A new food-ranking system called the Overall Nutrition Quality Index (ONQI) is about to make your grocery shopping a healthier or more confusing experience, depending on whom you ask. The ONQI is already in many stores and will debut nationwide this spring. Later this year, the ratings of about 50,000 foods and food products will be available online.
But I’m not convinced it will help any of us make better food choices.
The ONQI is based on evaluating some 30 different nutrients and dividing the good (vitamins, minerals, protein, phytonutrients, etc.) by the bad (saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, added sugars, glycemic load, etc.). The end result is a formula that scores a product based on its nutrition facts and some other nuances that help shape a healthy diet.
The scientists who developed the ONQI—including David Katz, MD, a preventive medical expert at Yale University—hope that when we shop and can see how a food scores on a scale of 1 to 100 (1 being basically
junk and 100 being the most virtuous), we will make healthier choices. A food’s score might be placed on the store shelf right where you get its price. Says Dr. Katz, ONQI is the nutrition-based GPS system for
navigating food choices.”
While the scores are not “officially” available, nor are they published in any scientific journals to date, here’s a sneak preview of some of the scores that are either available on the ONQI website or have been published by trade associations.
| Food | ONQI Scores |
|---|---|
|
Fresh strawberries
|
100
|
|
Raw spinach
|
100
|
|
Raw broccoli
|
100
|
|
Orange
|
100
|
|
Skim milk
|
91
|
|
Plain oatmeal
|
88
|
|
Walnuts
|
82
|
|
Almonds
|
82
|
|
1% lowfat milk
|
81
|
|
Pretzels
|
1
|
|
Soda
|
1
|
|
Taffy
|
1
|
ONQI sounds good in theory, but I’ve yet to find a client who doesn’t know that soda and chips aren’t as healthy as strawberries and skim milk. In fact, I find that most people understand completely which
foods are best for them—the bigger challenge is motivating them to make those healthier choices.
If I’m wrong, please tell me. I’d love to hear how these nutrition scoring systems are working at your supermarket.
Comments (5)
will is there any cream to flaten the tummy?
I also want to see carb and cholesterol content not just a score. Some of us eat different items depending on what we want out of good eating habits. I for one is looking for low cholesterol items and low carbs. Other people might be looking for something totally different.
I have food intolerances to soy,
milk (cow) and gluten (wheat, rye, barley) and corn. I am more
worried about whether the food it is going to make me sick. My sister is a diabetic and her concerns are the carb and cholesterol content. We already know whether a food is healthy to eat. Who came up with this bright idea anyway?
They should do a color coding system for low fat vs low carb vs high protein vs ?? .. colors are easy to remember & associate with things without too much complication.
The numbering system sounds good also, I know it doesn’t give the whole picture, but for busy moms who are trying to decide which foods are best for thier kids & have one kid crying from being over tired, another one hungry & another tugging at thier shirt begging to buy something.. a simple # is easier to look at than trying to read a nutrition label.
if you are not gaining any waight then does that mean that you eat right?