Recently published study looks at impact of nutrient profiles on nutrient intakes

July 19th, 2012

The Choices Programme has recently received a positive assessment in a study seeking to determine the potential impact of nutrient profiling – or the categorisation of food products according to their nutrient composition – on nutrient intakes.

Using key-nutrient (energy, trans-fatty acids, saturated fatty acids, sodium, added sugar and fibre) information obtained from studies and surveys in The Netherlands, Greece, Spain, the US, Israel, China and South Africa, researchers devised three Typical Daily Menus for each country.

Average intakes based on these three menus were then compared with average intakes from three Choices Daily Menus. To compose the Choices Menus, foods from the Typical Menus that did not comply with the Choices criteria were replaced with compliant foods available within each market. Comparisons showed that with the Choices Menus, intakes of each of the key nutrients decreased, except for an increased fibre intake. This shows that the Daily Menu Method successfully enables a quantitative calculation of the changes that nutrient profiles can have on a countries’ nutrient intake. Furthermore, it confirms that the Choices criteria are strict enough to potentially help move intakes in a direction that is more favourable for health.

AJC Roodenburg et al. (2011). Potential effects of nutrient profiles on nutrient intakes in the Netherlands, Greece, Spain, USA, Israel, China and South-Africa. PLoS ONE 6 (2)