Inflammaging
Via the Financial Times, another reminder of the importance of reducing chronic inflammation and the damage it causes: "in old age, a failing immune system frequently triggers inflammation in many parts of the body. This in turn causes chronic disease. ... There is a strong inflammatory element in all the major diseases of ageing. The body tries to adapt by producing anti-inflammatory compounds [but] human biology eventually fails. ... Our immune system has evolved to get rid very efficiently of acute infections in young bodies but it has not been selected to get rid of subclinical viral infections in old age. ... The constant attempt to suppress slow-acting viruses such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) could eventually throw the immune system out of balance ... CMV is a passive infection in many old people - and more and more of the immune system is devoted to fighting it."
Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/bcdac22c-14f1-11db-b391-0000779e2340.html