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Foods Ranked Healthiest to the Worst in New ‘Food Compass’
Nutrition advice is confusing. A new study offers some fresh info to chew on.
Nutrition research and advice can be confusing and conflicting, even for someone diligently researching which foods to eat and which to avoid. A comprehensive new ranking system offers a bit of clarity and insight.
“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,” says the study’s lead author, Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University.
Mozaffarian and colleagues created what they call the Food Compass by applying the latest science on nutrition to examine both the healthy and harmful aspects of more than 8,000 foods and drinks — from raw veggies and natural juices to highly processed cereals, fast-food burgers, and even some popular mixed meals — and ranked each one from one (terrible) to 100 (best).
The full study is published today in the journal Nature Food. One catch: Without a subscription to the journal, for now, you’ll have to rely on my overview of the findings.
The study does not single out any one best or worst food item—hundreds of basic foods score at or near 100, and a slew of concoctions are at or near one, with thousands between.
The researchers encourage people to eat foods that score 70 or higher, avoid those that score 30 or lower, and consume the stuff in the middle in moderation. No surprise, some of the worst scores were among highly processed or prepared foods—those with lots of ingredients, often including added sugar, salt, butter, sour cream, and the like.
The average scores by category offer a broad sense of how anyone might approach healthier eating habits, though see the big asterisk* below:
- Raw fruits: Many are at or near 100
- Raw vegetables: Many are at or near 100
- Legumes, nuts, and seeds: Many are at or near 100
- Seafood: 67.0 overall, but many fish are near 100 if cooked simply
- Poultry: 42.7
