A new analysis covering more than 200 billion grocery purchases shows that the typical American basket scores 48.94 out of 100 on the FoodHealth Score, a new nutrition index developed by the FoodHealth Co.
The report found that American grocery baskets rank 55 percent below the ideal score of 88, which indicates a basket aligned with positive long-term health outcomes.
These and other findings, developed in partnership with NielsenIQ, were released in FoodHealth Co.’s inaugural Health of America’s Grocery Carts report, offering picture of American nutrition and how food choices vary by demographics and life stage.
“Everyone knows what a credit score is – it predicts your financial health. The FoodHealth Score works the same way, but for your body. It shows how the food you buy today is likely to shape your health in the long run,” said Sam Citro Alexander, founder and CEO of FoodHealth Co. “Our mission is to make the health of our food choices measurable, transparent and easy to improve.”
The FoodHealth Co. and NielsenIQ have partnered to turn the data behind the report into a market offering available through the NielsenIQ platform.
What it covers
- What Americans are buying – broken down by state, food category and demographics, including comparisons between SNAP participants and non-participants;
- How healthy those purchases are – using one clear, consistent metric that allows households, retailers and policymakers to measure progress over time;
- An overlay of food health and chronic disease – exploring whether people are healthier in regions where grocery baskets score higher; and
- Cost and correlation – whether healthier foods really cost more, across categories and geographies and how knowledge, education and availability drive purchasing decisions.
Key metrics
- American household FoodHealth Score (1-100) – Composite measure of household grocery purchases based on nutrient density and ingredient quality;
- Quadrant classification – Color-coded guidance for recommended consumption frequency, modeled on the Mediterranean diet, the world’s most clinically validated framework for chronic disease prevention; and
- Nutrition and pricing data – Analysis revealing how food cost, availability and quality intersect across the nation.
Important findings
- The average U.S. shopping cart scores 55 percent below the level associated with long-term health;
- A 10-point increase in FoodHealth Score points is associated with measurable improvements in key health biomarkers;
- There is no correlation between how much a household spends on groceries and how healthy those purchases are;
- Households receiving food assistance (ie: SNAP) shop about as healthfully as those that don’t; and
- The healthiness of household food purchases drops sharply once children reach school age.
Coinciding with the report, FoodHealth Co. will debut a free Chrome Extension that allows any American to see the FoodHealth Score of their online grocery cart.
“This collaboration brings the power of our data to one of the most important questions of our time: What are we really eating?” said Beth Morris, VP of product insights at NielsenIQ.
“By pairing NielsenIQ’s unparalleled view of consumer purchases with FoodHealth Co.’s scoring system, we can finally quantify how everyday choices add up – and help the industry move toward a healthier food ecosystem.”
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