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The prevalence of chronic, degenerative diseases attributable wholly or in part to dietary patterns is the most serious threat to public health in the United States. These diseases include cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and overweight/obesity. The numbers are truly staggering. One third of American adults (more than 71 million people) have one or more types of CVD, including 13.2 million cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) and 65 million cases of high blood pressure (HBP, defined as systolic blood pressure >140 mm Hg and/or diastolic blood pressure >90 mm Hg).1 CVD, the number-one cause of mortality in the United States, accounted for 37.3% of all US deaths in 2003, and was "an underlying or contributing cause" for approximately 58% of deaths in 2002.1
Cancer is responsible for 25% of US deaths and is the second leading cause of mortality.2 Research suggests that about one-third of all cancer deaths are attributable to poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and overweight or obesity;2 and these risk factors may account for up to 80% of large bowel, breast, and prostate cancers.3,4 Overweight (defined as body mass index [BMI] of 25-29.9) and obesity (BMI >30) are at epidemic levels, with 65% of US adults classified as overweight or obese.5 Nearly one-third of US children are either at risk for being overweight or are already overweight or obese.5 Obesity contributes to more than 280,000 deaths each year in the United States,6 and in the coming decades may erode the national gains in life expectancy.7
A common factor that may contribute to the development and progression of these illnesses is chronic inflammation, which can be caused and modified by diet.8"13 In fact, several pathologies that were once viewed as unrelated are now grouped by some researchers and clinicians into the category of "inflammatory disease," mcluding atherosclerosis, dementia, arthritis, vasculitis, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases.14 This article reviews the role diet plays in creating inflammation in the body.
The Western Dietary pattern
Since the Agricultural Revolution approximately 10,000 years ago, dietary and lifestyle patterns have dramatically changed. Prior to the revolution, people consumed an enormous variety of wild plants and animal foods. This diet, commonly called the Paleolithic diet or Hunter-Gatherer diet, had predominated for about 2 million years. According...