Overall Nutrition Quality Index

Everything I eat has been proved by some doctor or other to be a deadly poison, and everything I don’t eat has been proved to be indispensable for life.  But I go marching on.

– George Bernard Shaw

Yesterday, I was reading an old copy (2008) of National Geographic during my lunch break.  I came across a one page summary of a new system called the Overall Nutrition Quality Index (ONQI).  The basic idea is that foods are given a score between 1 and 100 based on their overall nutrition.

I had never heard of this before.  I am used to nutrition labels that list percentages of daily recommended amounts of vitamins and minerals.  I thought this index idea seemed interesting.  However, after doing a bit of research I’ve found that this index really isn’t very complete.  It is maintained by a company called NuVal, and is dependent on grocery retailers.  As far as I can find out, it is only used in the USA.

Anyway, I still thought it was an interesting idea, so I found some sample ratings to share with you:

Examples of Overall Nutrition Quality Index (ONQI) Scores

Seafood	Salmon	87
	Shrimp	75
	Haddock	64
Meat and Poultry	Chicken breast	39
	Ground Sirloin	30
Pasta	Penne (whole wheat)	89
	Spaghetti (regular)	57
Cereal	Post Shredded Wheat	91
	General Mills Cherios	34
	Quaker Life	25
Crackers	Pepperidge Farm Baked Goldfish	24
	Nabisco Cheese Nibs	7
Cookies	Fig Newtons (fat free)	13
	Oreo Double Stuff	5
	Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies	3
Fruits and Vegetables	Broccoli	100
	Blueberries	100
	Tomato	96
	Banana	91
	Grapes	91
	Iceberg Lettuce	82