Watch your NuVal scores!
It’s the night of the big game! Your family and friends are all gathered around the TV. As you survey the room, you notice some die-hard fans know each team’s stats and refuse to miss a single play. Then you have some casual observers: They like football well enough, but they don’t really understand all the jargon. They just want to know the score.
When going into the grocery store to select foods for your family, you may feel like the second group of fans.
You want to know which product is the most nutritious, but you don’t understand all those complicated statistics and technical information. You just want to know the final score.
This is where the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System comes in. The NuVal Scoring System places foods on a scale of 1 to 100; the higher the score, the better the nutrition. And it’s both free and easy to use!
The scores for many foods are posted right next to them, on an easy-to-read label on the grocery-store shelf. All you have to do is look at that one number, and you’ll get a good idea of the overall nutritional value of that food. (Fresh blueberries, for instance, get a perfect score, 100.)
Thirty different nutrients and nutrition factors are factored into the final score. This information is taken from the nutrition facts panel and the ingredients list.
Assume each of these 30 nutrients is like a play in the big game. Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals? Those are like a play where the quarterback beautifully throws the ball right into the receiver’s hands for a touchdown – those nutrients help increase the NuVal score. Things like trans fats, sodium, cholesterol and sugar? That’s like an interception. Those nutrients all negatively affect the final NuVal score.
So think of NuVal as a box score. It takes all those beautiful passes and heart
-breaking interceptions and gives you the score that matters. So you can put two products head to head, and without worrying about every little statistic, you can easily determine which one wins.
Published 01/04/12
