Digging Into Inflammation

Anyone who has spent any appreciable amount of time in the nutrition-science side of this industry knows that such pursuits are quite complex, with health-oriented ingredients sometimes yielding variable results in different clinical settings. First off, people tend to react differently to different compounds purely based on our biological diversity. Factor in the potential effects of other ingredients in the mix and the ability for researchers to spin results in one direction or another depending on how the data is analyzed and it’s no wonder that consumers are confounded by differing reports from year to year on the relative health of any given ingredient or food. As they say in Oregon (a fun and funky state I called home for a handful of years), if you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes. It’s bound to change.

Of course, researchers do their best to account for any variances in order to yield scientifically significant results—and sufficiently large bodies of research have certainly determined some very solid connections between specific foods and ingredients and health.

Inflammation and its impact on health is one of those areas that’s still emerging—a process that will continue for some time, as this is a highly complex subject—but shows tremendous promise. Not long ago, an industry colleague mentioned that we will likely be amazed at the sweeping biological implications of inflammation—in tandem with overall immune functions—as knowledge related to this subject continue to unfold.

An excellent opportunity to gain some insight into the increasingly important area of nutrition and inflammation will unfold on Wed. Sept. 28 at 2:00 PM Eastern when VIRGO and Fortitech present a free Webinar on the subject, “Inflammation and Nutrition: Opportunities for a Growing Market.” During the this live Web event, Ram Chaudhari, Ph.D., FACN, CNS, senior executive vice president, chief scientific officer & co-founder, Fortitech, will discuss how nutritional strategies can be employed to develop unique fortified foods and beverages targeted toward reducing or managing inflammation, with a focus on specific anti-inflammatory nutrients and bioactive components, such as herbs, spices and other botanical-based approaches, some of which have been culled from traditional medicine. He will also address formulation challenges, along with concomitant solutions, and provide an overview of custom nutrient premix prototypes developed for specific product applications.