Adjustments Needed for the Use of Nutri-Score in the Netherlands: Lack of Selectivity and Conformity with Dutch Dietary Guidelines in Four Product Groups

Abstract

Objective: The study investigates the applicability of Nutri-Score in the Netherlands, by comparing Nutri-Score with Dutch Choices criteria and Dutch dietary guidelines in different product groups. Design: For products within the product groups Cheese, Ready meals, Soups and Meal sauces, nutritional data from three large national retailers was collected and the products’ corresponding Nutri-Scores were calculated. The distribution of the products among the different Nutri-Scores (A-E) per product group was calculated. To determine whether the healthiness of products correspond to a healthy score (A/B) and unhealthy products correspond to an unhealthy score (D/E), all product scores were compared to product group-specific criteria of the Dutch Choices Foundation. Furthermore, to identify whether there was a correlation between Nutri-Score and one or more nutrient(s), single and multiple regression analyses were performed. Finally, the Nutri-Score of products was compared with Dutch dietary guidelines. Data characteristics: 2299 products were included in this study, of which 1396 cheeses, 343 ready meals, 370 soups and 190 meal sauces. Results and conclusions: The current study shows that for the product groups Cheese, Ready meals, Soups and Meal sauces, there is an uneven distribution of the products among the different Nutri-Scores, Nutri-Scores of a great amount of products are not in line with Dutch Choices criteria and - dietary guidelines and there is no high correlation between Nutri-Score and health influencing nutrients in most product groups. Now that the Dutch Government has decided to implement Nutri-Score as the new FOP-label, it is advised to look into the possibilities to adapt the algorithm behind the score to a product group-specific algorithm based on Dutch guidelines.