Food apps can be useful because they put more information in the consumer’s hands. But other apps can give different results to the same food.
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Food apps that evaluate the health of packaging foods are becoming more and more popular. You can scan a food package with your cell phone camera, and the app is ranked with nutrition. Some apps display ingredients and additives. If the scanning product is not good, many apps suggest alternatives in the same food category.
But does it help consumers make a healthier choice?
As long as you approach the use of these apps with a specific level of skepticism, they keep in mind warnings.
“If you just started, you want to help you decipher the contents of the label and ingredients when you want to eat more healthy. I think it’s a useful way to start.” Jerold MandeHarvard University’s nutrition professor and all federal food policy management helped to design the nutritional facts labeled in almost all packaging foods in the United States
Nowadays, Mande often says he often uses food scanner apps when shopping for groceries. Open food facts and Yuka, a popular app This evaluates food from 0 to 100, depending on the nutritional content and the presence of the additives in organic products.
He says the app can help to cut consumers with a healthier choice, but sometimes the result can make him a bit embarrassed.
For example, in a recent trip to a grocery store, Mande scored two versions of Store Brand Tortilla Chips using the app. The general version of the chip got a high score, and the other did not get the score with tequila lime flavor.
“The score was almost 80 points,” he said. “I am not sure that it will actually justify it by the material. But it is helpful to see how the product scores, and it reminds me of what is in it.”
Sometimes, as you found when you tested multiple apps in groceries, other apps can offer different scores for the same product. Registered nutritionist Lindsay Moyer Public Science Center, Consumer Advocacy Organization.
For example, when scanning organic almond butter, the Yuka App gave 78 out of 100, which is considered “excellent” but the app is marked as high calorie food. Other apps are called Joy HealthFocusing on the nutrition content, the level of food processing level and other factors also given green light to nut butter. But it is popular App called BOBBY has been approvedThe ingredients focused on the ingredients are not approved because they contain cane sugar.
Moyer is a registered nutritionist and advises people not to worry about some sugars about some sugar on peanuts or almond butter. Because it is a nutritious food unless you eat the entire jar at once.
In a statement on the NPR Barbie ParisThe social media food influenza approved by Bobby said: “We avoid refined sugar, inflammatory oil and artificial additives and take a clear position that focuses on clean and minimal processing ingredients. We respect that other experts can prioritize differently.”
Julie Chapon, co -founder and CEO of Yuka, agrees that it may be confusing to get another evaluation in another app. “This difference often comes from the fact that each app uses its own methodology on a variety of transparency and scientific basis,” NPR wrote by email.
Chapon is based on Yuka’s nutritional evaluation. Nutri-scoreNutrition evaluation system used by many European countries. She says that the company has its own science team. “We will continue to monitor the latest independent research and official health authorities. This allows you to evaluate each additive based on the latest reliable evidence.”
Moyer says the food scanner app can be useful because it has more information in the consumer. If you are using an app, we recommend that you choose an app that evaluates food for overall nutrient content such as textiles, proteins, sugar and fat, instead of focusing on the presence of a single ingredient. She says that in many cases, it is more important to health than whether there is a lot of ingredients such as sugar in the nut butter that we scanned.
And she says that the app approaches the result that the app offers in a chunk of salt. She scanned the packed food and heard about people who abandon the entire contents of the kitchen grocery storage room.
“It is important not to panic because some of these apps evaluate food additives in the list of materials are not embarrassed. This may not be a safety issue or not eating food.”
It is also recommended to find a transparent app on how to reach data sources and evaluation.
The app alone says it doesn’t help consumers to make a healthier choice. Sunxus Mahdi, The University of Public Health and Nutrition at the University of York, UK, has studied how food apps affect consumer behavior. She says that the app can attract consumers with a better choice, but the overall effect tends to be small. MAHDI said, “The food app is great.
MAHDI said, “Most of them are free, accessible, people like them, they help to raise awareness. They can improve nutrition knowledge. But are they enough to improve their intake?
Nevertheless, Jerold Mande, a former federal food policy official, believes that the app is the future of food labeling, and it can be more useful by setting standards for the data used by the government. He also wants to see the government working with the company to build a common database for our food. The Ministry of Agriculture A Food database, But he says that it is incomplete.
Chapon worrys that a general database can be a positive stage, but can be affected by excessive industries.
But now, if the app is a bit confused, Mande suggests checking the list of ingredients in the package. It appeared first. “If you look at the three ingredients in the list of ingredients, it’s another useful way to determine what food is food,” he says. “For example, if you start with sugar, it must be related.”
Or you can always return to simple mathematics to help you assess the health of food. Dr. Dariush MozaffarianThe director of the food is Medicine Institute of TUFTS University.
He says that three different proportions can be very helpful.
Textile -to -carbohydrate ratio: First, at least find food 1 grams of fibers for every 10 grams Among the carbohydrates -the more fiber, the better Mozaffarian. For example, a cup of blackberry is included. 8 grams of fiber per 14 grams carbohydrate.
“We and others have Published I knew that the ratio provided the overall carbohydrate quality in a given food.
Sodium to potassium ratio: Find the product There are more potassium or more “Than sodium because potassium directly offsets sodium damage,” he says. It is included in a cup of mung beans 211 mg potassium and 6 mg of sodium.
Saturated regions total fat ratio: Mozaffarian says that unsaturated fats are very good for overall health and “we need to find food.” It is a saturated fat to be careful because it can cause problems with cholesterol and increase the risk of heart disease. He says that saturated fat wants to eat food that does not exceed one third of the total fat content.
And the most healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, are often not available. They will have to eat the most.
Edited by Jane Greenhalgh
