A dramatic display of the effect of inflammation on cancer aggressiveness has been demonstrated in experiments in which animals implanted with a human cancer — such as breast cancer — are exposed to a powerful inflammatory agent, such as the common food additive carrageenan, which is used in nondairy milks such as almond and coconut milk.

According to a report in the journal “Medical Hypothesis,” human correlational studies show an increased incidence of breast cancers with high consumption of foods containing carrageenan, which triggered inflammation when injected in animals.

The tumors in the injected animals underwent a dramatic change, and began to invade aggressively and spread throughout the body.

Even more surprising was the finding that even if you diluted the carrageenan so that it did not produce obvious inflammation, it still caused the tumor to grow faster and invade and metastasize more intensely.

It seems that inflammatory mechanisms can occur at a level that is not obvious, yet still stimulates cancer invasiveness and growth.