Ice cream healthier than multigrain bagel: New study reveals surprising results

Once again, another study is making us reconsider what we think of as the basics of healthyeating. As per a report by People, a Tufts University study has published their ranking of different kinds of food according to their health scores based on nutrition.

The study had been conducted by Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts, where a ‘Food Compass’ generated by them is used to assign values or rankings to food and drinks in order to determine how healthy or unhealthy they are. The higher the ranking assigned, the healthier the food or drink.

What is Food Compass exactly?

According to the press release by Tufts University, a group of researchers worked for 3 whole years in order to develop the Food Compass. They define it as,

….a new nutrient profiling system, developed over three years, that incorporates cutting-edge science on how different characteristics of foods positively or negatively impact health.

The compass was created by studying a database of 8,032 foods and beverages that Americans consume, and these were then scored on the basis of 54 characteristics which were based on their nutritional properties.

The study’s lead and corresponding author, Dariush Mozaffarian, dean of the Friedman School, is quoted by the press release as saying,

Once you get beyond ‘eat your veggies, avoid soda,’ the public is pretty confused about how to identify healthier choices in the grocery store, cafeteria, and restaurant,

The Food Compass aims to encourage healthier food to be developed by the food industry as well as provide a scientific lens that could help consumers, policy makers and businesses such as restaurants etc. to make healthier choices when it comes to food.

Some surprising findings from the study

Before proceeding to the findings, keep in mind that the higher the score or ranking, the healthier the food.

Among drinks, nonfat coffee and cappuccino (73) is healthier than Gatorade G sports drink (1), cranberry juice (11) or Capri sun juice (3).

In grains, General Mills Cherrios (95) is ranked healthier than Kellog’s Nutri Grain Cereal Bar (52), plain oatmeal with milk (58), rye bread (34) and even buckwheat pancakes (60).

In the dairy and meat section, salmon (95) rules the roost as the healthiest among its cohorts. It shares the top spot with plain Greek yogurt (95) and is followed by tuna (88). The worst offenders here are beef hot dog (3) and beef jerky (11).

The snacks and desserts ranking have probably been the most shocking of all. Turns out lightly salted potato chips (59) are healthier than unsalted pretzels (2), microwave popcorn (59) is better than multigrain cracker (24) and the best snack in among them all is chocolate covered almonds (78).

Comparing across categories is when it gets downright shocking. As People states, ice cream cone with nuts and chocolate ice cream (37) is ranked higher multigrain bagel with raisins (19).

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