2008 Woodie Awards
New food rating
Brian Stewart - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: Metro
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Grocery shoppers could have an easier time selecting which foods are healthier amid the confusion of product labeling with a new algorithm-based system slated to launch in August 2008.
The Overall Nutritional Quality Index, introduced on Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C., rates food and beverage products between 1 and 100 based on overall nutritional value. The algorithm accounts for more than 25 food components - from fiber and vitamins, to sugar, sodium, and trans fats.
"I hope it will empower [consumers] to make judgments about nutrition at the level of top experts," said David Katz, the chairman of the project and director of the Yale-Griffith Prevention Research Center. "Diet is clearly one of the pillars of health, and improving diet has enormous potential to improve public health."
Midwest-based grocery chain Hy-Vee has signed on to implement the system in its more than 200 stores by the summer of 2008, said Hy-Vee spokeswoman Chris Friesleben.
"It will benefit the consumer first and foremost, and that's why we are so involved with it, because we do want our customers to have an easier way to evaluate the foods they eat and to help them cut through confusion," she said. "Nutrition labels are terribly difficult to understand."
Katz echoed Friesleben's concerns that many American consumers are misled by product packaging.
"People are going to learn things they never knew they never knew," he said, chuckling at his reference to a line from Disney's Pocahontas. "There's breakfast cereal in grocery stores that has more salt than a bag of potato chips - most people don't think about their breakfast cereal having a lot of salt in it."
Consumers are able to compare nutritional value within and across food categories with the new ratings, Katz said. This means that not only can consumers juxtapose apples against oranges but breakfast cereals against yogurts or sodas.
"Where I think [the index] will be most valuable will be in between the extremes," Katz said. "People already know what the best and worst are - what people don't have a clue about is which bread is best for them, which breakfast cereal is best for them - that's where you can make a huge difference in the quality of your diet."
The Overall Nutritional Quality Index, introduced on Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C., rates food and beverage products between 1 and 100 based on overall nutritional value. The algorithm accounts for more than 25 food components - from fiber and vitamins, to sugar, sodium, and trans fats.
"I hope it will empower [consumers] to make judgments about nutrition at the level of top experts," said David Katz, the chairman of the project and director of the Yale-Griffith Prevention Research Center. "Diet is clearly one of the pillars of health, and improving diet has enormous potential to improve public health."
Midwest-based grocery chain Hy-Vee has signed on to implement the system in its more than 200 stores by the summer of 2008, said Hy-Vee spokeswoman Chris Friesleben.
"It will benefit the consumer first and foremost, and that's why we are so involved with it, because we do want our customers to have an easier way to evaluate the foods they eat and to help them cut through confusion," she said. "Nutrition labels are terribly difficult to understand."
Katz echoed Friesleben's concerns that many American consumers are misled by product packaging.
"People are going to learn things they never knew they never knew," he said, chuckling at his reference to a line from Disney's Pocahontas. "There's breakfast cereal in grocery stores that has more salt than a bag of potato chips - most people don't think about their breakfast cereal having a lot of salt in it."
Consumers are able to compare nutritional value within and across food categories with the new ratings, Katz said. This means that not only can consumers juxtapose apples against oranges but breakfast cereals against yogurts or sodas.
"Where I think [the index] will be most valuable will be in between the extremes," Katz said. "People already know what the best and worst are - what people don't have a clue about is which bread is best for them, which breakfast cereal is best for them - that's where you can make a huge difference in the quality of your diet."
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