Microbiome-Health
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CARB-to-FIBER
Try a science-based
FOOD QUALITY SCANNER
How do your favorites score?
Nutrient Consume Score — NCS
Nutrient Consume Score (NCS) is a science-based tool to make healthy food choices easier. It converts complex nutrition science into simple 1–100 quality scores using key ratios, like carb-to-fiber, tied to microbiome & metabolic health.
Also introducing a public-good, NCS-powered food quality scanner, for finding healthy choices as you shop, eat & cook.
The Calculator
► Type Favorite Food, What is the score?
► Combine 2 Foods, +, How do they mix?
► Type a Wild Card, *, What foods return?
The Score
The NCS algorithm integrates the latest literature on nutrient ratios and bioactives to inform an overall food quality score. It references the USDA’s FoodData Central (FNDDS 2021-2023) for nutrient values of individual foods. NCS scores of 70-100 and subscores of less than 2 correlate with healthier uprocessed & packaged foods.
Maximize green, moderate yellow, and minimize red scoring foods in amount and frequency. Ratio Subscores can be used as guides for combining foods to optimize nutritional balance in meals & recipes.
►Green (100-70): Maximize
►Yellow (69-60): Moderate
►Red (59-0): Minimize
The Evidence
Food processing in its current form has disrupted the natural ratios present in whole food matrixes, concentrating for simple carbohydrates, saturated fats, sodium, and additives while limiting fiber, unsaturated fats, potassium, and bioactives. Some of the latest research is suggesting that disrupted ratios that involve both concentrated and insufficient nutrients are important contributors to the rising rates of gut, metabolic, cardiovascular & neurologic disease.[1,2]
Nutrient ratios that provide a composite score of carb, fat, and micronutrient quality have been associated with a lower odds ratio for metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and lung disease as well as higher odds ratio for optimal cardiometabolic health.[3,4]
Carb-to-Fiber Ratio (i.e. Carb Quality) is associated with better health[5]: lower depression[6], smaller waist[7], lower diabetes rates[8–10], and less heart disease[11,12]. Fiber slows the absorption of carbs and is converted by the microbiome to factors like butyrate that help to efficiently process them once absorbed. For more information on fiber please follow this link.
Total Fat-to-Unsaturated Fat Ratio (i.e. Fat Quality) is also associated with health: improved blood lipids and glycemic control.[13] For more information on fats please follow this link.
Sodium-to-Potassium Ratio (i.e. Salt Quality) has been associated with lower blood pressure[14] and interventions have lead to decreased blood pressure and stroke.[15] For more information on sodium and potassium please follow this link.
Additives & Bioactives Some unnatural additives like certain sugar alternatives[16], trans fats[17], and some emulsifiers[18] have been linked to poor health markers or outcomes while other natural bioactives like polyphenols[19] and short chain fatty acids (e.g. acetic acid[20], butyrate[21]) have been linked to better health outcomes. For more information on polyphenols follow this link.
The Manuscript
NCS ranks among top Food Scoring Systems in its link to lower rates of Obesity and better Metabolic Health.
Key: Nutrient Consume Score (NCS), Food Compass 2.0 (FC2), Health Star (HS), Nutri-Score (NS), and NOVA Classification (NC).
The Food Quality Scanner
Smart Nutrition
in Your Pocket
NCS-powered, mission-driven quality scanner to simplify healthy food choice.
- SCAN for 1-100 scoring
- SCORE meals & recipes
- SWAP to smarter options
- TRACK your health gains
A heartfelt thanks to Ben Roberts and Luke Walker for their volunteered artful coding. And grateful to Jennie Damman & family for their ever-wise input & advice.
Fuel Your Best
Try a science-based
FOOD QUALITY SCANNER
How do your favorites score?
This resource provides general dietary guidance and is for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions regarding your health or medical conditions.
References
1. Fardet A, Rock E. Chronic diseases are first associated with the degradation and artificialization of food matrices rather than with food composition: calorie quality matters more than calorie quantity. Eur J Nutr. 2022;61: 2239–2253. doi:10.1007/s00394-021-02786-8
2. Mozaffarian D. Dietary and policy priorities to reduce the global crises of obesity and diabetes. Nature Food. 2020;1: 38–50. doi:10.1038/s43016-019-0013-1
3. Mozaffarian D, El-Abbadi NH, O’Hearn M, Erndt-Marino J, Masters WA, Jacques P, et al. Food Compass is a nutrient profiling system using expanded characteristics for assessing healthfulness of foods. Nature Food. 2021;2: 809–818. doi:10.1038/s43016-021-00381-y
4. O’Hearn M, Erndt-Marino J, Gerber S, Lauren BN, Economos C, Wong JB, et al. Validation of Food Compass with a healthy diet, cardiometabolic health, and mortality among U.S. adults, 1999–2018. Nat Commun. 2022;13: 1–14. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34195-8
5. Mozaffarian RS, Lee RM, Kennedy MA, Ludwig DS, Mozaffarian D, Gortmaker SL. Identifying whole grain foods: a comparison of different approaches for selecting more healthful whole grain products. Public Health Nutr. 2013;16. doi:10.1017/S1368980012005447
6. Makhani SS, Davies C, George KA, Castro G, de la Vega PR, Barengo NC. Carbohydrate-to-Fiber Ratio, a Marker of Dietary Intake, as an Indicator of Depressive Symptoms. Cureus. 2021;13. doi:10.7759/cureus.17996
7. Sawicki CM, Lichtenstein AH, Rogers GT, Jacques PF, Ma J, Saltzman E, et al. Comparison of Indices of Carbohydrate Quality and Food Sources of Dietary Fiber on Longitudinal Changes in Waist Circumference in the Framingham Offspring Cohort. Nutrients. 2021;13: 997. doi:10.3390/nu13030997
8. AlEssa HB, Bhupathiraju SN, Malik VS, Wedick NM, Campos H, Rosner B, et al. Carbohydrate quality and quantity and risk of type 2 diabetes in US women. Am J Clin Nutr. 2015;102: 1543–1553. doi:10.3945/ajcn.115.116558
9. Hashimoto Y, Tanaka M, Miki A, Kobayashi Y, Wada S, Kuwahata M, et al. Intake of Carbohydrate to Fiber Ratio Is a Useful Marker for Metabolic Syndrome in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study. ANM. 2018;72: 329–335. doi:10.1159/000486550
10. AlEssa HB, Ley SH, Rosner B, Malik VS, Willett WC, Campos H, et al. High Fiber and Low Starch Intakes Are Associated with Circulating Intermediate Biomarkers of Type 2 Diabetes among Women. J Nutr. 2016;146: 306–317. doi:10.3945/jn.115.219915
11. Fontanelli M, Sales C, Liu J, Micha R, Mozaffarian D, Fisberg RM. The ≤ 10:1 carbohydrate to fiber ratio to identify healthy grain foods and its association with cardiometabolic risk factors in Brazil. Proc Nutr Soc. 2020;79: E309. doi:10.1017/S0029665120002578
12. AlEssa HB, Cohen R, Malik VS, Adebamowo SN, Rimm EB, Manson JE, et al. Carbohydrate quality and quantity and risk of coronary heart disease among US women and men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2018;107: 257–267. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqx060
13. Schwingshackl L, Zähringer J, Beyerbach J, Werner SS, Heseker H, Koletzko B, et al. Total Dietary Fat Intake, Fat Quality, and Health Outcomes: A Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews of Prospective Studies. Ann Nutr Metab. 2021;77. doi:10.1159/000515058
14. Binia A, Jaeger J, Hu Y, Singh A, Zimmermann D. Daily potassium intake and sodium-to-potassium ratio in the reduction of blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Hypertens. 2015;33. doi:10.1097/HJH.0000000000000611
15. Neal B, Wu Y, Feng X, Zhang R, Zhang Y, Shi J, et al. Effect of Salt Substitution on Cardiovascular Events and Death. N Engl J Med. 2021;385. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2105675
16. Suez J, Cohen Y, Valdés-Mas R, Mor U, Dori-Bachash M, Federici S, et al. Personalized microbiome-driven effects of non-nutritive sweeteners on human glucose tolerance. Cell. 2022;185. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2022.07.016
17. Mozaffarian D, Aro A, Willett WC. Health effects of trans-fatty acids: experimental and observational evidence. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2009;63: S5–S21. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602973
18. Naimi S, Viennois E, Gewirtz AT, Chassaing B. Direct impact of commonly used dietary emulsifiers on human gut microbiota. Microbiome. 2021;9: 1–19. doi:10.1186/s40168-020-00996-6
19. Del Bo’ C, Bernardi S, Marino M, Porrini M, Tucci M, Guglielmetti S, et al. Systematic Review on Polyphenol Intake and Health Outcomes: Is there Sufficient Evidence to Define a Health-Promoting Polyphenol-Rich Dietary Pattern? Nutrients. 2019;11: 1355. doi:10.3390/nu11061355
20. Valdes DS, So D, Gill PA, Kellow NJ. Effect of Dietary Acetic Acid Supplementation on Plasma Glucose, Lipid Profiles, and Body Mass Index in Human Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2021;121. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2020.12.002
21. Amiri P, Hosseini SA, Ghaffari S, Tutunchi H, Ghaffari S, Mosharkesh E, et al. Role of Butyrate, a Gut Microbiota Derived Metabolite, in Cardiovascular Diseases: A comprehensive narrative review. Front Pharmacol. 2022;12. doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.837509
68 responses
On https://gutbites.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Slides-For-Website.pdf, you give fruit smoothies a score of 84, which may reflect their nutritional content, but isn’t it also true that smoothies are basically sugar bombs because all their sugar is available as free sugar, and are therefore not as healthy as they seem?
You raise an excellent point. If you type in “fruit smoothie” you’ll see a range of scores (84 to 45) as determined by the algorithm and based on the specific nutrients and their ratios as you surmise. The score of 84 is in part being driving by the high fiber (glycemic index mitigating) content and added protein of that particular smoothie. The algorithm does not currently take into account food structure, which some literature has shown impacts nutrient absorption. There is active debate on the impact of blending food. It is interesting to note that foods that have concentrated components of fiber (i.e. skin or seeds) can actually have an improvement in glycemic index with blending. Below is one of a handful of papers that might support this idea. Thanks for your astute comment! https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9657402/
Will there be a way for us to be able to input food items with the nutritional facts if it doesn’t show on your list of foods? I’m in Australia so a lot of foods I use don’t show.
Great question. The app will indeed have the option to input nutritional facts for products not in the database.
Please let us know when the app is available in the app store
Will absolutely let you know. Thanks for your note.
Absolutely outstanding tool. Very well designed infographics. Minor translation and vocabulary issues from American English to Australian English but this will only slightly slow down use.
Gage, really appreciate your positive feedback! Glad you’ve found the calculator useful.
What a great way to see how healthy you are eating.
Interesting and looks easy to use. Also makes you think.
Very cool tool!
Awesome!
Love this, so simple but practical!
The above calculator demonstrates the power of the algorithm. The above app will make it practical. Still a work in progress and welcome your feedback.
Is that app available in the Apple app store?
Hi Mark, Thanks for the question. Not just yet, but working on it. Will send a note out when it is available. In the meantime, you can try the online calculator as an appetizer. The app will have added the functionality of allowing you to scan grocery store items and combine foods in specific proportions. Stay tuned! Best, Dr. D
Agree with others this is simple, practical, and helpful.
One technical nit: I have tried the app in both Android and Apple platforms and in both I have the same issue. Some of the food descriptions have indication there is more to the description (… at the end) and neither platform allow me to see the entire food description. E.g., Value of 83 “Lettuce, salad with avocado, tomato, and/o…”
I have been using the app all day to develop menu for the week.
Thanks for the work on your part.
Thanks for the feedback. Glad you’ve found it useful! Try turning your phone sideways or resizing the window on a computer screen and those longer descriptions should be visible. Please let me know if this doesn’t work, and of course would love to hear about some of those meals you’ve planned.
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