Using an app to rate food for nutrition? Take the results with a grain of salt

Food apps tin beryllium useful because they put much accusation successful nan hands of nan consumer. But different apps tin springiness nan aforesaid nutrient different results. AJ_Watt/Getty Images hide caption

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AJ_Watt/Getty Images

Food apps that complaint nan healthfulness of packaged foods person go progressively popular. You tin scan a nutrient package pinch your telephone camera and nan app will rank it for its nutritional content. Some apps will emblem ingredients and additives. If nan merchandise you scan gets a mediocre rating, galore apps will propose an replacement successful nan aforesaid nutrient category.

But do they really thief consumers make healthier choices?

They can, arsenic agelong arsenic you attack nan usage of these apps pinch a definite level of skepticism and support immoderate caveats successful mind, nutrition and nationalist wellness argumentation experts say.

"If you're conscionable starting off, you want to eat healthier, you want thing to thief you decode a small spot what's connected nan nutrition facts explanation and ingredients, I deliberation it's a useful measurement to start," says Jerold Mande, an adjunct professor of nutrition astatine Harvard University and a erstwhile national nutrient argumentation charismatic who helped designed the nutrition facts explanation that appears connected astir each packaged foods successful nan U.S.

These days, Mande says he often turns to nutrient scanner apps erstwhile he shops for groceries — he uses some Open Food Facts and Yuka, a celebrated app that ranks nutrient products connected a standard of zero to 100 based connected nutritional contented and nan beingness of additives, pinch prize points granted to integrated products.

He says these apps tin thief nudge consumers toward healthier choices, though sometimes nan results provided tin time off him a spot puzzled.

For example, connected a caller travel to nan market store, Mande says he utilized an app to people 2 versions of store-brand tortilla chips. The plain type of nan chips sewage a precocious score, while nan other, pinch a tequila lime flavoring, scored poorly.

"There was almost an 80-point quality successful their score," he says. "I'm not judge it really is justified by nan ingredients. But it's adjuvant to spot really products are scored and it makes you deliberation again astir what's successful them."

Sometimes, different apps tin supply different scores for nan aforesaid product, arsenic I discovered erstwhile I tested respective apps astatine a market shop alongside registered dietitian Lindsay Moyer of nan Center for Science successful nan Public Interest, a user defense group.

For instance, erstwhile we scanned an integrated almond butter, nan Yuka app gave it a people of 78 retired of 100, which is considered "excellent," though nan app did emblem it arsenic a high-calorie food. Another app, called ZOE Health, which focuses connected nutritional content, nan level of processing a nutrient has undergone, and different factors, besides gave nan seed food nan greenish light. But a popular app called Bobby Approved, which focuses connected ingredients, flagged it arsenic not approved because it contained cane sugar.

Moyer says that, arsenic a registered dietician, she advises group not to worry astir a small spot of sweetener successful their peanut aliases almond butter, because arsenic a full these are nutritious foods, arsenic agelong arsenic you don't eat nan full jar successful 1 sitting.

In a connection to NPR, Bobby Parrish, nan societal media nutrient influencer who developed Bobby Approved, said: "We return a clear position focused connected clean, minimally processed ingredients, avoiding refined sugars, inflammatory oils, and artificial additives. We respect that different experts whitethorn prioritize things differently."

Julie Chapon, nan co-founder and CEO of Yuka, agrees that getting different assessments from different apps tin beryllium confusing. "These differences often stem from nan truth that each app uses its ain methodology, pinch varying degrees of transparency and technological grounding," she wrote NPR successful an email.

Chapon says Yuka's assessments of nutritional value are based connected Nutri-Score, a nutritional standing strategy utilized by galore European countries. She says nan institution has its ain technological team, "which continuously monitors nan latest independent studies and charismatic wellness authority assessments. This allows america to measure each additive based connected nan astir up-to-date and reliable grounds available."

Food scanner apps tin beryllium useful because they put much accusation successful nan hands of consumers, Moyer says. If you do usage an app, she recommends opting for ones that measure nutrient connected their wide nutrient contented — for illustration fiber, protein, sweetener and fat — alternatively of those that conscionable attraction connected nan beingness of azygous ingredients. She says successful galore cases, really overmuch of an constituent is utilized — specified arsenic nan sweetener successful nan seed food we scanned — is much important to wellness than whether immoderate is coming astatine all.

And, she says, attack nan results apps springiness you pinch a atom of salt. She's heard stories of group throwing retired nan full contents of their room pantry aft scanning their packaged foods.

"It's important not to panic, because immoderate of nan measurement that these apps complaint nutrient additives successful nan ingredients database is simply a small spot overblown. This whitethorn not beryllium a information interest aliases a logic not to eat nan food," she says.

She besides suggests looking for apps that are transparent astir what information sources they guidelines their ratings connected and really they scope their assessments.

And apps unsocial won't thief consumers make healthier choices, says Sundus Mahdi, a nationalist wellness nutrition interrogator astatine nan University of York successful nan U.K. who has studied really nutrient apps power user behavior. She says grounds suggests apps tin nudge consumers toward amended choices, but nan wide effect tends to beryllium small. "Food apps are great," Mahdi says.

"The mostly are free. They're accessible. People for illustration them. They thief summation awareness. They amended nutrition knowledge. But are they capable to amended dietary intake? Are they going to lick nan nation's obesity problem? Probably not, and decidedly not connected their own," Mahdi says.

Still, erstwhile national nutrient argumentation charismatic Jerold Mande says he thinks apps are nan early of nutrient labeling, and he thinks nan authorities could thief make them much useful by mounting standards for nan information utilized successful apps. He'd besides for illustration to spot nan authorities activity pinch companies to build a communal database of what's successful our food. The Department of Agriculture has a food database, but he says it's incomplete.

Chapon says a communal database could beryllium a affirmative step, but she worries it could beryllium taxable to undue manufacture influence.

For now though, if apps time off you a spot confused, Mande suggests checking nan constituent database connected nan package. The ones utilized nan astir look first. "Looking astatine conscionable nan apical 3 ingredients successful nan constituent database is different useful measurement you tin determine what nutrient is successful this food," he says. "If it starts disconnected pinch sugar, for example, that should beryllium concerning."

Or you tin ever move to immoderate elemental mathematics to thief you measure nan healthfulness of foods, says Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, head of nan Food Is Medicine Institute astatine Tufts University.

He says 3 different ratios tin beryllium very helpful.

Fiber to carbohydrates ratio: First, look for foods that person astatine slightest 1 gram of fibre for each 10 grams of carbohydrates — the much fiber, nan better, Mozaffarian says. One cup of blackberries, for example, contains 8 grams of fibre per 14 grams of carbohydrates.

"We and others person published studies that find that ratio gives an wide consciousness of carbohydrate quality" successful a fixed food, he says.

Sodium to potassium ratio: Look for products that have arsenic overmuch aliases much potassium than sodium, "because potassium straight offsets nan harms of sodium," he says. One cup of greenish beans contains 211 mg of potassium and 6 mg of sodium.

Saturated fat to full fat ratio: Unsaturated fats are very bully for wide health, and "we should beryllium seeking them retired successful our food," Mozaffarian says. It's nan saturated fats you person to watch retired for, because they tin origin problems pinch cholesterin and summation nan consequence of bosom disease. He says you want to eat foods wherever saturated fat is nary much than 1 3rd of nan full fat content.

And remember, nan healthiest foods — for illustration fruits and vegetables — often don't travel pinch a barcode. Those are nan ones we should beryllium eating nan most.

Edited by Jane Greenhalgh