Food Quality Powered by Ratios Carb to Fiber & Others
Introducing the first Nutrition Quality calculator. The NCS algorithm integrates the latest gut health & nutrition research, simplifying food decisions to a 100-Point scale. Powered by the Nutrient Ratios disrupted during food processing, it eliminates the need to carb & calorie count allowing you to simply choose high-quality foods. The microbiome & body will naturally do the rest. ~ Dr. Chris Damman
Try a Food Search
For Fun…
► Type & Add Items, + What is the score?
► Add Some Fiber, ≡ Does it change?
► Type a Wild Card, * What foods return?
► Sort the Results, 🔘 How do they rank?
DIVE DEEPER ON NUTRIENT RATIOS
Nutrition Guidance at Your Fingertips
Food Quality reduced to a 100-point scale, and powered by nutrient ratios.
- Scan product barcodes
- Combine foods for recipes
- Track food quality over time
- Compatible with any diet
The prerelease list is now open. Be among first to explore.
The Score
Maximize green, moderate yellow, and minimize red scoring food combinations in both amount and frequency. See how scores and subscores change when you combine foods. Use ratio subscores to provide insights on how to synergize and supplement foods. Don’t fret about small point differences between foods or achieving the highest possible green score and do embrace a wide variety of green foods.
- Green (100-70): Maximize
- Yellow (69-60): Moderate
- Red (59-0): Minimize
The Design
The gut health nutrition algorithm designed by a University of Washington gastroenterologist incorporates below literature evidence on nutrient ratios, additives, and bioactives to inform an overall food quality score. It references the USDA’s FoodData Central for nutrient values of individual foods. Quality scores of 70-100 and ratio subscores of less than 2 correlate with whole foods and better-for-you processed foods.
The Evidence
Modern food processing 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 quality (i.e. favorable carb to fiber ratio) 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.
Fat quality (i.e. favorable total fat to unsaturated fat ratio) is also associated with health: improved blood lipids and glycemic control.[13] For more information on fats please follow this link.
Micronutrient quality (i.e. sodium to potassium ratio) has been associated with lower blood pressure[14] and interventions have lead to decreased blood pressure and stroke.[15]
Bioactive quality (i.e. low harmful additives and high 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/phytochemicals[19] and short chain fatty acids (e.g. acetic acid[20], butyrate[21]) have been linked to better health outcomes.
This resource is intended to be a dietary guide. Please consult your physician for any questions pertaining to medical advice.
MD-authored food & microbiome digests to demystify gut health.
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
44 responses to “Carb Fiber Ratio Calculator for Gut Health Nutrition”
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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.
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Is that app available in the Apple app store?
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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
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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.
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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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Love this, so simple but practical!
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Awesome!
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Very cool tool!
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Interesting and looks easy to use. Also makes you think.
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What a great way to see how healthy you are eating.
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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.
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Gage, really appreciate your positive feedback! Glad you’ve found the calculator useful.
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Please let us know when the app is available in the app store
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Will absolutely let you know. Thanks for your note.
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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.
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Great question. The app will indeed have the option to input nutritional facts for products not in the database.
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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?
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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/
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Thanks for the tool and carb:fiber ratio info.
Question –
1. What is the number right after CARBS?
eg. Avocado, raw – CARBS 1.13, Total Carb 8.53, Fiber 6.7g-
The highlighted numbers next to each of the nutrients represent a nutrients quality scale that’s based on ratios. Generally, the lower the number, the higher quality, but I would focus instead on the colors which mirror those in the composite 1-100 score.
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Thanks Chris,
Is lower COMPOSITE SCORE better than higher?
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Green is generally higher quality for both composite and subscores.
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thank you this looks great.
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Tina, Thanks so much for the positive feedback! Dr D
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What about high fiber versions of common foods such as tortillas, breads and crackers? Will they be listed by brand and not lumped into a category?
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This is a great question. The majority of US products and their bar codes will be covered.
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You mentioned the glycemic index. How does this factor into your algorithm?
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The glycemic index isn’t in the algorithm explicitly but carb to fiber ratio follows glycemic index quite closely. The algorithm also takes into account the benefit of combining simple carbs with protein and high quality fats. Thanks for the question.
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How do I get the app?
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The app is still in development. I will send out a notification as soon as it is available. In the meantime please feel free to use the online calculator to get a sense of how the algorithm works. Thanks for your inquiry.
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My husband has been doing Noom with much success. This Red, Yellow, Green and how it calculates food look a lot like this. What is the difference?
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Congratulations on your husband’s success! Sharing a few thoughts on your good question below.
Methodological and philosophical differences:
-Granular 1-100 score with color gradients vs. red, orange, yellow score
-Algorithm driven by nutrient ratios (see above for rationale) vs. calorie and nutrient density
-Emphasis on overall health with weight, blood sugar, and gut benefits vs. greater emphasis on weight loss
-Pro bono public service vs. paid for profitHope that helps! Happy to answer any follow up questions.
Compare how the scores differ for food categories in the two links below:
-Gut Bites NCS: https://gutbites.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Slides-For-Website.pdf
-NOOM: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a30930989/noom-food-list/
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Would love to try this, but it doesn’t seem to work. Can type in something, but the search bar doesn’t work. Am I doing something wrong?
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Hi D, Sorry it’s not working. I wonder if you’ve tried the site on a different web browser or different computer/phone/device? Please let me know if this doesn’t help. Best, Dr. D.
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This was eye opening. I thought I was getting fiber, but no. I haveve IBS- D. I follow the formal diet, foods listed high I can’t eat at all and done things on the low side I also don’t tolerate. ( gas, diarrhea). I don’t tolerate fiber, and am eating a high carb diet. Would like to change but don’t know how. Any suggestions would be welcome
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Hi April, I’m glad to hear you found it helpful and sorry to hear fiber is tough on your gut. You articulate the experience of many people and I’m grateful for your comment. I might suggest you work with your healthcare provider or registered dietician on finding which of the FODMAPs trigger your symptoms. It’s equally eye opening to some that not all fiber is treated by individual microbiomes in the same way. Here is a GutBites digest that provides a little more background. My best wishes, Dr. D https://gutbites.org/2022/05/01/are-all-fibers-to-be-plated-equal/
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how will i know when the app is available for iPhones?
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Thanks for your good question. I will be sure to send a note out to folks as soon as it’s available. Best, Dr. D
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I love this. Thanks for developing such a useful tool. Can’t wait for the app.
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Thanks so much for positive feedback!
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what the heck is NFS? In my world of retail, it means “not for sale”
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Great question! I think you meant NCS which stands for nutrient consume score. It’s the algorithm that powers the calculator.
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I found calculator to be limited in current form as I add my salad ingredients, I can no longer see the list to add to the total
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Thanks for your good comment. I made the frame a bit bigger to accommodate more items. The app will be able to accommodate unlimited items. Very much appreciate your feedback!
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