http://www.todaysdie...v2007pg38.shtml
Inflammation is the first organized reaction to an injurious challenge to the body, whether it’s a bacterial infection or oxidized low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. During this process, blood leukocytes migrate to specific tissues, and leukocytes are activated to guide a series of biochemical and cellular events. Researchers are discovering that inflammation is emerging as a root of many chronic diseases. Cardiovascular disease, the primary diet-related disease of our time, has an underlying connection to inflammation, as atherosclerosis is in part due to the accumulation of lipids and inflammatory factors within the vessel wall.
Inflammation is also a significant component of obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, periodontal disease, rheumatoid arthritis, neurological degenerative disorders, and inflammatory bowel disorders. Both epidemiological studies and intervention trials support a link between the role of diet and the reduction in the risk of many chronic diseases, and it appears that creating a proinflammatory milieu may be one way that unhealthy diets are linked with metabolic and cardiovascular diseases.