Healthy food at your fingertips: how to use the Food Compass tool
Nowadays, food and nutrition have become one of the most important topics in the world. Over the past few decades, the number of people suffering from diet-related diseases has increased, and at the same time public awareness of the impact of diet on health and well-being has also increased. For this reason, researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University set out to develop the Food Compass, a tool that helps assess the quality of food based on its impact on health.
In the article, we will present the idea of Food Compass, describe what factors are taken into account when assessing food and what benefits the use of this tool brings. We will also present the results of research that confirms the effectiveness of Food Compass in assessing food quality and its impact on health.
Food Compass is a tool created by researchers at Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy to help assess food quality based on its health impacts. The idea of the tool is based on the belief that food has a huge impact on health and that understanding the effects of food on the body is crucial for maintaining good health. Food Compass focuses on five key factors influencing food quality: nutritional value, calorie content, level of processing, presence of additives and chemicals, and sustainable food production. Based on these factors, the tool evaluates the quality of food and its impact on health, and then assigns it a score. The aim of Food Compass is to increase public awareness of the impact of food on health and to help consumers make informed dietary decisions. With this tool, consumers can choose food products with better quality and beneficial health effects, which can contribute to improving the health status of the population as a whole.
Food Compass takes into account five key factors that affect food quality. These are:
Nutritional value - the tool examines the content of nutrients in food, such as proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The higher the nutritional value, the better the quality of food.
Calorie content – Food Compass also examines the amount of calories in food. Products with a low calorie content are considered more beneficial to health.
Level of processing - the tool evaluates the level of food processing, i.e. the degree of processing to which the food was subjected. The lower the level of processing, the better the quality of food.
Presence of additives and chemicals – Food Compass also examines the presence of additives and chemicals such as preservatives, dyes and flavor enhancers. Products without these substances are considered more beneficial to health.
Sustainable food production - the tool also assesses whether food has been produced sustainably, i.e. whether environmental standards, animal welfare and food production ethics have been maintained.
All these factors are taken into account when assessing food quality with Food Compass, which allows for a more comprehensive assessment of the health and environmental impact of food.
Using the Food Compass tool has many benefits for consumers and society as a whole. Here are a few:
Easier Informed Nutrition Decision-Making – Food Compass enables consumers to make food choices more easily by providing information about food quality. Thanks to this, customers can better control their eating habits and choose products with a more beneficial effect on health.
Improving the health of the population – Using Food Compass can help improve the health of the population as consumers choose foods with better quality and more beneficial health effects. This, in turn, can contribute to reducing the number of cases of diet-related diseases such as obesity, diabetes or heart disease.
Maintaining a sustainable lifestyle - Food Compass also explores sustainable food production, which can encourage consumers to choose products from organic sources and sustainable production. This, in turn, can help protect the environment and promote a sustainable lifestyle.
Supporting transparency in the food industry – Food Compass can help promote transparency in the food industry by requiring manufacturers to disclose food quality information. This, in turn, can encourage producers to produce better quality food and affect the quality of the products offered.
All these benefits indicate that the Food Compass tool has the potential to change consumers' eating habits and influence the quality of the food offered.
The Food Compass tool is a relatively new tool, which is why there are not many studies confirming its effectiveness yet. However, several studies already conducted suggest that Food Compass may be a useful tool for assessing food quality and the health impact of diet.
One study conducted at Tufts University examined the association between Food Compass scores and risk factors for cardiovascular disease. The researchers compared the Food Compass scores for different diets and showed that people who ate a healthier diet had better Food Compass scores. They also found that people who ate a diet with a higher Food Compass value had lower cholesterol levels and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Another study by researchers at the University of Toronto assessed how Food Compass helps consumers make more informed food decisions. The results showed that after learning about the Food Compass results, customers were more likely to choose healthy products and had more knowledge about the health effects of food. In addition, research shows that the use of Food Compass can help detect dietary deficiencies and encourage the introduction of healthier foods, which in turn can improve health. Overall, although more research is needed, existing research indicates that Food Compass is a promising tool in assessing food quality and in making informed dietary decisions, which can affect health and reduce diet-related diseases.
1. Clinical Application of the Food Compass Score: Positive Association to Mediterranean Diet Score, Health Star Rating System and an Early Eating Pattern in University Students Detopoulou P, Syka D, [...] Panoutsopoulos G Diseases 2022, Vol. 10, Page 43 (2022) 10(3) 43
2. Food Compass is a nutrient profiling system using expanded characteristics for assessing healthfulness of foods Dariush Mozaffarian, Naglaa H. El-Abbadi et al. Nature Food 2021 2:10, 2, 10, 10 2021
3. A Sustainability Compass for policy navigation to sustainable food systems Aniek Hebinck, Monika Zurek et al. Global Food Security, 29, 6 2021