Roger Davis, biologist: If you eat a poor diet, it activates stress throughout your entire body: muscles, liver, fat everywhere'

"The human body is an extremely complex system that functions well when kept in balance. Diets high in fats or sugar, lack of exercise, toxic substances, or insufficient sleep can disrupt that harmony and lead to all kinds of chronic diseases, such as obesity, cancer, or heart conditions, which rank among the leading causes of illness and death in industrial societies. It has long been known that the body's inflammatory response to everyday damage sometimes continuous and low-grade explains the origin of many of these disorders."

"His work in the 1990s led to the cloning of the protein JNK, a switch that activates in our cells when problems are detected, from infections to oxygen deprivation or excess sugar. When the mechanism works properly, it helps cells adapt and survive, but if it becomes overactive or the switch stays on, it contributes to the development of diseases such as arthritis or diabetes."

Physiological balance sustains health, while diets high in fats or sugar, inactivity, toxins, and poor sleep disrupt that balance and promote chronic diseases such as obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular conditions. Persistent, low-grade inflammatory responses to everyday cellular damage underlie many of these disorders. The stress-activated kinase JNK, cloned in the 1990s, acts as a molecular switch sensing insults from infection, hypoxia, or excess nutrients. Proper JNK activation facilitates cellular adaptation and survival; prolonged or excessive activation drives pathology including arthritis and diabetes. Deeper understanding of JNK regulation offers avenues for future therapeutic strategies targeting chronic inflammatory diseases.

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