the body’s ability to respond to insulin. TNF-alpha, which rises with inflammaging, promotes insulin resistance. This is a state where the body’s cells stop responding effectively to insulin’s signal to take up blood sugar. This creates a bidirectional loop.

Insulin resistance generates more inflammation, and more inflammation deepens insulin resistance. Elevated triglycerides and excess abdominal fat amplify this process. Fat tissue produces its own inflammatory molecules.

Cognitive decline

The brain has its own immune cells, called microglia. These cells help maintain and protect the brain and nervous system. In the context of inflammaging, microglia can become chronically activated. This creates persistent inflammation within the brain itself. That is now understood to contribute to cognitive changes with ageing, including difficulties with memory, processing speed, and mental clarity.

Research into Alzheimer’s disease increasingly focuses on this inflammatory component.

Cancer

Chronic inflammation creates a cellular environment that is more permissive to uncontrolled cell growth. Baechle et al. noted that chronic inflammation has been estimated to account for 20 to 25 per cent of cancers. Inflammation can switch on proteins that help abnormal cells survive and multiply. It can also suppress the immune responses that would normally identify and remove those cells.

Muscle loss and frailty

Inflammatory molecules directly interfere with the body’s ability to build and repair muscle tissue. Over time, this contributes to a gradual loss of muscle mass and strength. This becomes more common from the 40s onwards. It is not only about how the body looks. Muscle mass is closely tied to metabolic health, insulin sensitivity, and long-term physical resilience.

Inflammaging is not inevitable in its severity. It is influenced by daily habits in measurable ways. The most effective approach addresses several drivers at once, rather than targeting one factor in isolation.

Eating patterns that reduce inflammatory load

The most consistently supported eating pattern for reducing inflammaging is the Mediterranean diet. This is not a strict protocol. It is a pattern built around vegetables, legumes, whole grains, olive oil, nuts, seeds, oily fish, and herbs. A 2025 review of 33 trials found this pattern lowers inflammatory markers, including CRP and IL-6.

Fibre is particularly important. Diverse plant fibres feed the bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids. These are compounds that help regulate inflammation and protect the gut lining.

One of these is called butyrate. It directly calms inflammatory activity in the gut wall and helps maintain its integrity. Research suggests that variety matters more than volume here. A wider range of plant foods produces a broader and more resilient microbial community.

Polyphenols also play a role. These are the natural compounds that give deeply coloured plants their pigment. Berries, dark leafy greens, olive oil, green tea, dark chocolate, and herbs are all good sources.

In the body, polyphenols help reduce the activity of several inflammatory pathways. They also support the process by which the body clears away damaged cellular components. Think of it as internal housekeeping that becomes more important with age.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in oily fish, flaxseed, and walnuts, have specific anti-inflammatory mechanisms. EPA and DHA are the long-chain omega-3s found in fish. The body converts them into compounds called resolvins and protectins. These actively help inflammation come to a natural close, rather than simply suppressing it.

The goal is not to block all inflammation. It is to support its resolution once it has served its purpose.

Sleep

Even a single broken night switches on inflammatory signalling inside immune cells. Several nights of short sleep can then raise inflammatory markers in the blood, such as CRP and IL-6. Over time, chronic poor sleep accelerates the cellular changes that drive inflammaging. These include problems with energy production, changes in gut bacteria, and immune cell ageing.

Research shows that poor sleep disrupts the stem cells in bone marrow that are responsible for producing immune cells. When sleep is insufficient, the body produces more immune cells that promote inflammation. It produces fewer of the types that keep it in check. Sleep is not a passive rest state. It is when the immune system resets, inflammatory signals are cleared, and cellular repair takes place.

Prioritising sleep consistently may be one of the most direct ways to reduce background inflammation.

Movement

Regular moderate exercise reduces levels of inflammatory markers in the blood. It also increases production of anti-inflammatory signalling molecules. Research shows that exercise helps maintain the immune system’s capacity to produce well-regulated, fresh immune cells. This matters because aged and exhausted immune cells are a significant source of low-grade inflammation.

The benefit appears to come from consistency rather than intensity. High-intensity training performed sporadically is less helpful than regular moderate movement. Resistance training specifically helps preserve muscle mass and insulin sensitivity. Both of these reduce the metabolic drivers of inflammation.

Reducing chronic stress

Chronic stress has a direct effect on inflammation. When the body’s stress response is triggered, it produces a hormone called cortisol. In the short term, this is useful. But when cortisol stays elevated over weeks or months, it can switch on inflammatory pathways throughout the body. It also makes it harder for the immune system to bring that inflammation back down again.

Research suggests that regular mindfulness practice can help reduce the activity of the inflammatory pathways that drive this process. This is not about wellness culture. It is about addressing one of the recognised drivers of chronic low-grade inflammation.

Three herbs stand out for their specific relevance to the inflammatory pathways involved in inflammaging.

Turmeric

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) contains curcumin, one of the most studied anti-inflammatory plant compounds.

A 2025 review in Frontiers in Pharmacology confirmed several relevant mechanisms.

Curcumin blocks the activity of NF-kB, a protein that switches on inflammatory processes throughout the body. It also reduces the activity of the NLRP3 inflammasome, a signalling complex inside immune cells that triggers inflammatory activity. It supports Nrf2, a pathway that increases the body’s own antioxidant defences.

Research also suggests it may support SIRT1, a protein involved in mitochondrial health and healthy cellular ageing. This may help reduce the inflammatory signals that come from ageing cells.

Curcumin’s bioavailability is low when taken as plain turmeric. Combining it with black pepper, which contains piperine, significantly improves absorption.

Therapeutic doses in clinical research are typically achieved through standardised extracts. As part of daily cooking, turmeric still contributes useful plant compounds, though at lower levels. For more targeted use, a medical herbalist can help you assess appropriate forms and doses.

You might also like my post:  Turmeric for Leaky Gut: How Curcumin Tames LPS-Driven Inflammation

Boswellia

Boswellia (Boswellia serrata) works through a different anti-inflammatory pathway.

Its active compounds, called boswellic acids, block an enzyme called 5-lipoxygenase. This enzyme produces leukotrienes, a class of inflammatory molecules that are particularly active in joints and airways.

By blocking this enzyme, boswellia reduces a specific type of inflammation. This is the type most relevant to joint pain and respiratory reactivity. It also reduces the activity of NF-kB and the NLRP3 inflammasome.

A 2025 clinical trial tested a full-spectrum boswellia extract at 400 mg a day. It found clear reductions in pain and stiffness in the neck, back and joints. The people studied had moderate spondylitis-type pain. A combined boswellia and curcumin version worked better still.

Boswellia is generally well-tolerated. It is particularly useful where the inflammatory picture involves joint discomfort, stiffness, or respiratory reactivity. It can be used alongside conventional medication, but guidance from a medical herbalist is sensible.

Ginger

Ginger (Zingiber officinale) contains active compounds called gingerols and shogaols. These are the constituents responsible for its characteristic warmth and anti-inflammatory action. They block COX-2, the enzyme targeted by common anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as NF-kB.

Ginger also has antioxidant properties. These help reduce the cellular wear and tear that accumulates with age. That kind of wear accelerates mitochondrial decline and feeds inflammatory signalling.

Ginger is accessible, well-tolerated, and has a long tradition of use in conditions involving both digestive and systemic inflammation. It is easy to incorporate daily through cooking, as a tea, or in concentrated form.

These herbs work best as part of a broader anti-inflammatory approach. They are not shortcuts, and they are not replacements for the foundational habits of diet, sleep, and movement. But they can add a specific and relevant layer of support within a considered plan.

You might also like my post:  Herbs for Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Inflammaging is not a diagnosis. It does not show up on a standard blood test. Most people are never told about it. But it is a well-evidenced process that now sits at the heart of modern ageing research. The 2023 update to the hallmarks of ageing formally included chronic inflammation as one of its twelve core features.

Understanding it reframes a lot of what happens from the 40s onwards. The joint stiffness, the slower recovery, the sense of feeling more reactive: these are not random events. They often share a common underlying pattern.

That pattern is modifiable. What you eat consistently, how well you sleep, and how you move all send measurable signals to your immune system. So does the amount of chronic stress your nervous system is carrying. Certain herbs can add targeted support within that wider foundation.

If you are noticing this kind of low-grade inflammatory picture, a medical herbalist can help you understand the relevant drivers. From there, it becomes much clearer what is likely to make the most difference for you.

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