As a part of my job, I have the opportunity to chat with consumers about what drives their food choices in the grocery store.  One of the most compelling of these conversations was with a group of moms in St. Cloud, MN at a Coborn’s grocery store.  Several of the moms commented that a key driver for their food purchasing decisions in the grocery store used to be whether the product is called “low fat.”  For them, this was an indicator of a “better for you” food.

But when NuVal™ Scores appeared on the shelves at Coborns, the moms quickly realized that “low fat” wasn’t necessarily synonymous with “better for you.”  Foods can be low in fat, but high in sodium or sugar.  Foods can be low in fat, but have very few positive nutrients (think fiber, calcium, vitamin D) that benefit health and keep us at our best.  Also, not all fat is bad; it’s really about the type of fat we eat.  NuVal™ Scores, which measure the overall nutrition quality of foods, showed these moms that “low fat” isn’t necessarily the goal when shopping.

For the moms in St. Cloud, they now have NuVal™ Scores to guide them to foods with higher nutrition quality.  If you live in a community that doesn’t have the NuVal™ System, move beyond “low fat” as your guide to “better for you” and look for products with less saturated and trans fat, sodium and sugar, and more fiber, healthy fats and vitamins and minerals.

Visit www.nuval.com to see why “low fat” foods don’t always score high.