Research

Mixed

Adopting a pro-inflammatory diet, as measured by the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), significantly increases the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) and cancer-related mortality.

To lower your risk of colorectal cancer, aim for an anti-inflammatory diet. This means minimizing processed foods, added sugars, and refined grains, while maximizing fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats. You don't need to calculate a score; just focus on whole, unprocessed foods.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
individuals in the highest versus the lowest (reference) DII category had an overall 40% increase in CRC risk of [relative risk (RR) = 1.40, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26, 1.55, p < 0.001].
Catherine M. Phillips et al. · Nutrients · 2019

Why this rating

Based on multiple prospective studies and meta-analyses with consistent positive associations, though observational.

Source

Dietary Inflammatory Index and Non-Communicable Disease Risk: A Narrative Review

Catherine M. Phillips et al. · Nutrients · 2019

DOI 10.3390/nu11081873

narrative_reviewCited 339×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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