Nutrient Profiling Systems – The Nutritional Value Score – Diet and Health Today

In summary

* This is the second of a two part note looking at Nutrient Profiling Systems. Last week we looked at Nutrient Profiling Systems generally and one called Food Compass in particular.

* The key takeaway messages from last week were i) that the scores assigned to foods in any Nutrient Profiling System reflect the researchers’ assumptions about foods from the outset. ii) the second point then follows – critique of any system needs to critique the assumptions.

* This week looks at a published critique of Food Compass (2023) and some revisions made to Food Compass in 2024. It then looks at a Nutrient Profiling System, which has just been published by two researchers (Beal and Ortenzi) involved in the critique of Food Compass.

* Beal and Ortenzi presented two Nutrient Profiling Systems in their March 2026 paper. One was called Nutritional Value Score (which included vitamins, minerals, protein, omega–3 fatty acids, fibre, calories, and nutrient ratios). The other was called Nutrient Density Score (which focused solely on protein, vitamins, minerals and omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids).

* This note reviews the two systems, how they addressed the issues in Food Compass, how individual foods compared and how food groups compared. It then shares the main areas for debate and a tool that invites us all to do better ourselves (if we can).

Introduction

Last week we looked at Nutrient Profiling Systems. We noted that the European Nutri-Score system and the Health Star Rating (HSR) in Australia were the only schemes used ‘on the market’ to various extents. The Nutrient Profiling System called Food Compass (Mozaffarian et al) was published in 2021 with bold aims, but it has not become generally used on package labelling (Ref 1).

The key takeaway messages from last week were i) that the scores assigned to foods in any Nutrient Profiling System reflect the researchers’ assumptions about foods from the outset. For example, if fibre is valued, foods with fibre will score well. ii) the second point then follows – critique of any system needs to critique the assumptions.