Why do some healthful foods, like fruit or whole grains, have negative IF Ratings?
Perhaps the most common misunderstanding is that all healthy foods are anti-inflammatory and all unhealthy foods are inflammatory. Its a little more complex than that. The IF Rating system evaluates foods according to over 20 nutritional factors, including antioxidants, fatty acid composition, glycemic load, and many other nutrients. Often a food or meal will have a combination of pro- and anti-inflammatory factors of varying strengths, and the IF Rating is able to estimate the net effect of all these factors. The goal is not necessary to avoid all negatively-rated foods but to bring the diet into balance. Many foods with slightly negative IF Ratings, such as fruits or grains, are quite healthful. In fact, it would be impossible to build a balanced diet without including foods that have negative IF Ratings. Keep in mind that inflammation is a healthy and necessary part of the human immune response; so it makes sense that a healthy diet would include factors that support the inflammator
