HealthLink: Helping consumers make nutrient-dense food choices
Prompted by concerns that North American diets have become increasingly energy-rich and nutrient-poor, the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourage people to replace some foods in their diets with more nutrient-dense choices. To help consumers make more nutrient-dense food choices, the US Food and Drug Administration has proposed allowing health claims based on a nutrient density standard. The October issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition features a review on setting such standards. According to this review, the “Naturally Nutrient Rich” (NNR) concept introduced in the June issue of BIC HealthLink provides a useful way to assign a nutrient density score to individual foods.
The NNR score assesses the nutrients in foods in relation to the food energy they provide. It takes into account nutrients selected based on past efforts to define healthy diets. The initial version was based on 14 nutrients including protein, calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin C, thiamine, riboflavin, folate, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, Vitamin E, potassium and monounsaturated fat. A more recent version featuring 16 nutrients also includes fibre and vitamin B-5 (pantothenic acid). In its simplest version, the NNR score is calculated as the average of the % Daily Values for the 14 key nutrients based on 2000 kcal food.
The NNR scores of most vegetables and fruit are high, with some exceptions such as fried potatoes and potato chips. Avocados also have relatively high NNR scores even though their fat content is higher. More caloric choices such as raisins or fruit in heavy syrup have lower NNR scores than fresh grapes, fruit in light syrup or other fresh fruit. In the grain products group, whole-grain products score higher than some bakery goods, sweets and desserts.
The NNR scores for protein-rich foods such as lean meats, lower fat milk products and legumes are also high. The NNR score correctly ranks milk and meat products according to their fat content. For example, lean cuts of beef and lean ground beef have higher NNR scores than regular ground beef, which in turn score higher than fried chicken.
The review acknowledges that the NNR approach is at present limited to nutrient and energy content. Other considerations for a more complete assessment of the nutritional value of foods would include measures of nutrient bioavailability, glycemia and satiety.
CONSUMER TIP:
Choose nutrient-rich foods from each of the four food groups first to meet your nutrient needs within your daily energy needs.
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A. Drewnowski.
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