Developing and testing the DII® recipe calculator APP based on the inflammatory potential of food ingredients. - until we developed the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) there had been no…

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded Connecting Health Innovations LLC $306,870 on September 1, 2026, under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847) to develop and test the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) Recipe Calculator app.

The recipient will develop a consumer-facing application that applies the DII scoring algorithm to 100,000 recipes in the Edamam database, enabling individuals to select recipes aligned with their taste preferences while tracking dietary inflammatory potential. The app will allow users to modify existing recipes or create new ones that become part of the recipe database. The Phase I deliverables include building the necessary platform, providing functionality for recipe alteration and creation, and enabling users to track changes to dietary inflammation. Phase I completion is intended to lead to Phase II testing of the platform's ability to assist consumers in adopting low-DII-score recipes and verification that use of the application improves DII scores and circulating inflammatory marker levels.

Performance takes place in Columbia, South Carolina. The period of performance runs from the award date through February 28, 2027.

Developing and testing the DII® recipe calculator APP based on the inflammatory potential of food ingredients. - until we developed the dietary inflammatory index (DII®) there had been no scientifically valid way to relate what individuals eat to the capacity of their diet to modulate inflammation. The new generation DII has produced >2300 peer-reviewed articles on topics ranging from predicting blood levels of inflammatory markers, to health conditions associated with inflammation. Connecting health innovations LLC (CHI) will develop the DII recipe calculator to provide the link necessary to put this information into the hands of consumers to make healthy eating fit their taste preferences (i.e., likes). An important driver of what foods/beverages are consumed is whether the consumer likes the composite of its flavor sensations. The DII recipe calculator (diirc) APP will apply the DII scoring algorithm to 100,000 recipes in the edamam database and will include a consumer-facing interface that will allow individuals to select and use recipes consistent with their "likes." in addition, they will be able to modify existing recipes or even create their own that would become part of the recipe database. Using information that we have gleaned from our epidemiologic work on the DII, extensive knowledge of food and nutrient databases, experience with trials of various designs that have deepened our understanding of motivation, and sensory research, we have designed this fast-track project that will achieve the phase i specific aims as described in our proposal - i.e., to develop the necessary platform, provide a way for consumers to alter existing recipes and enter new ones, and track changes to dietary inflammation. Achieving phase i aims will lead to successful completion of phase II aims to test the ability of the diirc platform to assist consumers in using low-DII-score recipes and to verify that using the diirc will improve their DII scores and circulating levels of inflammatory markers (HS-CRP, tnfá, IL6, IL-1Â, IL-4 and IL-10). Successful completion of both aims will have direct marketing potential while extending the concept of personalized medicine to diet-related exposures tailored to personal preferences. By providing consumers, as well as food and nutrition professionals, with a tool that can powerfully and reliably lead to healthy and tasty dietary change, we can make material progress in an area of growing public health concern that has been refractory until now.