Food and Health Fact #117

Fact #117: A new scoresheet for the healthfulness of foods and beverages

October 20, 2021

By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #117: A new scoresheet for the healthfulness of foods and beverages

Find all previously published Food and Health Facts here

Which foods are the best and worst for your health? And how do different foods rank in terms being healthy or unhealthy? Those questions and others are answered with a new nutrient profiling system developed by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts. Known as Food Compass and published last week, a wide variety of foods and beverages are given scores ranging from 1 (least healthy) to 100 (most healthy). Items receiving scores of 70 or higher are encouraged; from 31 to 69 are to be consumed in moderation; and less than 30 are to be minimized. Select foods and beverages and their scores:

  • 1: Gatorade, pita bread, Three Musketeers

  • 3: McDonald’s cheeseburger

  • 11: Cranberry juice

  • 19: Kellogg’s Corn Flakes

  • 28: Candied apple

  • 30: Naan (Indian flatbread)

  • 44: Coconut water, sweetened

  • 51 Canned pineapple in heavy syrup

  • 55: 100% apple juice

  • 56: Grape Nuts

  • 60: Buckwheat pancakes

  • 73: Quinoa

  • 78: 100% orange juice with calcium, chocolate covered almonds

  • 83: Bananas

  • 91: Salted almonds

  • 95: Cheerios

  • 100: Low sodium 100% tomato juice

  • 100: Strawberries, peaches, grapefruit, oranges, blackberries

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