The Nutri-Score in the supermarket is nice, but it says little about the healthiness of the products. It is better to pay attention to the number of ingredients on the package. The Nova classification was used. It takes a little longer, but it will save you a lot of ultra-processed foods.
It was only recently introduced, but has become an indispensable part of the supermarket: the Nutri-Score. This food choice slogan aims to help consumers make healthier choices. However, it is completely misunderstood by many consumers. So you may think you are getting something healthy, when in reality this is not the case. How about that?
The result was presented in the Netherlands on January 1. The government is trying to contribute to reducing obesity, as stated in the National Prevention Convention. To calculate a product’s nutritional points, several positive and negative ingredients are taken into account. Consider energy, protein content, saturated fat and fiber. A number of points are given for each part and the product is given its score based on those points. From A to E, from dark green to dark red. Pretty simple so far, right? But what people often don’t know is that the message itself doesn’t say much about the authenticity of the product.
The Nutri-Score at the supermarket says little
It’s hard to compare food. Are apples healthier than cheese? Is salted popcorn more harmful to health than chocolate? Because the products have a completely different composition of nutrients, sometimes you can’t tell. It makes sense that one product contains a lot of sugar, while another says a lot of sugar is added. Therefore, product-specific threshold values are used to calculate the Nutri-Score. This means that the score is only intended to compare products with others in the same category. For example: two types of peanut butter or two different types of frozen pizza. Can frozen pizza have Nutri-Score A? Yes. But you’ll likely be healthier at the end of the day with a salad meal that contains Nutri-Score B.
Nutri-Score contributes to increasing knowledge about food choices. This is very important, because more than half of the Dutch are overweight. In fact, we rank high among the ten fattest countries in Europe.
The abundance of ultra-processed foods likely plays a major role in obesity in the Dutch. In addition to consumers getting better information through the score, it also ensures that producers adapt their products. You may have already noticed that many chip manufacturers have recently changed their recipes. If you can ensure that your chips contain a little less salt than your competitors’ chips and thus get a better result, the choice will be easy, right? Although not everyone is happy about it.
Avoid ultra-processed foods with the Nova rating
You can’t avoid ultra-processed foods in the supermarket. But if Nutri-Score is not a good indicator of health, what is left to make the right decision? First of all, your common sense. You know yourself that it is better not to eat white bread with just chocolate spread. Or that fresh vegetables are usually better than those in a jar.
| Category 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed (fresh) foods |
Category 2: Processed components |
Category 3: Processed foods |
Category 4: Ultra-processed foods |
|---|---|---|---|
| vegetable | sugar | Everything canned (vegetables, fruits, fish) | Soda |
| Fruit | salty | Salted or candied nuts | chips |
| Fresh meat | vinegar | Beer and wine | Candy, pastries and chocolate |
| Fresh fish | oil | Salted and smoked meat | Complex meat products such as hamburgers |
| Pure yogurt | Obesity | cheese | Instant soup |
Not sure about the product? Then it’s best to look at the ingredients list. If it has more than seven ingredients, especially if they’re hard to pronounce, it’s probably already an ultra-processed food. Still need some extra help? Here we explain all about Nova labeling, which is a good way to detect ultra-processed foods.
