- With Mayo Clinic nutritionist
Jennifer K. Nelson, M.S., R.D., L.D.
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Jennifer K. Nelson, M.S., R.D., L.D.
Jennifer K. Nelson, M.S., R.D., L.D.
Jennifer K. Nelson is your link to a better diet. As specialty editor for food and nutrition, she plays a vital role in bringing you healthy recipes and meal planning.
"Nutrition is one way people have direct control over the quality of their lives," she says. "I hope to translate the science of nutrition into ways that people can select and prepare great-tasting foods that help maintain health and treat disease."
A St. Paul, Minn., native, she is a Registered Dietitian, has been with Mayo Clinic since 1978, and is director of clinical dietetics and an associate professor of nutrition at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
She leads clinical nutrition efforts for a staff of more than 65 clinical dietitians and nine dietetic technicians and oversees staffing, strategic and financial planning, and quality improvement. Nelson was co-editor of the James Beard Foundation Award-winning "The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook." She has been a contributing author to and reviewer of many Mayo Clinic books, including "Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight for EveryBody," "The Mayo Clinic Family Health Book" and "The Mayo Clinic/Williams Sonoma Cookbook." She contributes to the strategic direction of the nutrition, healthy eating and healthy recipes on www.mayoclinic.com, which includes creating recipes and menus, reviewing nutrition content of various articles, contributing to the Nutrition-Wise blog, and answering nutrition questions.
Nutrition basics (21)
- Diet soda: Is it bad for you?
- Water softeners: How much sodium do they add?
- Caffeine: Is it dehydrating or not?
- see all in Nutrition basics
Healthy diets (8)
- Diverticulitis diet: Can certain foods trigger an attack?
- Butter vs. margarine: Which is better for my heart?
- Canola oil: Does it contain toxins?
- see all in Healthy diets
Healthy cooking (10)
- Lentils: How do I cook with them?
- Food poisoning: How long can you safely keep leftovers?
- Canned pumpkin: Better than fresh?
- see all in Healthy cooking
Healthy menus and shopping strategies (6)
- Calories in sushi: What are the low-cal options?
- Vegetable juice: As good as whole vegetables?
- Buying beef? A guide to choosing the leanest cuts
- see all in Healthy menus and shopping strategies
Nutritional supplements (15)
- Vitamin water: Better than plain water?
- Ground flaxseed: Better than whole?
- Vitamin C: Can too much be harmful?
- see all in Nutritional supplements
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Question
Nutrition rating system: What's behind the new food labels?
My local grocery store is tagging certain foods to show nutritional information and how healthy they are. What's behind these grocery store nutrition rating systems?
Answer
from Jennifer K. Nelson, M.S., R.D., L.D.
More grocery stores and food manufacturers are creating their own nutrition rating systems and labels to highlight healthy options for consumers. These nutrition rating systems — which appear on the grocery shelf or on food packages themselves — use symbols, scores or colors to indicate how a product rates in terms of calories, fiber, fat, sodium and other nutrients. Each nutrition rating system uses different criteria, which may include federal dietary guidelines or input from dietitians.
These voluntary nutrition rating systems, sometimes called shelf labels or shelf tags, are different from the Nutrition Facts label required by the Food and Drug Administration on most prepared foods. These nutrition rating systems aren't meant to replace the Nutrition Facts label, which provides detailed information, including the amounts of key nutrients in a food. Instead their goal is to make it easy to see at a glance which items have the most nutritional value. But these grocery store nutrition rating systems aren't standardized, and it's not always clear how the health ratings are determined.
Some of the new nutrition rating systems include:
- Guiding Stars. This system, developed by Hannaford Supermarkets, uses one, two or three stars to represent good, better and best nutritional value.
- Healthy Ideas. This system, developed by Giant Food and Stop & Shop, uses the Healthy Ideas logo on products they deem healthy.
- Nutrition IQ. This system, developed for the SuperValu chain of stores, uses colored bars to highlight an item's main nutritional benefits.
- NuVal. This system, developed for Price Chopper and Hy-Vee stores, rates products from 1 to 100, with higher scores signaling greater nutritional value.
- Smart Choices. This system, developed by a coalition of food companies and health professionals, is available for use by any food manufacturer or retailer. Foods that pass muster carry the Smart Choices check mark logo.
If you need help figuring out what foods are healthy choices, talk to your doctor or dietitian.
Next questionUnderweight? See how to add pounds healthfully
- Nelson JK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. July 16, 2009.
- Hasler CM. Health claims in the United States: An aid to the public or a source of confusion? Journal of Nutrition. 2008;138(suppl):1216S.
- Facts on Hannaford's Guiding Stars. Hannaford. http://www.hannaford.com/Contents/Healthy_Living/Guiding_Stars/documents/Guiding_Stars_Fact_Sheet.pdf. Accessed June 23, 2009.
- Healthy Ideas criteria. Peapod. http://i4.peapod.com/wp/media/living_well/hi_criteria_sns-1.0.1.pdf. Accessed June 23, 2009.
- SuperValu Nutrition IQ program: Backgrounder. Nutrition IQ. http://www.nutritioniq.com/media/pdf/niQ%20launch%20Program%20Backgrounder.pdf. Accessed June 23, 2009.
- FAQs: The NuVal system. NuVal. http://www.nuval.com/pages/Faq.aspx. Accessed June 23, 2009.
- Smart Choices Program Q&A. Smart Choices Program. http://www.smartchoicesprogram.com/QA.html. Accessed June 23, 2009.
- Smart Choices Food and Nutrition Roundtable. Smart Choices Program. http://smartchoicesprogram.com/pdf/Roundtable_Chart.pdf. Accessed June 23, 2009.
