Defining Healthy Food: the Nutrient-Rich Foods Index
Adam
Drewnowski,
PhD
Professor, Epidemiology; Director, Center for Public Health Nutrition and Nutritional Sciences Program, University of Washington
The Nutrient-Rich Foods (NRF) Index—a science-based, consumer-driven system of food guidance—enables people to build and enjoy healthier diets by getting the most nutrition from their calories. The NRF Index is founded on nutrient profiling, the science of ranking and/or classifying foods based on their nutrient composition. Each food is assigned a unitary score that best reflects its nutrient quality. High scoring foods are high in nutrients and low in calories. Nutrient profiling criteria must be:
- Objective: based on accepted nutrition science and labeling practices
- Simple: based on published daily values and meaningful amounts of food
- Balanced: based on nutrients to encourage and on nutrients to limit
- Validated: against measures of a healthful diet
- Transparent: based on published algorithms and open-source data; and
- Consumer-driven: likely to guide better food choices and more healthful diets.
Unlike standard food counseling that advises on food elements to avoid, a positive approach to nutrition education encourages beneficial nutrients. Our studies indicate that NRF indices based on both nutrients to encourage (NRF) and to limit (LIM) perform better than those based on LIM only. That is, higher NRF 9.3* scores connote healthier diets, while lower LIM scores do not. NRF 9.3 is a scientifically valid definition of the nutrient density of foods that meets the criteria for nutrition profiling and will help consumers build healthier diets. The Nutrient- Rich Foods approach can help people to consume healthier diets—and, ultimately, help achieve better health—by getting the most nutrition from their calories.
* In NRF 9.3, the number nine represents the beneficial nutrients protein, fiber, calcium, vitamins A, C, and E, iron, potassium, and magnesium while the three represents the LIMs total fats, sugar and sodium.
