New nutrition score makes nutrient-dense foods more visible

In an article recently published in the leading Journal of Nutrition, the authors propose a new nutrition score designed to assess food on several levels at once: not only on energy or on one or a few individual nutrients, but on the combined nutritional value of all beneficial components.[1] The core idea matters from many angles: a food is only truly valuable when it does several things well at the same time.

Towards a smarter Nutri-Score

The new Nutritional Value Score (NVS) was developed to rank foods better based on their nutrient density. This means the score looks at how many useful nutrients a product provides relative to the whole. Think of vitamins, minerals, protein and n-3 fatty acids, and not just “how much is in it?” but above all “what does it contribute?”. Nutrients receive the most weight when deficiencies in them are the most widespread and have major consequences for public health.

That is a big difference from systems that mainly focus on one or more negative factors, such as sugar or fat. A product can be low in sugar but also of little value, while another product is rich in essential nutrients and should therefore score much higher.

Widely used nutrition scores such as the Nutri-Score greatly simplify nutritional quality. Important nuances can be lost: nutrient density, the bioavailability of nutrients, and the fact that some energy-dense products actually contain many valuable nutrients. Especially for products such as nuts, fish, dairy or organ meat, such a label can give too narrow a picture of their real nutritional value.

These systems are usually intended as a comparison tool within a single product group, while consumers quickly see the label as a general verdict on healthiness. Moreover, it is rarely clear what that product group is.

Many commonly used nutritional value indexes calculate nutritional value per calorie. This can underestimate the value of nutritious but energy-dense products.

Equally notable is that many systems do not take into account differences in the bioavailability of important nutrients, such as iron, zinc and essential amino acids. In addition, many indexes include nutrients of limited public health relevance, including phosphorus and dietary cholesterol.

Finally, the health focus is often on limiting nutrients rather than on nutrient ratios. The latter is often a better predictor of disease.

How the score is built

The NVS does not reward food so much for happening to have one strong point, but mainly when it performs well on several nutritional dimensions at once. The more positive properties come together, the higher the score. The score works as a weighted combination of seven normalized nutritional characteristics. Vitamins and minerals receive the greatest emphasis, 20% each, followed by protein at 12.5% and n-3 fatty acids at 10%. Other components make up the rest of the score.

Normalization means that each nutrient is placed on a common scale, so that vitamins do not automatically dominate everything simply because they are measured in different units than protein or fat. Without normalization, a score could become skewed and rate a food unjustly high or low. With normalization, the system can determine which product offers the best overall package of nutritional value.

• A handful of nuts can provide relatively many healthy fats and some minerals.
• A portion of legumes can provide plenty of protein and minerals.
• Vegetables can be rich in vitamins and minerals, but contain less energy and protein.

What the score makes visible

In short, the score shows where foods are strong on several fronts at once. Organ meat, dark green leafy vegetables, fish and shellfish came out best. Soft drinks, grain-based pastries, instant noodles, packaged ultra-processed snacks and refined grains scored lowest. The reasons for high scores vary:

• Salmon can score high thanks to protein combined with n-3 fatty acids.
• Lentils can score high thanks to protein, minerals and fiber-rich nutritional quality.
• Dark green vegetables can score high thanks to vitamins and minerals.
• Fortified dairy scores well thanks to a combination of protein, calcium and other micronutrients.

It is also important that no single food scores high on all components. Spinach, with the third-highest score, scores high on most components but has an n-3 score of only 10. The foods with the highest vitamin scores are organ meat and dark green leafy vegetables, including spinach. The foods with the highest overall nutritional value scores are fish and shellfish (especially dried varieties), dried okra, organ meat, dark green leafy vegetables and game.

Of interest to paleo fans: foods of animal origin, especially organ meat, generally score better on the NVS scale than on the Nutri-Score scale. Starchy staples (especially refined grains), fruit, legumes, nuts and seeds, and vegetables other than dark leafy greens, on the other hand, generally score better on the Nutri-Score scale.

Implications

The NVS was not designed as a front-of-pack label. It produces a continuous score that, for now, is mainly intended to support policy and program decisions. Translating the NVS into a consumer label would require simplification and is still some way off.

In the meantime, the development of scores such as the NVS does make you rethink the definition of healthy food. Instead of asking “is this low in fat?” or “is this low in sugar?”, an essential question is: “How much real nutritional value does this product offer as a whole?”

The added value of this question lies in the shift from an anti-negative to a pro-positive nutritional evaluation. Many labels and rating systems mainly say what you should limit. Scores might rather indicate what you should value.

In short, scores are not just a calculation tool, they reflect a way of thinking. Their development invites us to see nutrition as a sum of valuable contributions, in which the best products are not merely “less bad” but actually bring a lot of good.

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Reference

[1] Beal, Ty, and Flaminia Ortenzi. "Nutritional Value Score Rates Foods Based on Nutrient Density and Noncommunicable Disease Prevention." The Journal of Nutrition (2026): 101443.