Coming To A Supermarket Near You

Posted by Susan - 01/19/09 at 09:01:09 am

Over the next year you will start to see a new “number” in your grocery stores - the Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI).  This new index is being marketed under the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System and was to have launched in three major US supermarket chains this past September, although I have not been able to pinpoint the names of the three chains.

The system, developed over a two-year period by a panel of 12 medical and nutrition experts from leading North American universities and health organizations, uses a proprietary algorithmic formula to score the nutritional value of foods on a scale of one to 100, weighing some 30 different nutrient factors including fiber, Vitamin content, Omega 3 fatty acids, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, sugar, protein quality, energy density, glycemic load, et al.

A higher ONQI score reflects foods with higher nutritional value, offering consumers the opportunity to evaluate products within and across specific food categories -

• Fruits & Vegetables
• Meat & Poultry
• Seafood
• Frozen Vegetables
• Canned Vegetables
• Salty Snacks
• Cereal
• Cookies
• Crackers
• Pasta

So, now shoppers can literally compare apples to oranges, as well as apples to chocolate, apples to potato chips and just about anything else you would care to compare an apple to.

My Two Cents:

I have admit that I am pretty skeptical about the value of this system.  Do we really need someone to tell us that Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux Cookies (ONQI score: 2) are not as healthy for us as blueberries (ONQI score: 100)?

As Michael Pollan points out in his stellar book, In Defense of Food, if you stick to the perimeter of the supermarket and eat foods that your great grandparents would recognize as food, the better your overall nutrition will likely be.

Clearly, processed foods are not as good as whole foods.

Clearly, we are in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

Historically, in times of recession consumers turn to cheaper food options such as energy-dense foods high in starch, sugar and fat.

This past December, New York’s Governor, David Paterson, proposed an 18% sales tax on sugary beverages such as soda.  The estimated $404 million that this tax would generate over the course of a year would go towards funding public health programs, including obesity prevention programs, across New York State.

This to me seems like a step in the right direction.  The next obvious step would be to subsidize more healthy foods (fruits and vegetables) so that consumers have a great incentive to buy them.

The real “numbers” consumers need to help motivate them to purchase more healthful foods are the numbers that will impact their wallets.

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan

www.catapultfitnessblog.com

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