Inflammation
High-Sensitivity CRP
What This Marker Tells Us
Measures systemic inflammation in your body, serving as one of the most important predictive markers for cardiovascular disease risk and overall inflammatory burden.
Why It Matters
hs-CRP is produced by the liver in response to inflammatory signals throughout your body; it's not specific to one organ but reflects total inflammatory load. While traditional CRP is used to detect acute infections and illness, hs-CRP detects subtle chronic inflammation associated with atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and age-related diseases. Elevated hs-CRP independently predicts heart attack and stroke risk even when cholesterol is normal, making it a powerful cardiovascular risk marker. Chronic inflammation also drives insulin resistance, accelerates aging, impairs recovery, and increases cancer risk. hs-CRP responds quickly to lifestyle interventions, making it an excellent marker for tracking the impact of diet, exercise, weight loss, and stress management. Optimal hs-CRP indicates low inflammatory burden and reduced disease risk across multiple systems.
How to Interpret Your Trends
Optimal hs-CRP is below 1.0 mg/L, indicating minimal inflammation and low cardiovascular risk. Levels of 1.0-3.0 mg/L indicate moderate inflammation and average cardiovascular risk; lifestyle intervention is beneficial. Levels above 3.0 mg/L suggest high inflammation and significantly elevated cardiovascular risk requiring aggressive intervention. Very high levels (above 10 mg/L) may indicate acute illness, infection, or significant inflammatory condition rather than just chronic inflammation. Consistently low hs-CRP correlates with the lowest risk of chronic disease. Rising trends warrant investigation even within the normal range, while falling trends indicate successful inflammatory reduction.
What Influences This Marker
hs-CRP rises with obesity (especially visceral fat), metabolic syndrome, poor diet (high processed foods, sugar, refined carbs), sedentary lifestyle, chronic stress, poor sleep, smoking, periodontal disease, chronic infections, autoimmune conditions, and acute illness. It decreases with weight loss, anti-inflammatory diet (Mediterranean diet, omega-3s), regular exercise, improved sleep, stress management, smoking cessation, and potentially statins or other anti-inflammatory interventions. High-intensity exercise can temporarily elevate hs-CRP, so avoid testing right after hard training. Acute infections dramatically elevate hs-CRP, so retest after recovery if elevated.
How Your Team Uses It
Your coach implements anti-inflammatory meal plans emphasizing whole foods, omega-3 rich fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel), colorful vegetables, and limiting processed foods and added sugars. They'll develop appropriate exercise programming that promotes fitness without excessive inflammation, plus sleep and stress management strategies.
Related Signals We Also Review
Fasting insulin, HbA1c, triglycerides, HDL, LDL particle number, homocysteine, body composition, and blood pressure for complete cardiovascular and metabolic assessment.