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Is Your Immune System Secretly Aging You? Here’s How to Stop It.

November 11, 2024

People ask me all the time: “Can you REALLY slow down the aging process?”

The answer is… yes.

Yes, you absolutely can.

That might be hard to believe, but the reality is this: Most people age far faster than they should due to a process called “inflammaging.”

Treat the root causes of inflammation, though, and you can start to turn back the clock.

So how do you do that? I’m going to show you. (Spoiler alert: Your eating and lifestyle habits really matter, as do some select supplements I’ll tell you about.)

Why Does Inflammaging Happen?

To overcome a problem, it helps to understand it. So let’s start with some quick background on inflammation. (In case you hadn’t figured it out yet, inflammation + aging = inflammaging.)

Think of what happens when you cut your finger. As the wound heals, the skin around it becomes red, swollen, and a little sore. That’s inflammation—a natural part of healing and a sign that your body is working to protect and repair itself.

Inflammation is actually a key part of your immune system. When there’s an injury or infection, your immune system triggers inflammation to help defend and heal. This process is supposed to be temporary—a short-term response meant to switch off once the danger has passed. But sometimes, this response doesn’t fully turn off.

As you age, your immune systems can get stuck in this overactive state, creating a low-level, ongoing inflammation that never completely shuts down.

This chronic inflammation, known as “inflammaging,” slowly damages tissues and cells, speeding up aging and raising the risk of age-related health issues.¹

How Your Lifestyle and Environment Drive Inflammaging

Beyond the natural effects of aging, the environment you live in and the choices you make also shape how your immune system ages.

Over time, repeated stressors (what I like to call “insults”)—such as a nutrient-poor diet, chronic stress, inactivity, poor sleep, exposure to pollutants, and shifts in gut health—can drive ongoing inflammation in the body, further fueling the process of inflammaging.

Why Inflammaging Is More Than a Slow Burn

Inflammaging isn’t just a gradual process—it’s an active, ongoing assault on your cells, especially on your mitochondria, the “powerhouses” that fuel vital functions and keep cells resilient.

Under normal conditions, your mitochondria produce the energy your body needs to stay balanced and youthful. But with inflammaging, your mitochondria become overwhelmed, struggling to keep up with the constant demand for repair.

This stress leads to cellular damage, which, in turn, sparks even more inflammation—a cycle that speeds up cellular aging. It’s a hidden force that gradually wears down your health, making you feel increasingly tired and more vulnerable to disease.

Simple Habits to Keep Inflammaging in Check

Now for the good news: There are effective strategies to support healthy aging.

Here’s a short list of simple habits that’ll not only help you feel and live better but will actually slow the aging process:

Eat real, whole foods full of antioxidants and healthy fats, and ditch all that ultra-processed stuff. High-sugar, high-fat foods are known to be inflammatory.
Keep your body moving with regular exercise, which fights inflammation from the inside out.
Prioritize quality sleep every night to give your cells time to repair and reset.
Manage stress daily with activities that help calm both mind and body.

Of course, you probably already know all this—since those are the foundational behaviors for good health.

But here are a few things that you might not know. These more targeted strategies can nourish your mitochondria to keep your cells energized and resilient—especially as you age.

Boost NAD levels: NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a coenzyme that’s vital for mitochondrial function and cellular repair. As you age, NAD levels naturally decline, but you can help replenish them with foods high in niacin, like chicken, tuna, and mushrooms, or consider supplements like NMN that support NAD production.
Fuel up with CoQ10 and B vitamins: Coenzyme Q10 and B vitamins are essential for mitochondrial energy production. Add foods rich in CoQ10, like fatty fish and organ meats, and consider a high-quality B-complex supplement for overall energy support.
Add mitochondrial-supporting foods: Foods rich in polyphenols—like berries, green tea, and dark chocolate—contain antioxidants that protect mitochondria from damage.
Try intermittent fasting: Giving your body a break from constant digestion can stimulate mitochondrial repair and increase cellular efficiency.

On top of these, I recommend you get plenty of these specific anti-inflammatory vitamins and micronutrients that are good for your immune system. I’ve linked each to a specific supplement I’ve selected, and included ways to get more of each through your diet (and lifestyle):

Vitamin D3: Aim for 5000 IUs/day.

Good food sources are: Sunlight exposure, fatty fish, fortified dairy products, and egg yolks.

Zinc: Aim for 15 to 30 mg/day.

Good food sources are: Meat, shellfish, legumes, seeds, nuts, and dairy.

Magnesium: Aim for 400-420 mg/day (men), 310-320 mg/day (women).

Good food sources are: Pumpkin seeds, almonds, spinach, and dark chocolate.

Omega-3 fats: Aim for 500 mg to 1,000 mg of EPA/DHA fish oil per day, or more, depending on your blood levels.

Good food sources are: Salmon, mackerel, and sardines.

For more information, check out this supplements cheat sheet I put together.

If You Want to Take It a Step Further

For those who want a truly personalized approach to healthy aging, there’s real power in testing. By measuring specific biomarkers, you can gain insight into your body’s inflammatory status and get a clearer picture of how inflammation might be affecting your rate of aging.

Tests like an inflammatory aging clock (the iAge test) or a systemic chronic inflammation index (SCI Index) can reveal the underlying dynamics of inflammation in your body.²˒³ With this information, you can create a supplement plan that precisely meets your unique needs, optimizing for health rather than just guessing.

If you’re ready to take control with targeted insights, I highly recommend exploring options like Function Health. With results that include assessments for SCI Index and iAge indicators (called Biological Age), Function Health offers a broad view of your body’s inner workings, helping you take control with targeted insights.

References

Wrona MV, Ghosh R, Coll K, Chun C, Yousefzadeh MJ. The 3 I’s of immunity and aging: immunosenescence, inflammaging, and immune resilience. Front Aging. 2024 Oct 16;5:1490302. doi: 10.3389/fragi.2024.1490302. PMID: 39478807; PMCID: PMC11521913.
Sayed N, Huang Y, Nguyen K, Krejciova-Rajaniemi Z, Grawe AP, Gao T, Tibshirani R, Hastie T, Alpert A, Cui L, Kuznetsova T, Rosenberg-Hasson Y, Ostan R, Monti D, Lehallier B, Shen-Orr SS, Maecker HT, Dekker CL, Wyss-Coray T, Franceschi C, Jojic V, Haddad F, Montoya JG, Wu JC, Davis MM, Furman D. An inflammatory aging clock (iAge) based on deep learning tracks multimorbidity, immunosenescence, frailty and cardiovascular aging. Nat Aging. 2021 Jul;1:598-615. doi: 10.1038/s43587-021-00082-y. Epub 2021 Jul 12. Erratum in: Nat Aging. 2021 Aug;1(8):748. doi: 10.1038/s43587-021-00102-x. PMID: 34888528; PMCID: PMC8654267.
Furman, D., Campisi, J., Verdin, E. et al. Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span. Nat Med 25, 1822–1832 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-019-0675-0.