The links between chronic inflammation and increased risk of diseases like cancer are well documented – as one study puts it, “A substantial body of evidence supports the conclusion that chronic inflammation can predispose an individual to cancer, as demonstrated by the association between chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and the increased risk of colon carcinoma.”(1)
Chronic inflammation is caused by many things – bacterial or viral infections, chemical irritants, obesity, and nondigestible particles, to name a few sources. That’s why it’s important to make sure that your diet is full of foods that can help combat inflammation on a cellular level.
Creating A Tool For Consumers
Recently, researchers at the Arnold School of Public Health and the University of South Carolina developed a tool that ranks a person’s diet according to an index of foods, determining whether the diet in question has anti-inflammatory or inflammatory effects.
The dietary inflammatory index ranks nearly 50 different foods, nutrients and phytochemicals for their inflammatory or anti-inflammatory properties.
The index was recently used in a study examining the correlation between chronic inflammation and colorectal cancer risk, which was published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology And Biomarkers Prevention(2).
Currently, it is being translated into a tool for healthcare providers, with the ultimate goal of making the index accessible for consumers as well(3).
