After talking at length about the dangers of chronic inflammation and the importance of an anti-inflammatory diet, the truth is we know very little about the inflammatory properties of most foods we eat. The nutrition facts label and ingredients list printed at the back of food products tell us next to nothing about the inflammatory potential of the foods inside the package. The best we can do is to avoid foods that are known to be pro-inflammatory, like processed meat and refined grains.

But thanks to the hard work done by people at Nutrition Data (ND), we don’t have to be clueless anymore. At ND’s website, along with the usual nutrition information, you can also find something called the Inflammation Factor (IF) Rating for more than 6,000 foods. A positive rating indicates that a particular food is anti-inflammatory, while a rating in the negative zone means it’s pro-inflammatory. Simple and cool!

What is IF Rating

The IF Rating is the brainchild of Monica Reinagel, who first introduced it in her book The Inflammation Free Diet Plan in 2006.

Many factors are taken into consideration in the computation of the IF Rating for each food. In fact, more than twenty of them, including:

• the amount and type of fat;
• omega-3 to omega-6 ratio;
• vitamins, minerals and antioxidants;
• glycemic load; and
• anti-inflammatory compounds

According to Monica, here’s what the IF Rating means:

“Foods with IF Ratings between 1 and 100 are considered to have mild anti-inflammatory effects. Ratings between 101 and 500 indicate increasingly potent anti-inflammatory actions. Foods that have ratings over 500 are strongly anti-inflammatory.”

“On the other end of the scale, foods that have ratings between -1 and -100 are mildly inflammatory. Foods with ratings between -101 and -500 are increasingly inflammatory, and those with ratings of -500 and lower are considered high inflammatory.”

What if a food scored 0 for IF Rating? It simply means it’s neutral, neither inflammatory nor anti-inflammatory.

Shocking IF Ratings for Some Foods

With the IF Ratings, you’ll be surprised to find that some foods which are commonly thought of as healthful aren’t necessarily anti-inflammatory. Here are some of the interesting findings from ND’s database:

Fish Oil & Ice Cream

Are you as shocked as I am? Many of the ‘healthy’ foods that I eat regularly like brown rice, eggs, raisins, bananas and instant oat are actually considered pro-inflammatory. I think I may as well learn how to survive on filtered water and air alone.

But as it turns out, there’s no need to avoid every inflammatory food. In fact, Monica acknowledges that a healthy, balanced diet will include some foods with negative IF Ratings. The keyword here is balance.

The aim of an inflammation-free diet is to keep one’s daily overall IF Rating in the positive. Even though some of the foods you eat may have negative IF Ratings, but if you balance them out with more anti-inflammatory foods like oily fish, sweet potato, ginger and onion, you can still keep your total IF score positive.

I know at this point you’re probably thinking: Does this mean I can pig out on junk foods and then end the day with some high-quality fish oil capsules? It’s tempting to look at it this way, I know. Let’s hear what the author has to say about this:

So much for a fish oil and ice-cream combo for dinner.

Alternative Way to Look at Foods

If you are like me, who cooks on impulse or grabs whatever that’s left in the fridge, getting a positive IF Rating may be a challenge. Not only do you need to plan your meals ahead, now foods which were once thought as healthy have to be re-looked and moderated, there’s also a lot of unlearning needs to be done. That could explain why you don’t see IF Rating being widely adopted yet.

Nevertheless, the IR Ratings does offer an interesting way to look at our foods in addition to the ubiquitous nutrition facts label. But as new discoveries and researches on the foods we eat emerge, I figure the formula used to compute the inflammation potential of foods may need to be tweaked in the future.

Meanwhile, the IF Rating is still a good guide to keep in mind the next time you’re shopping for your groceries. So far, ND is the only website I know of that adopts the IF Rating, so you could make use of their free tools to track, plan and analyze your diet and recipes.

But, don’t let the negative ratings stop you from enjoying a cup of yogurt with raisins topping (total IR Rating of -300!) once in a while. Bon appétit!

Related Products Others Have Found Useful:

The Probiotics that Can Withstand Your Stomach Juice

Anti-Inflammatory Multi-Herb Formula

Anti-Inflammatory Supplements for Arthritis

7 Time-Saving Kitchen Tools You Should Have