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
Interesting concept. When I tried it, bunch of foods/supplement were not in the database. Especially plant based products like protein powder, collagen creamer, milk etc. Hopefully more items will be added before the app goes live.
Indeed, the database should be quite comprehensive of most items in the grocery store. Thanks for your note!
Im excited about this, can we help bring it to fruition faster via tools like Kickstarter or GitHub?
Shamon, Thanks so much for the great suggestion. This may indeed be a great option.
I love the calculator. Been using it for 3weeks and I feel better than I have in years. Plan menus for specific meals, but really enjoy adding breakfast and lunch then looking at good options for dinner to stay in the high 70s and 80s. Curious if we will be able to save meal receipes. By that a combo of foods I have often, so I don’t have to enter all the pieces each time. Can’t wait for the app.
Allie, Thanks so much for the positive feedback. The save meal recipes idea is an excellent one and will definitely have to consider for future rollout of app. Glad you’ve found the calculator useful. Warm regards, Dr. D
What will be the name of the APP when available so I know how to search for it? Can I be on the mailing list?
The app name is still a work in progress. Please feel free to sign up on the prerelease list and will let you know when it’s available.
Does it matter whether you consume the high score vegetables cooked or raw?
It’s a great question. Cooking, like any form of processing (fermenting, ultra-processing), can make the macro and micronutrients more available and have variable effects on the bioactives (fiber, phytonutrients) by breaking down the cellular structure of food. Cooking also often involves introducing other ingredients like salt, and oils/butter. You’ll see differences in scores that account for these added factors in the cooked/prepared version of the vegetables. Type Broccoli for example and then turn “sort” on and you will see the impact of cooking. If you click on the down arrowhead, you’ll see how the nutrients differ. When you prepare meals and snacks it may be best to aim to have composite scores that fall in the 70’s (vs. 80’s and 90’s) as these scores will be the best balance of nutrients to promote health and calories to keep you full.
No, they mean “NFS”. It shows up at the end of he names of foods. Just search on NFS and you’ll see it. I’m guessing it’s from the original food database you loaded
NFS=Not Further Specified. Thanks for reiterating the question. : )
Any update on the app release
Thanks Albert for the interest! Still a work in progress, but will be sure to let you know as soon as it’s available.
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
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!
what the heck is NFS? In my world of retail, it means “not for sale”
Great question! NFS is an abbreviation for not further specified used in the USDA database referenced by the NCS calculator.
No, a number of the foods have NFS as part of their description, such as “Syrup, NFS.” I, too, am confused by this.
Julian, You’re absolutely right. It stands for not further specified and is an abbreviation used by the USDA database that the nutrient consume score calculator references.
I love this. Thanks for developing such a useful tool. Can’t wait for the app.
Thanks so much for positive feedback!
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