A proposed nutrient density score that includes food groups and nutrients to better align with dietary guidance

Drewnowski, Adam; Dwyer, Johanna; King, Janet C.; Weaver, Connie M.

doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuz002

Cited by 71 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This policy shift from healthy nutrients to healthy food ingredients was in line with current research on healthy food patterns in the US (15,16). While the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 have continued to stress the importance of excess saturated fat, sugar and salt, the focus of dietary advice has shifted toward the overall quality of habitual food patterns (17).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Dairy and Fruit Listed as Main Ingredients Improve NRF8.3 Nutrient Density Scores of Children's Snacks

Drewnowski

Richonnet²

2020

Front. Nutr.

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Background: The US Food and Drug Administration has modified its regulations on nutrient content claims by considering healthy dietary ingredients as well as nutrients. Objective: To assess the relation between dairy and fruit as main ingredients in children's snacks and the Nutrient Rich Food (NRF8.3) nutrient density score. Methods: Commonly consumed children's snacks in the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom (n = 261) were assigned into USDA What We Eat in America (WWEI) categories. Nutrient composition data came from industry websites, open-source government databases (USDA Standard Reference SR28; CIQUAL), and back-of-pack food labels. Nutrient density was calculated using the Nutrient Rich Food Index NRF8.3. Snacks with dairy or fruit as the first listed ingredient (n = 115) were compared to those that listed neither (n = 146). Snacks that contained fruits-vegetables-nuts (FVN) (n = 88) were compared to those that did not (n = 173). Results: NRF8.3 scores were higher for snacks listing dairy or fruit as main ingredients. Dairy or fruit when listed as the first ingredient were associated with higher percent daily values of protein, fiber, calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin D, lower saturated fat content and a 30-point increment in NRF8.3 scores. The presence of FVN was associated with a 22-point increment in NRF8.3 scores. Conclusion: The correspondence between back-of-pack food ingredients and the nutrient based NRF8.3 scores suggests that ingredients can also be used to communicate the nutritional value of foods to the consumer. Dairy and fruit, when listed as first ingredients, were an important component of the NRF8.3 nutrient density score.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Dairy and Fruit Listed as Main Ingredients Improve NRF8.3 Nutrient Density Scores of Children's Snacks

Drewnowski

Richonnet²

2020

Front. Nutr.

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“…There are also notable exceptions in the use of crop and cultivar‐specific nutritional data in the nutraceutical and functional food sector where cultivar development has been vertically integrated with marketing, including instances of biofortification, and recent increased consumer interest in ‘nutrient dense’ foods . In addition, there are other examples of change in the crop end‐use market to meet global demand, such as the concerted effort over the past 60 years to modify the nutritional attributes of soybean as a protein source.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the food security gap: an information‐led approach to connect dietary nutrition, food composition and crop production

et al. 2019

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BACKGROUND: Food security is recognized as a major global challenge, yet human food-chain systems are inherently not geared towards nutrition, with decisions on crop and cultivar choice not informed by dietary composition. Currently, food compositional tables and databases (FCT/FCDB) are the primary information sources for decisions relating to dietary intake. However, these only present single mean values representing major components. Establishment of a systematic controlled vocabulary to fill this gap requires representation of a more complex set of semantic relationships between terms used to describe nutritional composition and dietary function. RESULTS: We carried out a survey of 11 FCT/FCDB and 177 peer-reviewed papers describing variation in nutritional composition and dietary function for food crops to identify a comprehensive set of terms to construct a controlled vocabulary. We used this information to generate a Crop Dietary Nutrition Data Framework (CDN-DF), which incorporates controlled vocabularies systematically organized into major classes representing nutritional components and dietary functions. We demonstrate the value of the CDN-DF for comparison of equivalent components between crop species or cultivars, for identifying data gaps andpotential for formal meta-analysis. The CDN-DF also enabled us to explore relationships between nutritional components and the functional attributes of food. CONCLUSION: We have generated a structured crop dietary nutrition data framework, which is generally applicable to the collation and comparison of data relevant to crop researchers, breeders, and other stakeholders, and will facilitate dialogue with nutritionists. It is currently guiding the establishment of a more robust formal ontology.

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“…Most recently, a hybrid nutrient density score was proposed that builds upon NRF 6.3 to additionally incorporate food groups that are encouraged in the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans ( i.e. wholegrains, vegetables, fruit, dairy foods, nuts and seeds) (Drewnowski et al ), reflecting the growing shift in the focus of food‐based dietary guidelines from nutrients to dietary patterns. Furthermore, the Elderly‐Nutrient Rich Food (E‐NRF 7.3) score has been developed to assess nutrient density of diets using dietary reference values for older adults for research purposes (Kramer et al ).…”

Section: Examples Of Scoring Systems That Assess the Nutritional Qualmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although food‐based dietary guidelines adopt an approach based on food groups, by contrast, most nutrient profiling models continue to assess the nutrient density of individual foods based on a small number of specific nutrients to be encouraged or to limit. Because current nutrient profiling models may not fully capture the relative healthiness of foods, there may be a case for advancing a hybrid nutrient profiling approach that takes both nutrients and all desirable food groups and food ingredients into account as mentioned above (Maillot et al ; Drewnowski et al ). Some existing models include fruit and vegetables for example (Santé publique France ).…”

Section: What Are the Barriers/facilitators To The Use Of The Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proceedings of a roundtable event ‘Is communicating the concept of nutrient density important?’

et al. 2020

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The British Nutrition Foundation held a 1‐day roundtable event to gather views from a wide range of stakeholders on the relevance and importance of the concept of nutrient density in supporting and motivating people to make healthier dietary choices. The opportunities and barriers associated with the use of this concept were also explored. The roundtable involved experts from research, public health nutrition, dietetics, retail and nutrition science communication, and this report describes the main themes emerging from the discussions. High obesity prevalence rates indicate that, on average, we are consuming too many calories relative to energy requirements; yet, the quality of our diets, with respect to certain vitamins and minerals and fibre, seems to be falling somewhat short of recommendations. Addressing this issue may require a more holistic approach than the current focus on restricting single nutrients prevalent in public health messaging internationally. Most members of the roundtable felt that communicating the concept of nutrient density may help in encouraging healthier food choices and dietary patterns that are higher in nutritional quality. However, while nutrient profiling has been used to guide front‐of‐pack labelling and in restricting the advertising of less healthy foods to children, there is a lack of consensus on the precise definition of a ‘nutrient dense’ food or which nutrients should be used as markers of the ‘healthiness’ of foods/drinks, and the term seems to be poorly understood by consumers and health professionals alike. Therefore, further work is required if tools around this concept are to be developed to try and successfully promote behaviour change.

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A proposed nutrient density score that includes food groups and nutrients to better align with dietary guidance

Cited by 71 publications

References 39 publications

Dairy and Fruit Listed as Main Ingredients Improve NRF8.3 Nutrient Density Scores of Children's Snacks

Dairy and Fruit Listed as Main Ingredients Improve NRF8.3 Nutrient Density Scores of Children's Snacks

Bridging the food security gap: an information‐led approach to connect dietary nutrition, food composition and crop production

Proceedings of a roundtable event ‘Is communicating the concept of nutrient density important?’

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