UK traffic light system to guide choices for nutrient content on product labels.

Will it find its way to the shores of North America and Australasia?

[follow the Wikipedia links]

What's New in this edition of the Berry Doctor's Journal?

• A visual traffic light or a single number to represent overall nutrient content on food labels. Which do you prefer?
• Change is coming to the way nutrient contents of food and beverages are represented to consumers.
• Berry products and superfruit juices are too often compromised in nutrient content from the natural fruit. Processing diminishes or eliminates nutrients, and manufacturers don't emphasize real nutrient content of their products.
• Won't a single visual system like either of these help your choice of the next berry or superfruit product you buy?

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Berry and superfruit products have variable qualities of nutrient content, some evidently containing low-to-absent levels of essential nutrients.

Just check out the Nutrition Facts panel on the next product you buy.

Where is vitamin C? Where is dietary fiber?

Where are other essential vitamins and minerals?

-- the nutrients called "essential" because they are required for human health?

So what are we getting of dietary value

when we buy these products?

We previously reviewed the Overall Nutrition Quality Index as a

numerical score of 1-100 appearing on product labels

in the United States during 2008.

It's also called the NuVal Scoring System, click!

Simply, high nutrient foods have high NuVal scores

approaching 100 and low nutrient products score closer to zero.

The NuVal will appear as a large single number

-- a score visible on the product packaging.

A smoothie blended with

• 3-4 kinds of berries
• low-fat yogurt
• fortified soy milk
• flax seeds
• cinnamon

would get a high NuVal score of about 95.

A serving of french fries would get a low NuVal score of about 5.

Manufacturers of superfruit juices often claim their products are

nutrient-rich due to the number of exotic fruits or berries

included in the blend, but their product labels

contain no nutrient information.

Does this occur because processing has destroyed

all the natural nutrients?

So, the American NuVal system would show a single number for overall nutrient quality and the British system would use a familiar visual cue -- a traffic light -- to highlight select nutrient contents or expose those with no nutrients

• red = warning! Stop! Don't buy this product! Low-zero nutrient content!
• yellow = caution, potential nutrient content issues
• green = go ahead, all's well, nutrient content is fine

British Food Standards Agency, click for website

Watch for these guides coming

soon to your grocery store!