I have a curiosity about "inflammation factor"(IF).

There is a currently-held opinion that it's unhealthy to consume foods that add up to a high IF over the course of a day.

My understanding is that each food is currently assigned an IF, based on studies that identified the IF of different nutrients. Inflammation levels in the body can be determined by a blood test.

Bananas have a moderately high IF. Several bananas a day would be considered highly inflammatory.

Weird. Inflammation is, according to inflammation "experts", the body's response to an injury. Of course, I agree.

But, to me, it doesn't necessarily follow that the food that brings on the inflammation response is the food that's causing the injury.

I wonder, would the inflammation response from eating several bananas be as high in a raw food vegan, or a vegan, as it would be in a meat-eater? Could it be that bananas help initiate an inflammatory response due to injury from eating meat or other damaging foods? If ingested meat is not present, would the same inflammatory response from eating bananas ensue?

Or is my understanding of IF totally incorrect anyway?

Does anybody know what the specific nutrients are that are considered inflammatory? I found several lists of anti-inflammatory nutrients, but what are the inflammatory nutrients?

Anybody have any thoughts on any of this?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2009 06:49PM by suncloud.

I dunno. I've been a meat eater my entire life up until almost 3 weeks ago. Only time I think my body has had this response is when I have had an actually physical injury, and I think the body responds that way to isolate the injury and to "pad" it with fluid to help keep it protected from getting reinjured.

Hi Molli,

Your post makes total sense to me, and yet still begs futher questioning.

In your opinion, what is the value of applying ice to an injury to help avoid/lessen swelling? Will less swelling cause the injury to heal faster? And if so, why does the body respond by making the fluid "pad"? Does the body have a natural "over-response"? Is it possible that the body over-responds only if there are other factors, such as bad diet or whatever?

Sorry, I don't expect you to answer all those questions unless you feel like it!

Suncloud,

Personally, I think that less swelling is simply more comfortable. I don't think it will cause the injury to heal faster, although it could lessen some internal bleeding at the injury site. I'm not sure that the body is overresponding when it develops a fluid pad. I think if it is a healthy body, the response is more likely just what the body needs, but the person thinks he/she knows more about what their body needs and wants to feel comfortable so they ice.

suncloud,

I ignore the IF chart info, as it's irrelevant to raw foodists. When you are eating healthily, your body produces anti-inflammatory prostaglandins only when required to heal something. When you are eating unhealthily, your body produces inflammatory prostaglandins. The more crap you eat, the more inflammation results, the more anti-inflammatories you must somehow contrive to manufacture, or you will be in a state of chronic inflammation. What should be a temporary condition of, say, physical injury, instead becomes a constant condition of diet. Eventually, your body cries "uncle!," and you have a heart attack and die. What I do pay attention to is the C-Reactive Protein marker, which is used chiefly to predict cardiovascular disorders, but is a good canary in the coalmine for other things. Bananas do not affect it adversely, so bananas are OK. You are correct in assuming the IF hypothesis was developed for non-raw, non-veg people to keep track of inflammation casually. It doesn't really aply to us, because chances are we are not walking around fiery hot from this kind of dysfunction.

Hi suncloud
I came across this recently whilst researching for a nutrition qualification.
The idea is that several chronic conditions have been attributed to systemic inflammation.
Systemic inflammation can be detected by sampling blood.
As i understand it, its about the production of prostaglandins.
These are chemicals that have both an inflammatory and anti-inflammatory effect on the body.
It has been discovered that Prostaglandin production is influenced by food, so the food is categorized into flammatory or anti inflammatory and then given a rating.

I think that a high IF is actually highly anti-inflammatory so its a positive food to eat.
Cooked, dairy, meat etc have a low or minus IF.
its ok to eat low or minus IF when following the plan but high IF is the way to go!
It looks like raw vegan would provide optimum nutrition for this concept.

Maybe the person promoting this plan is simply re packaging 'raw vegan' for the masses!

ffx

Inflammation factor is an arbitrary index, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, based on a particular author's idea of what makes a food healthy or unhealthy. Glycemic index is part of the formula, so a food with a high glycemic index is going to be worse that a pure fat like vegetable oil.

Read about the IF system at: The IF Rating™ System.

Great answers everyone!

I definitely know more now than when I started this thread. Nice to hear the different perspectives, all leading to the same conclusion!

Well i eat alot of bananas and my bloods showed no inflamation

suncloud Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great answers everyone!
>
> I definitely know more now than when I started
> this thread. Nice to hear the different
> perspectives, all leading to the same conclusion!

Suncloud,

I sometimes an amazed at how much people on this site know -- very detailed info on a lot of topics. I wonder if their occupation involves these things or if they are just very well educated about their bodies!

Inflammation is a symptom and should be taken as as sign that your body is doing something. Depending on what you are doing or not doing, it's a signal that all is not as it should be. It's either trying to clear out toxins as you go thru cleaning up your diet and this could take some years to do depending on lots of factors.

It could be to what you are keeping your body exposed to and it responds by the inflammaation. You have to play detective, and you need to get to really know and read your body. It ain't easy! Not in todays world.

I also think that even if one is finally eating an all organic, whole raw plant foods diet your body has to get rid of various toxins as you strip it down to a more natural state..where does that waste come from, where does it go, and what routes out of the body are there? Every orifice you can think of and then some! After 50 years of abuse and neglect will it ever get to an optimum level?

After some years of my learning curve (I'm still riding that curve after 5 years) I'm still learning about my body..and it's changed over time what it is sensitive to, what it's come in contact with, and there's just too much to even fathom..really..it gets overwhelming the things I've learned about my body and still learning.

I haven't heard or read about the IF thing..just sounds like something someone who thought it a cool and easy way to make a list maybe to help them keep track of foods that a body may respond in certain way. There are 100 different types of bananas. So which type/species of banana? So, on and on it goes.

I learned that nothing is perfect, and you have take things in consideration of your own body, and learning curve. Plan on things not being perfect, no ideal solution, just do the best you can for where you are at the time, then go on from there.

Love,
Prism