FitnessMantra Weekend: “Overall Nutritional Quality Index” To Rank Nutrition Value Of Foods

Fitness Mantra del.icio.us page Welcome to “FitnessMantra Weekend”, your once-a-week health news update. As always you can also stay updated with the latest in fitness news by subscribing separately to the Fitness Mantra del.icio.us feed.

While packaged foods on grocery shelves in the United States have detailed Nutrition Labels that allow consumers to glean macro and micro-nutrient information at a glance, it has not always been easy to translate that knowledge into a determination of how nutritious the product really is - especially when compared to a similar product. I mean, it has not been easy to answer questions like “Which is more healthful? Apples or oranges”?

Well, Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI) to the rescue! Starting next year, the ONQI system will aim to assign a numerical ranking between 1 and 100 to various products on store shelves:

In Washington yesterday, Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center in Connecticut, unveiled a rating system called the Overall Nutritional Quality Index, or ONQI for short. The Katz system will evaluate all foods in a grocery store on a 1-to-100 scale, with 100 being the healthiest. [New York Times]

While no system can truly capture all the essential information of all products sold today, some are better than others. The new system for example will not only focus on the negatives of products like high sugar or sodium, but will also feature positive aspects like good protein or fiber content.

The hope is that a universal labeling system will alleviate - atleast to a certain extent - the confusion that accompanies comparison of almost-like products today.

Here are the week’s top health and fitness stories:

Is It Healthy? Food Rating Systems Battle It Out: Amid the confusion, how can consumers tell whether Cheerios, say, are better or worse than Special K?
7 foods you may think are healthy, but aren’t: Some foods, however, have gotten the healthy nod, when they’re actually laden with fat, sugar or both.
‘Mindless Eating’ Author to Fight Obesity: Brian Wansink, who last week was named executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, wants to encourage people to “bump up their activity level.”
Would You Like Your Veggies Plain or Succulent?: Here’s a recipe to encourage your family to eat more vegetables: Just add adjectives.
FDA mulls stricter regulation of salt in food: Excessive salt in Americans’ diets is a major factor in high blood pressure and increases risk for heart disease
New nutrition labels headed to stores: A new system for scoring the nutritional value of foods will find its way to grocery store shelves next year
Anti-obesity program for kids expanding: Subtle changes at home [are] helping Jose and other kids avoid growing out as they grow up.
Misfits Fitness Gadget Gift Guide: A few ideas to keep friends and loved ones off the couch …
Obesity rates in U.S. leveling off: U.S. adult obesity rates seem to have leveled off, at least temporarily, the government reported Wednesday.
Donâ€™t believe it! The 3 worst exercise tips: Of course, a lot of [advice] — whether from a book, the Internet or even some trainers — is just plain bunk.
Obesity, BMI and political correctness: The problem with this approach is that this makes the socialist assumption that we are sexless, have the same body frame, same ethnicity, same muscle mass and are all sedentary.
At Last, a Simple Exercise to Ward Off Obesity: All you need to do is exercise more between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
Helping school kids eat healthy isn’t so hard: “I think people underestimate the willingness of kids to eat healthier foods,”
Unhealthy habits hurt kids’ bones: Too little milk, sunshine and exercise: It is an anti-bone trifecta.
High-Carb Diet Raises Women’s Diabetes Risk: Women who ate high-glycemic index foods or ate a diet with a high glycemic load were more likely to develop diabetes. Women who ate more cereal fiber were less likely to develop diabetes.
Forging friendships at the gym: “With all the stress and grind of going through it, a lot of us became friends,”