Parents can use a simple formula to expose whether or not a food they want to give their kids is nutritious or not. Parents do not have to wait for official seals of approval. It is a little work but if you are stumped from reading nutrition labels and want the simple yes or no that a food product is healthy food–use the formula below. Another tool for child healthy eating.

We will be making this easy for you—you will look for our new logo on food packaging soon. In the meantime you can figure it out for yourself if you really want to know if a food or drink is nutritious or not. To figure it out, you need to look at the values per 100 grams.

It is often very hard to determine if a food is nutritious or not. But although the ranking is determined per 100 grams. Don’t eat the whole pack if the food is nutritious–watch the serving sizes.

There are three steps to working out the overall score for the food or drink.

1. Work out total ‘A’ points

A maximum of ten points can be awarded for each nutrient.

Total ‘A’ points = (points for energy) + (points for saturated fat) + (points for sugars) + (points for sodium)

The following table indicates the points scored, depending on the content of each nutrient in 100g of the food:

If a food or drink scores 11 or more ‘A’ points then it cannot score points for protein unless it also scores 5 points for fruit, veg and nuts.

2. Work out total ‘C’ points

A maximum of five points can be awarded for each nutrient/food component.

Total ‘C’ points = (points for fruit, veg & nut content) + (points for fibre [either NSP or AOAC]) + (points for protein)

The following table indicates the points scored, depending on the content of each nutrient/food component in 100g of the food:

*If a food or drink scores 5 points for fruit, veg & nuts the ‘A’ nutrient cut-off no longer applies.

3. Work out overall score

If a food scores less than 11 ‘A’ points then the overall score is calculated as follows:

Overall score = (total ‘A’ points) minus (total ‘C’ points)

If a food scores 11 or more ‘A’ points but scores 5 points for fruit, vegetables and nuts then the overall score is calculated as follows:

Overall score = (total ‘A’ points) minus (total ‘C’ points)

If a food scores 11 or more ‘A’ points but also scores less than 5 points for fruit, veg and nuts then the overall score is calculated as follows:

Overall score = (total ‘A’ points) minus (fibre points + fruit, veg and nuts points only) [i.e. not allowed to score points for protein]

A food is classified as ‘less healthy’ where it scores 4 points or more.
A drink is classified as ‘less healthy’ where it scores 1 point or more.

Related links

Nutrient profiles: Development of final model – final report pdf file 338kb

Nutrient profiling model: Guidance notes on how to calculate scores for fruit and vegetables in processed foods

See also: