Is there anything like an established unit of anti-inflammatory power? How is the effect of anti-inflammatory substances measured? By looking at samples of more or less inflamed tissue after a dosage, or by asking, “So, on a scale of one to seven, how much does your head hurt now?” How much anti-inflammatory power, for example, does a teaspoon of ground ginger in my morning oatmeal have compared to 500 mg of aspirin? How about 900 mg of omega-3 fatty acids from a mix of anchovy, mackerel, and sardine oil?

If you know, please leave me a comment with the information or a link to where I can find out with a minimal amount of reading. I don’t doubt the existence of inflammation, or anti-inflammatory substances, or the importance of both. Most or all of what I’ve read and heard on the topic, though, has been marketing or parroting of marketing, so I wonder what we actually know.

Oh, and I have the same questions for anti-oxidents.