Limitations of the Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System.

Nutrient Profiling Systems provide frameworks to assess the healthfulness of foods based on food composition and are intended as inputs into strategies to improve diets. Many Nutrient Profiling Systems are founded on a reductionist assumption that the healthfulness of foods is determined by the sum of their individual nutrients, with no consideration for the extent and purpose of processing and its health implications. A novel Nutrient Profiling System called Food Compass attempted to address existing gaps and provide a more holistic assessment of the healthfulness of foods. We propose that the chosen algorithm is not well justified and produces results that fail to discriminate for common shortfall nutrients, exaggerate the risks associated with animal-source foods, and underestimate the risks associated with ultraprocessed foods. We caution against the use of Food Compass in its current form to inform consumer choices, policies, programs, industry reformulations, and investment decisions.

Purchase of ultra-processed foods in Norway: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of food sales in 2013 and 2019.

OBJECTIVE: A dietary pattern dominated by ultra-processed foods has been associated with non-communicable diseases in several studies. A previous study from 2013 found a high share of ultra-processed foods in Norwegian food sales. This study aimed to investigate the current share of ultra-processed foods in Norway and the development in expenditure on ultra-processed foods from 2013. DESIGN: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of scanner data from the Consumer Price Index from September 2013 and 2019 and an investigation of the processing degree according to the NOVA classification system. SETTING: Food sales in Norway. PARTICIPANTS: Norwegian grocery stores (n 180, for both time periods). RESULTS: The share of expenditure in 2019 was highest for ultra-processed foods (46·5 %) and minimally or unprocessed foods (36·3 %), followed by processed foods (8·5 %) and processed culinary ingredients (1·3 %). An increasing degree of processing was found for several of the food groups between 2013 and 2019; however, most effect sizes were weak. In 2019, soft drinks became the most frequently purchased food item, surpassing milk and cheese, with the highest expenditure in Norwegian grocery stores. Increases in expenditure on ultra-processed foods were mainly due to increased expenditures on soft drinks, sweets and potato products. CONCLUSIONS: A high share of expenditure on ultra-processed food was found in Norway, which may imply a high consumption of these foods. The change in expenditure of NOVA groups between 2013 and 2019 was small. Carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks were the most frequently purchased products in Norwegian grocery stores and contributed to most of the expenditures.