The blood test that measures inflammation directly — and how it connects to your FAD Score.
Everything on THE FAD is an estimate — food, sleep, alcohol, exercise and stress inputs, rolled into a score. The actual clinical gold standard for measuring inflammation directly is a blood test, and the most common one is hs-CRP.
High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) is a protein your liver produces in response to inflammation anywhere in the body. A simple blood draw measures its concentration — higher levels generally indicate more systemic inflammatory activity, while lower levels suggest less.
Standard CRP tests were designed to detect acute inflammation, like an active infection. The high-sensitivity version can detect much smaller elevations — the kind associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation rather than an obvious illness, which is why it's the test most often used in cardiovascular and metabolic health research.
THE FAD Score doesn't measure hs-CRP directly — it's built from lifestyle inputs research has linked to inflammatory activity, not a blood sample. Think of it as a same-day, no-blood-draw estimate designed to move in the same general direction as your actual biomarkers over time, not a replacement for a lab test.
If you want the real number: ask your doctor about an hs-CRP test as part of routine bloodwork. It's inexpensive, widely available, and gives you an actual clinical data point to compare against your FAD Score trends.
THE FAD