Nutritional rating systems

Glycemic index is a ranking of how quickly food is metabolized into glucose when digested. It compares available carbohydrates gram-for-gram in foods to provide a numerical, evidence-based index of postprandial (post-meal) blood sugar level. The concept was invented by David J. Jenkins and colleagues in 1981 at the University of Toronto.[1] The glycemic load (GL) of food is a number which estimates how much a food will raise a person's blood glucose level.

Guiding Stars is a patented food-rating system which rates food based on nutrient density with a scientific algorithm. Foods are credited with vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, whole grains and Omega-3 fatty acids, and discredited for saturated fat, trans fats, and added sodium (salt) and sugar.

Rated foods are tagged with one, two or three stars, with three stars the best ranking. The program began at Hannaford Supermarkets in 2006, and is found in over 1,900 supermarkets in Canada and the US. Guiding Stars has expanded into public schools, colleges and hospitals.[2]

The evidence-based, proprietary algorithm is based on the dietary guidelines and recommendations of regulatory and health organizations, including the US Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization. The algorithm was developed by a scientific advisory panel composed of experts in nutrition and health from Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Tufts University, the University of North Carolina, and other colleges.[2]

Nutripoints[3] is a food-rating system which places foods on a numerical scale based on their overall nutritional value. The method is based on an analysis of 26 positive factors (such as vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber) and negative factors (such as cholesterol, saturated fat, sugar and sodium) relative to calories. The Nutripoint score of the food is the end result. The higher the value, the more nutrition per calorie (nutrient-dense) and the fewest negative factors exist in the food.

Nutripoints was developed by Doctor of Public Health Roy E. Vartabedian during the 1980s and was released in 1990 with his book, Nutripoints, which was published in thirteen countries in ten languages. The food-rating system is part of a program to help people measure, balance, and upgrade their diet for improvement in well-being.[4] The system rates over 3,600 foods, from apples and oranges to fast foods and brand-name products.

The Nutrition iQ program is a joint venture of the Joslin Clinic and the supermarket operator SuperValu. The labeling system consists of color-coded tags denoting a food product's status. This is based on attributes such as vitamin and mineral content, fiber content, 100%-juice content, Omega-3 or low saturated-fat content, whole-grain content, calcium content, protein content, low- or reduced-sodium content and low- or reduced-calorie content. The first phase of the program began in 2009, covering center-store food products; coverage of fresh-food departments followed in 2011.[5]

Weight Watchers developed the Points Food System for use with its Flex Plan. The system's primary objective is to maintain a healthy weight and to track weight loss or gain over time. It is designed to allow users to eat any food, tracking the number of points for each food consumed.

Members try to keep to their points target for a given time within a given range, which is personalized based on the member's height, weight and other factors (such as gender). A weekly points allowance for is established to provide for special occasions and occasional overindulgences.[6]

Developed by Adam Drewnowski of the University of Washington, the Naturally Nutrient Rich system is based on mean-percentage daily values (DVs) for 14 nutrients in food with 2,000 calories. It proposes to assign nutrient-density values to foods within and across food groups. The score allows consumers to identify and select nutrient-dense foods, permitting flexibility in discretionary calories consumed.[7]

Developed by ReViVer, a nutritionally-oriented restaurant in New York City,[8] the ReViVer Score expresses nutrient density of menu items relative to calories from a variety of fast-food and casual restaurants based on ten nutrients: vitamins A, C, and E, folate, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, fiber, and omega-3 fats. A score of 100 indicates that a meal provides at least 100% of the recommended daily intake for all ten nutrients, proportional to its energy (calorie) content.[9]

The overall nutritional quality index was a nutritional-rating system developed at the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center.[10] It assigned foods a score between 1 and 100 which reflected overall nutrition relative to calories consumed.[11] Marketed as NuVal, it was widely adopted in United States grocery stores before it was discontinued in 2017[11][10] amid accusations of conflicts of interest and for its refusal to publish the scoring algorithm.[12] Scoring inconsistencies occurred, in which processed foods scored higher than canned fruits and vegetables.[12]

Launched late in 2009, the Smart Choices Program (SCP)[13] was a rating system developed by a coalition of companies from the food industry. The criteria for rating food products used 18 different attributes. The system had varying levels of acceptability based on 16 types of food which allowed for wide discretion in the selection of foods to include in the program. The program was discontinued in October 2009 after sharp criticism for including products such as "Froot Loops," "Lucky Charms," and "Frosted Flakes" as Smart Choices.[14][15]

On August 19, 2009, the FDA wrote a letter to SCP manager saying: "FDA and FSIS would be concerned if any FOP labeling systems used criteria that were not stringent enough to protect consumers against misleading claims, were inconsistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, or had the effect of encouraging consumers to choose highly processed foods and refined grains instead of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."[16] SCP was suspended in 2009 after the FDA's announcement that they will be addressing both on front-of- package and on-shelf systems. SCP Chair Mike Hughes said: "It is more appropriate to postpone active operations and channel our information and learning to the agency to support their initiative."[17]