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Immune · Inflammation · Detox · Diagram

Immunity, Inflammation & Detoxification — The Triangle

Three systems medicine files under different departments. Each affects the others. Here is which connections are proven and which are still theory.

Clinical diagramEvidence gradedUpdated 29 September 2026
Each arrow is graded:Strong trial or consistent human evidence Mixed some human evidence, inconsistent Mechanistic plausible mechanism, mostly animal or lab Weak / against little support, or evidence against
Corner

Immunity

The cells and antibodies that respond to threats. Useful routine markers are the white cell count and its differential. There is no single blood marker for “immune strength”.

Blood: full blood count and differential

Corner

Inflammation

The response those cells set off. hs-CRP is the standard marker. Ferritin rises with inflammation, so a normal ferritin can hide iron deficiency when CRP is raised. Homocysteine is not an inflammation marker; it reflects folate, B12 and kidney function.

Blood: hs-CRP, ferritin (with CRP)

Corner

Detoxification

How the liver and gut clear drugs, hormones and pollutants. There is no validated routine test of “phase II capacity”. GGT rises with alcohol and some drugs and tracks oxidative stress in population studies; it is a clue, not a measure.

Blood: GGT, liver panel · DUTCH: oestrogen metabolites · OAT: limited markers

Strong Immunity ↔ inflammation
Immune cells release signals such as IL-6 that make the liver produce CRP. This is textbook physiology, and it is why CRP works as a marker.
Strong Inflammation → detoxification
Infection and inflammation turn down the liver’s cytochrome P450 enzymes. It is well documented in pharmacology, because it changes drug levels in people who are unwell.
Mixed Exposures → inflammation
It depends on the exposure. The evidence is strong for tobacco smoke and weaker for most others. “Toxic load” as a single number has no validated measure.
Mechanistic Detoxification → immunity
Glutathione and related systems support immune cells in lab studies. Whether a routine test or supplement changes immune outcomes in people is not established.
The practical point
The most useful thing this triangle gives you in practice is a reading rule: check CRP before you trust a ferritin, a liver enzyme or a hormone metabolite pattern. Inflammation changes all three.

See the patterns in practice

How these systems show up together in real test results.

Read: Clinical patterns

Sources

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