(NYT) – Traditionally, we have sorted diseases into categories, separating contagious from noncontagious illnesses; acute events like strokes from chronic conditions like asthma; diseases of cell proliferation, like cancer, from diseases of cell death, like Alzheimer’s; and those that affect one organ or bodily system from those that impact another. Our medical disciplines reflect this logic, too. But we have lately realized how interconnected the body’s systems really are. More and more, researchers are starting to see things the way that Peter Libby, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a cardiologist at Mass General Brigham, put it to me: “We all study the same disease” — inflammation is involved with everything.

That new understanding has inspired countless researchers to look deeper for links between inflammation and the conditions they study. At the same time, the more connections they find, the more their advances fuel a booming wellness industry that profits by marketing anti-inflammatory products and advice. (Read More)