What are the healthiest foods to eat? ‘Food Compass’ ranks 8,000 products based on nutrition levels

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MEDFORD, Mass. — Scientists have developed a new dietary guide, dubbed the “Food Compass,” to help people make healthier eating choices. It profiles the nutrients of more than 8,000 foods and beverages and rates them as good or bad for you.

The Food Compass focuses on 54 different nutritional characteristics linked to major chronic diseases. These factors can increase or reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems, cancer, and malnutrition.

“Once you get beyond ‘eat your veggies, avoid soda,’ the public is pretty confused about how to identify healthier choices in the grocery store, cafeteria, and restaurant. Consumers, policymakers, and even the industry are looking for simple tools to guide everyone toward healthier choices,” says study lead and corresponding author Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of Tufts University’s School of Nutrition Science and policy, in a statement.

The guide could help manufacturers and caterers cut levels of fat, sugar, and salt in popular processed foods. It is the first of its kind that is objective and considers healthful and harmful factors equally. Other guides concentrate only on the latter and largely on just a few nutrients. Food Compass analyzes all of them. It also considers ingredients, processing features, plant chemicals, and additives.

How ‘Food Compass’ scores are calculated

The Food Compass uses one consistent score for all foods, beverages, and even mixed dishes and meals instead of grouping them and subjectively scoring them differently. It was developed and tested using a detailed national database of 8,032 foods and beverages consumed by Americans. Nine domains represent different health-relevant aspects of foods, drinks, and mixed meals.

Food Compass
The Food Compass nutrient profiling system, developed by researchers at the Friedman School at Tufts, incorporates cutting-edge science on how characteristics of more than 8,000 foods positively or negatively impact health.

Food Compass was designed so additional attributes and scoring could evolve based on future evidence. These may relate to gastrointestinal, brain, and bone health, immune function, physical and mental performance, and sustainability.

Potential uses include providing food purchasing incentives for employees through worksite wellness, health care, and nutrition assistance programs. It could also supply the science for local and national policies such as package labeling, taxation, warning labels, and restrictions on marketing to children.

Each food, beverage, or mixed dish receives a final Food Compass score ranging from 1 (least healthy) to 100 (most healthy). The researchers declare a score of 70 as a reasonable rating for foods or beverages that should be encouraged. Foods and beverages scoring 31-69 should be consumed in moderation. Anything scoring 30 or lower should be consumed minimally.

Across major food categories, the average Food Compass score was just 43.2.

The lowest-scoring category was snacks and sweet desserts (average score 16.4). The highest scoring categories were vegetables (69.1), fruits (73.9), and legumes, nuts, and seeds (78.6). Among beverages, the average score ranged from 27.6 for fizzy drinks to 67 for 100% fruit or vegetable juices. Starchy vegetables and poultry scored 43, beef 25 and seafood, 67.

New health bible for food industry policies?

Food Compass is the first major nutrient profiling system that uses consistent scoring across diverse food groups, which is especially important for mixed dishes. For example, in the case of pizza, many other systems have separate scoring algorithms for the wheat, meat, and cheese, but not the finished product itself.

“With its publicly available scoring algorithm, Food Compass can provide a nuanced approach to promoting healthy food choices, helping guide consumer behavior, nutrition policy, scientific research, food industry practices, and socially based investment decisions,” says study co-author Dr. Renata Micha, now at the University of Thessaly, Greece.

The project, published in the journal Nature Food, was partly funded by food manufacturing giant Danone.

South West News Service writer Mark Waghorn contributed to this report.

Comments

  1. Why is it so difficult to get a straight answer. Just give me a LIST of the healthiest foods already! I do not need to read a medical journal.

    1. I wonder which food company paid for the Food Compass and the research. Are you really believing a system that place Cheerios as healthier than eggs or the majority of Fruit and Veggies? People are confused on what is healthy food because we have been fed lies for centuries. All processes foods are full of chemicals added sugar high levels of salt that is bad for you. We have been lied to about fat, cholesterol, heart disease, Dementia, diabetes etc. etc. etc. Start thinking for yourself and don’t rely so much on so called research that is funded by big corporation who want you to believe what they are telling in order for them to grow their market share.

  2. What can be extracted rom this flimsy overview appears to be incomplete, at best, or very biased toward core a American production meat production, ie, beef. Now that almost every research project/paper is funded by special interests, the historic acceptance and value once honorably provided by the world of academia is simply another American institution crippled and discredited by greed.

  3. There is a list of foods ( not 8,000 items long) on tufts.edu The foods items are categorized. I found it helpful.

  4. The Federal guideline for daily protein is 1/3 gram per pound of body weight if you are completely sedentary. That is what is needed top replace skin hair body fluids hormones and maintain lean tissue. Through in a walk around the block or going to work and 1/2 gram per pound of body weight is more realistic.

    As I look at this “list of foods” I repeatedly asked myself… where is the main protein source? Fish do have good protein but are not readily available or affordable for many.

    My other concern is calories consumed. Only fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs and the like have a low enough calorie to gram of protein to meet your daily requirement and not put you in a calorie surplus which will add pounds. You can get 100 grams of protein from 1200-1300 calories from fish, chicken, lean meat, eggs and the like leaving you 1200 calories for other foods for nutrients and fiber while staying around 2500 calories.

    The fact that this study put frosted flakes, potato chips or fast food anywhere except on a don’t eat list makes me question the validity of the research. The fact that the research was was partly funded by food manufacturing giant Danone makes me wonder who else. Just more bought and paid for research masquerading as science?

    The largest food related problem in America is not hunger it is obesity.

  5. Save your time. The list is bs.
    If it has a mother or comes from the ground it is better than anything in a box I DON’T CARE what this bogus “reaearch” says. Frosted mini wheats ARE NOT a better choice than an egg.
    Eat your produce
    Eat your protein (natural not artificial)
    Choose healthy fat sources
    Limit anything processed. ANYTHING
    End of story

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