Updated at: 11/03/2009 6:01 PM
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Medical Report: Food Ratings
A new way of rating food, called the Nuval Scoring System, assigns a " healthiness" score to food items on a scale of 1 to 100. When researchers tested the score out on consumers, they found that 93% thought it would be helpful to have at their grocery store, and 66% said they would be more likely to shop at a store that had this rating on its products. Researchers at Yale University used the Overall Nutritional Quality Index to score foods based on all the nutrients they contain, such as vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and healthy omega-3 fast, while taking into account the not-so-nutritious things they contain, such as sugar, trans fat, and cholesterol. Researchers hope this grading system will help consumers cut through the misleading hype on some food packaging that can be make unhealthy items seem healthier than they are.
