Inflammaging: The Slow-burning Inflammation That Accelerates Ageing

Inflammaging is the term scientists use to describe chronic, low-grade inflammation that increases as we age. Unlike the inflammation you’d notice from an injury or infection, inflammaging is silent, but it has profound effects on how we feel and how fast we age. It’s linked to fatigue, weight gain, slower recovery, brain fog, poor metabolic health, and a higher risk of long-term conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

This type of inflammation is driven by multiple factors: immune system wear and tear, oxidative stress, chronic stress, poor sleep, sedentary lifestyle, pollution exposure, visceral fat, and — importantly — changes in the gut.

Understanding whether inflammaging is affecting your body starts with understanding your inflammatory markers, especially cytokines.

Why Cytokines Matter

Cytokines are small proteins released by immune cells that act like signalling messengers. They coordinate inflammation, immune responses, and tissue repair. But when cytokines become chronically elevated, particularly IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β, they contribute to the persistent inflammatory state seen in inflammaging.

i-screen’s Cytokine Inflammation Test measures these key markers, giving you direct insight into how active your immune system is and whether your body may be experiencing hidden inflammation that’s influencing energy, mood, recovery, or long-term health.

The Gut–Inflammaging Connection

Around 70% of the immune system sits in the gut, which makes it one of the biggest influencers of inflammation throughout the body. When the gut microbiome becomes imbalanced or the gut lining is weakened, several things can happen:

• Increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut): tiny gaps in the gut lining allow fragments of bacteria to pass into the bloodstream, triggering immune activation.
• Endotoxins entering circulation: these bacterial components strongly stimulate chronic inflammation.
• Overactive gut immune cells: irritation in the gut leads immune cells to release cytokines like IL-6 and TNF-α.
• Reduced anti-inflammatory compounds: when beneficial bacteria are low, the body produces fewer short-chain fatty acids such as butyrate, which normally help regulate inflammation.

i-screen’s advanced gut health tests assess markers like microbiome balance, gut inflammation markers (such as calprotectin), digestive function and indicators of intestinal permeability, offering a detailed view of whether the gut is contributing to chronic inflammation.

Other Key Markers of Inflammaging

Beyond cytokines and gut markers, several other biomarkers help build a complete picture:

• High-sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP): a sensitive measure of subtle, systemic inflammation.
• Metabolic markers: inflammation influences insulin resistance, cholesterol balance, triglycerides and overall cardiovascular risk.
• Hormone markers: chronic inflammation can disrupt cortisol, thyroid hormones and sex hormones, creating a cycle that accelerates ageing.

i-screen’s panels combine these insights to help identify the early stages of inflammaging, often years before symptoms become significant.

Why Testing Matters

The biggest advantage of identifying inflammaging early is that it’s reversible. Once you understand your inflammatory patterns, you and your practitioner can take targeted steps to reduce inflammation, such as:

• supporting gut health
• adjusting diet toward anti-inflammatory foods
• improving metabolic balance
• stress regulation
• movement and strength training
• reducing environmental triggers
• correcting nutrient deficiencies

Testing offers clarity. And clarity gives you control over the pace of ageing, your daily energy, and your long-term health trajectory.

Take the First Step Toward Reducing Inflammaging

i-screen’s inflammation, cytokine, gut health and metabolic panels give you a detailed, actionable picture of how inflammation is affecting your body. With the right information, you can intervene early, feel better, and support healthier ageing from the inside out.