How We Rate Foods

1. AI-Generated Ratings

Each food is evaluated against 11 major dietary frameworks — Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean, Vegan, Carnivore, Whole30, DASH, Zone, Low-FODMAP, Anti-Inflammatory, and GLP-1 Friendly. We use diet-specific system prompts that encode each framework's published rules, permitted food lists, and nutritional priorities. The AI model evaluates the food against each diet's criteria and produces a score (1–10), a verdict (approve, caution, or avoid), a confidence level, reasoning, and — where applicable — a dissenting view.

This is not a single "is it healthy" opinion. It is 10 parallel evaluations, each grounded in a distinct nutritional philosophy. The composite score aggregates these into a single number, and the controversy index measures how much the diets disagree.

2. Expert Validation

All AI-generated ratings are reviewed and validated by a Registered Dietitian (RD) on our Advisory Board. The RD reviews the system prompts for clinical accuracy, audits a representative sample of generated ratings for each diet framework, flags any outputs that contradict established dietary science, and attests that the overall methodology produces reliable results.

Every food page displays a "Reviewed by" badge with the reviewer's name, credentials, and the date of their most recent review. This is not a rubber stamp — if a rating is clinically questionable, it is corrected before publication.

3. Data Sources

Nutrition data (calories, macronutrients, micronutrients) is sourced from the USDA FoodData Central database, the gold standard for food composition data in the United States. Diet-specific rules are derived from published dietary guidelines, peer-reviewed research, and official diet organization resources:

• Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA/HHS)
• American Heart Association (DASH diet)
• Peer-reviewed meta-analyses on Mediterranean, Keto, and Paleo diets
• Monash University FODMAP database (Low-FODMAP)
• Whole30 program official rules
• Zone Diet published macronutrient ratios

4. Scoring System

Each diet rates a food on a 1–10 scale. The composite score is a weighted mean across all diets. The controversy index measures the spread of scores — a food that every diet agrees on (like leafy greens) has a low controversy index, while a food that some diets love and others reject (like white rice) has a high one. Agreement levels are categorized as consensus, majority, divided, or controversial.

5. Updates & Corrections

Ratings are regenerated periodically as dietary science evolves and new research is published. Every food page shows a "Last reviewed" date. If you believe a rating is incorrect, please contact us. We investigate all reported inaccuracies and update ratings within 48 hours when warranted.