Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System

Flaminia Ortenzi; Marit Kolby; Mark Lawrence; Frédéric Leroy; Stella Nordhagen; Stuart M Phillips; Stephan van Vliet; Ty Beal

doi:10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.01.027

Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System

Flaminia Ortenzi, Marit Kolby, Mark Lawrence, Frédéric Leroy, Stella Nordhagen, Stuart M Phillips, Stephan van Vliet, Ty Beal

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

Nutrient Profiling Systems provide frameworks to assess the healthfulness of foods based on food composition and are intended as inputs into strategies to improve diets. Many Nutrient Profiling Systems are founded on a reductionist assumption that the healthfulness of foods is determined by the sum of their individual nutrients, with no consideration for the extent and purpose of processing and its health implications. A novel Nutrient Profiling System called Food Compass attempted to address existing gaps and provide a more holistic assessment of the healthfulness of foods. We propose that the chosen algorithm is not well justified and produces results that fail to discriminate for common shortfall nutrients, exaggerate the risks associated with animal-source foods, and underestimate the risks associated with ultraprocessed foods. We caution against the use of Food Compass in its current form to inform consumer choices, policies, programs, industry reformulations, and investment decisions.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	610-614
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Nutrition
Volume	153
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.01.027
Publication status	Published - Mar 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
SMP reports grants from US National Dairy Council, Roquette Freres, and Dairy Farmers of Canada during the conduct of the study; nonfinancial support from Enhanced Recovery outside the submitted work. In addition, SMP has a patent Canadian 3052324 issued to Exerkine and a patent US 20200230197 pending to Exerkine but reports no financial gains. SvV reports grant support from USDA (2020-38640-31521; 2021-67034-35118), the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture, Applegate LLC, and the Greenacres Foundation during the conduct of the study. SvV reports financial remuneration for academic talks, but does not accept honoraria, consulting fees, or other personal income from food industry groups/companies. ML is a board member of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the views he expresses in this commentary are his alone and not necessarily those of FSANZ. FL reports financial support of the Research Council of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, including the SRP7, IOF3017, IRP11, and IRP21 projects. FL is a board member of various academic nonprofit organizations including the Belgian Association for Meat Science and Technology (president), the Belgian Society for Food Microbiology (president), and the Belgian Nutrition Society. On a nonremunerated basis, he also has a seat in the Scientific Board of the World Farmers’ Organization. The views he expresses in this commentary are his alone and not necessarily those of the aforementioned organizations. All other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Society for Nutrition

Copyright:
Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Food compass
Nutrient profiling system
Food rating system
Micronutrient deficiencies
Ultraprocessed foods

Access to Document

10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.01.027

Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling SystemAccepted author manuscript, 724 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System",

abstract = "Nutrient Profiling Systems provide frameworks to assess the healthfulness of foods based on food composition and are intended as inputs into strategies to improve diets. Many Nutrient Profiling Systems are founded on a reductionist assumption that the healthfulness of foods is determined by the sum of their individual nutrients, with no consideration for the extent and purpose of processing and its health implications. A novel Nutrient Profiling System called Food Compass attempted to address existing gaps and provide a more holistic assessment of the healthfulness of foods. We propose that the chosen algorithm is not well justified and produces results that fail to discriminate for common shortfall nutrients, exaggerate the risks associated with animal-source foods, and underestimate the risks associated with ultraprocessed foods. We caution against the use of Food Compass in its current form to inform consumer choices, policies, programs, industry reformulations, and investment decisions.",

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note = "Funding Information: SMP reports grants from US National Dairy Council, Roquette Freres, and Dairy Farmers of Canada during the conduct of the study; nonfinancial support from Enhanced Recovery outside the submitted work. In addition, SMP has a patent Canadian 3052324 issued to Exerkine and a patent US 20200230197 pending to Exerkine but reports no financial gains. SvV reports grant support from USDA (2020-38640-31521; 2021-67034-35118), the Turner Institute of Ecoagriculture, Applegate LLC, and the Greenacres Foundation during the conduct of the study. SvV reports financial remuneration for academic talks, but does not accept honoraria, consulting fees, or other personal income from food industry groups/companies. ML is a board member of Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and the views he expresses in this commentary are his alone and not necessarily those of FSANZ. FL reports financial support of the Research Council of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, including the SRP7, IOF3017, IRP11, and IRP21 projects. FL is a board member of various academic nonprofit organizations including the Belgian Association for Meat Science and Technology (president), the Belgian Society for Food Microbiology (president), and the Belgian Nutrition Society. On a nonremunerated basis, he also has a seat in the Scientific Board of the World Farmers{\textquoteright} Organization. The views he expresses in this commentary are his alone and not necessarily those of the aforementioned organizations. All other authors report no conflicts of interest. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 American Society for Nutrition Copyright: Copyright 2023 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - van Vliet, Stephan

AU - Beal, Ty

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Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

SRP7: Strategic Research Programme: Understanding the competitiveness and functional role of microorganisms in fermented food ecosystems

Cite this

Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

SRP7: Strategic Research Programme: Understanding the competitiveness and functional role of microorganisms in fermented food ecosystems

Cite this