The overall nutritional quality index was a nutritional rating system developed at the

Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center is one of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)'s 26 Prevention Research Centers. It was established in 1998 with a grant from the CDC. It is part of the Yale School of Public Health, and is based at Grif ...

in 2008. A proprietary algorithm assigned foods a score between 1 and 100 intended to reflect the overall nutritional value a portion of the given food provided. The system was marketed commercially as NuVal by NuVal, LLC, a joint venture with

Topco Associates Topco Associates LLC is the largest American retail food GPO (Group Purchasing Organization) and the sixth largest private company in Illinois. History On September 28, 1944, to deal with wartime shortages, a small cooperative named Food Coope ...

. Over 1600 grocery stores in the United States placed NuVal scores on product shelf tags next to the price. The commercial product was discontinued in 2017 amid accusations of conflicts of interest and criticism of NuVal LLC's refusal to publish the algorithm. Either of which may have contributed to some inconsistencies in scoring where certain processed foods scored higher than, for instance, canned fruits and vegetables.

Description

The algorithm considers thirty nutrient factors, like the relative portions of vitamins,

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone and fatty acids that each contain a long linear or branched c ...

, and

trans fats Trans fat, also called trans-unsaturated fatty acids, or trans fatty acids, is a type of unsaturated fat that naturally occurs in small amounts in meat and milk fat. It became widely produced as an unintentional byproduct in the industrial p ...

and the quality of the protein and fat, and produces a score from one to 100. Higher scores represent greater overall nutritional value. However, the actual algorithm, including the relative weights of the nutrients, was never disclosed to the public. Broccoli,

blueberries Blueberries are a widely distributed and widespread group of perennial flowering plants with blue or purple berries. They are classified in the section ''Cyanococcus'' within the genus ''Vaccinium''. ''Vaccinium'' also includes cranberries, bi ...

, okra, oranges, and green beans were some foods that received the best score (100) while ice pops and

soft drinks A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a s ...

received the worst (1).

Selected NuVal Scores

References

External links

Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center
{{Authority control Nutrition Rating systems

Description

Selected NuVal Scores

See also

References

External links