The NutriScore System: How To Understand It?

In November 2018, Spain adopted the NutriScore system as nutritional labeling, which will be mandatory to apply within approximately two years. In other words, by the end of 2020 all food front labels must follow this system.

The aim of this method is to make it easier for the consumer to understand nutritional labels based on a traffic light classification : good nutritional qualities are marked in green, while bad nutritional qualities are marked in red. Despite everything, the NutriScore has not been liked by all nutrition professionals due to the criteria it uses to categorize foods.

How does NutriScore work?

NutriScore is a frontal nutritional labeling system, that is, visible on the front of the package, which classifies foods in categories from A to E based on their nutritional value.

These categories are represented as a traffic light: A, dark green, would be the best; while the E, red, would be the worst.

NutriScore awards points (from the English score ) to foods based on their nutritional quality for every 100 g or 100 ml. Items considered “unfavorable” are assigned points on a scale from 0 to 10; while the favorable ones are applied a scale from 0 to 5.

• Favorable items would be protein, fiber, and vitamins. Foods rich in these elements will get “green” scores (A, B and C).
  For example, at this end of the traffic light we could find fruits and vegetables.
• Unfavorable items would be simple sugars, saturated fat, salt, and total calories. Foods with a high percentage of these items will score “orange and red” (D and E). The most notable examples would be industrial pastries and salty snacks.

Ultra-processed products are responsible for the increased risk of obesity and diabetes, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition . For this reason, it is convenient to identify them to reduce their consumption.

The NutriScore system algorithm

These points are used to calculate the final nutritional value of the food, following the following algorithm.

• Bad points are awarded first, based on energy, sugars, fats, and sodium.
• All unfavorable points are added.
• Then the favorable points are awarded, according to the percentage of fruits and vegetables present, and the amount of fiber and protein.
• The favorable points are added.
• The favorable points are subtracted from the unfavorable ones.

The NutriScore system is based on a scoring algorithm.

Despite its limitations, NutriScore has been shown in several studies to be a useful nutrition awareness tool. Even people without knowledge of nutrition and sanitation chose products of higher nutritional quality when guided by this logo.

The fact that the NutriScore system helps make better nutritional decisions would go a long way to improve the diet and health of consumers in general. However, it is necessary to know how to interpret it to make adequate decisions based on this system.