How We Score
Food
Every food and prepared meal is graded on what actually moves the needle for long-term health: how processed it is, what's on the ingredient list, how nutrient-dense it is, and how it's sourced. No black boxes. No paid rankings.
The Big Picture
Think of the score as a nutrition report card. For a packaged food we ask: How heavily is it processed? Does the ingredient list read clean, or is it a wall of additives? How much real nutrition does it carry per calorie? And is it sourced responsibly?
Foods land on a 0–100 scale. Unlike supplements — where a 50 means “not enough data to judge” — food data is almost always visible on the label, so a genuinely poor food can score low. A 90+ is a clean, minimally-processed, nutrient-dense food.
Score Bands
Best-in-class. Minimally processed, nutrient-dense, clean label, well-sourced.
Strong whole or lightly-processed food with real nutritional value.
Decent everyday food with some room to improve.
Mixed — processed or calorie-dense with limited nutrition.
Highly processed, additive-heavy, or nutrient-poor.
Ultra-processed with little to no redeeming nutrition.
Two Models, One Scale
A bag of branded granola and a raw apple can't be judged the same way — a whole food has no ingredient list to scrutinize and no processing to penalize. So we run two rubrics that land on the same 0–100 scale.
Branded Foods
Packaged products with an ingredient list, a Nutrition Facts panel, and a brand behind them. Scored on how the product is madeas much as what's in it.
- Additive flags & ingredient simplicity
- NOVA processing level
- Nutrient density, sugar & sodium
- Sourcing (organic / non-GMO / fair trade)
Whole Foods
Single-ingredient, raw or minimally-prepared foods (an egg, kale, salmon, lentils). No additives and no processing to judge — so we score them purely on their intrinsic nutrition.
- Nutrient density & protein quality
- Fiber, healthy-fat ratio, glycemic impact
- Bioactive compounds
- Anti-nutrient adjustment
Branded Foods — How the Score Breaks Down
Penalties for artificial colors, preservatives, and flagged additives.
How far from whole food is it? NOVA 1 → 4.
Vitamins and minerals per calorie.
Fewer, recognizable ingredients score higher.
Penalties for added sugar and high sodium.
Organic, non-GMO, fair-trade credit.
Whole Foods — How the Score Breaks Down
Vitamins & minerals per 100 calories — the core of a whole food.
Presence and variety of beneficial phytochemicals.
Protein content and amino-acid completeness.
Dietary fiber relative to calories.
Unsaturated vs saturated, omega balance.
Sugar load and fiber-to-carb ratio.
Branded Components — In Detail
Additive Flags
25Starts at full marks; each flagged additive (artificial colors, nitrites, BHA/BHT, etc.) deducts. The biggest single lever.
Processing (NOVA)
20The NOVA system ranks how industrially processed a food is. Less processing scores higher.
Nutrient Density
20Vitamins, minerals and protein delivered per calorie. Rewards foods that pack nutrition without empty calories.
Ingredient Simplicity
15Short lists of recognizable whole-food ingredients score higher than long lists of industrial inputs.
Sugar & Sodium
10Penalties for added sugar and high sodium per serving. Naturally occurring sugars (fruit, lactose) aren't penalized.
Sourcing
10Bonuses for verified organic, non-GMO, and fair-trade certifications.
How Sure Are We? — Confidence Lanes
Not all nutrition data is equally trustworthy. A lab-verified USDA value is gold; a number inferred from the food type is a best guess. Every data point carries a confidence weight, and a food built mostly from guesses is scored conservatively.
Lab-verified or USDA FoodData Central.
Calculated from known values.
Manufacturer-reported label numbers.
Inferred from the food type.
Special Cases
Some foods need a rule of their own. Expand any section to see how we handle it.
Worked Example
Wild Blueberries
Score: 91 (A+) · Confidence: High🔬 Compound bonus: +0 (not applied) — wild blueberries are rich in anthocyanins, but the bonus only applies when bioactive concentrations are explicitly measured. The base components already earn the A+.
How We Score Food Brands
A brand grade rolls up everything its products tell us about how it operates. Like our supplement brand trust score, it's a weighted blend — not just an average of product scores — derived fresh from the brand's current catalog.
Average health score of the brand's products
Organic + non-GMO share across products
How minimally processed the lineup is (NOVA)
Breadth of certifications across products
Ingredient + nutrition-panel disclosure
Brand grades only reflect the products we've analyzed and a brand with fewer than three is marked low-confidence. Browse meal brands →
Glossary
A four-level system classifying foods by degree of industrial processing (1 = unprocessed, 4 = ultra-processed).
How many vitamins and minerals a food delivers relative to its calories.
A beneficial non-essential compound (polyphenols, carotenoids, isoflavones) with health evidence.
How quickly a food raises blood sugar — moderated by fiber and fat.
Sweeteners added in processing (cane sugar, syrups, concentrates) — distinct from natural fruit or milk sugar.
A compound (oxalate, phytate) that can reduce mineral absorption, mostly in raw legumes and greens.
Certified grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers.
Verified free of genetically modified ingredients.
How trustworthy a data point is — Known, Estimated, Declared, or Functional.
Recommended Dietary Allowance — the daily intake target used to gauge nutrient density.
Browse the Whole Foods Catalog →
See nutrient-density scores, bioactive notes, and per-category breakdowns for hundreds of whole foods — every entry follows this same framework.
Disclaimer
This tool is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or dietary advice. Scores reflect a food's formulation quality and nutrient density — not personal health outcomes. Always consult a healthcare professional before making significant dietary changes.
Food scoring version: v9 (2026)