Accelerating Health Innovation™

Nutrient profiling of foods: creating a nutrient-rich food index

According to this lengthy report, nutrient profiling ("the science of ranking foods based on their nutrient composition") can be useful in helping consumers make better food choices, for regulatory purposes, to determine the importance of food in various populations, and possibly as a method to "monitor and improve the nutrient-to-calorie ratio in the food portfolio of major companies." A proposal by the European Commission to set up nutrient profiles "as the basis for regulating nutrition and health claims" has increased interest in the concept internationally. The European Food Safety Authority is expected to make a decision on the matter by January 9, 2009. These authors report there are "multiple efforts to develop, validate and test nutrient profile models" underway. This 17-page article looks at definitions of nutrient dense foods, how profiling works, and various nutrient profiling models. The article is accompanied by figures showing several models and is followed by a listing of 72 references.

Nutrition Reviews
1/1/2008