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Welcome to the Nutrition Diva podcast,

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a show where we take a

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closer look at nutrition research, headlines,

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and trends so that you can

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make informed choices about what you eat. I'm

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your host Monica Reinagle, and today's

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topic was suggested by Cheryl, who

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was one of several listeners who

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have asked me about the YUCA

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app. I recently downloaded the

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YUCA app, she wrote, and I'm

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finding it super interesting. I was wondering

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if you had any opinion

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on its usefulness or accuracy.

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YUCA is a free mobile app

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launched in 2017 that allows users

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to scan barcodes on foods

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and cosmetic products and

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get a rating on their health impact. Each

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product is rated on a scale from one to 100, and

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the higher the score, the better

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the product's impact on your health. In

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addition to the score, you also get

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detailed information on the product's ingredients, additives,

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nutritional values, and so on.

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And if a product scores poorly, the

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app will suggest some healthier alternatives that

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you might consider instead. YUCA

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gets credit, and they take credit,

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for the fact that they do

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not accept advertising or sponsorships from

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brands, and that helps to ensure

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that the ratings are independent of

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financial influence, which is really

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important. But keep in

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mind that independent is

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not necessarily the same as objective.

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The ratings still reflect

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the biases of whoever designs

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the rating system, and

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I'll have more to say about that in just a moment. There

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are also some lingering questions about

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the accuracy and the consistency of

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the system. Because the

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exact algorithms that determine the scores

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aren't publicly disclosed, it

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makes results hard to validate. There

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are several additional features that exist behind

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a paywall, and this is presented as

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a paywetch. research

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project. And

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the final 10% of the rating is

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based on whether or not the

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product is certified organic. Organic

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growing practices certainly have their

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proponents and their advantages. They

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may well be healthier for

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the soil, the farmers, livestock,

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and wildlife. But

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there's little evidence that organic foods are

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any more nutritious than conventionally grown

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foods, or that eating organic

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lowers your risk of any

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disease. At the

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same time, organic can be quite a bit

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more expensive. So I'm not

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sure I see the value in giving

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foods a 10% bump in their rating

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simply because they are certified

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organic, or by extension penalizing

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foods simply because they are

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not. This is an example

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of the way in which this system

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reflects the biases or the priorities of

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the developers, which may or may not

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line up with yours. So

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now that you know how it works, here

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are a few sample scores, some of which

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mystified me a bit. Original

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Cheerios are rated as poor with a

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score of 30 out of 100, despite

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scoring high

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for their protein and fiber content and

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being low in saturated fat, sugar,

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and calories. They lost

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points for being a bit too high in

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sodium, but apparently it was

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some risky additives that did them

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in. And the additives in

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Cheerios consist mostly of vitamins and minerals.

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Yuca suggested Quaker granola as

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a better choice than Cheerios.

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Despite being six times higher in sugar

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and twice the calories, the granola was

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rated as excellent with a score of

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78 out of 100. The

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fact that it contained no additives that

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were considered risky seems to have had

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a big impact on the score. Not

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surprisingly, Twizzlers got a rating

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of bad, scoring only four out

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of 100. And Welch's

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Peel Apart Fruit snacks had a good rating

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of sixty out of one hundred thanks to

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their lower sugar and a little bit of

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cyber. Impossible

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Burgers with their twenty eight an

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ingredient list, were rated as good

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sixty nine out of a hundred

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wilde butter burgers containing just one

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ingredient ground beef. Were considered

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bad with just thirty eight or one

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hundred. And. Finally,

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south of the Border, Tortilla

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Chips get a poor rating

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of thirty four, while late

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July Organic Tortilla Chips scored

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a surprising ninety four or

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excellent. Despite.

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Being a bit lower and sodium

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and saturated fat, there's not that

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much difference between these products, and

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it's a little hard to understand

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how any tortilla chip could be

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considered an excellent. Choice in terms of

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nutrition? that is, Yep certainly is

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a convenient way to get an overview

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of different attributes of foods, although I

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have a lot of questions about how

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those attributes or weeded to produce these

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final scores. And. That makes

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me question it's ability to provide

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useful guidance. It

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might also make shopping more cumbersome if

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you see like easy to research everything

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you buy an upset? Sure that you

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do, you'll still need to bring your

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own judgment and common sense to bear.

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If you do decide to use you got or

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apps. Like it. Here are a

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few suggestions. Number one: let

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the information guide you rather

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than dictate. Your choices. Number

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To take a look into the

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void to see what's contributing to

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those scores, especially if they seem

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higher or lower. Than you expect.

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Number three: take a risky with

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a grain of salt and investigate

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the details before deciding how concerned

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you want to be about an

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additive. And finally, Think of

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the as one input among many

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to help inform, smarter, more conscious

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food choices. but don't let it

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overwhelm. Or sap all the

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joy out of eating. Thanks.

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To Cheryl for her question. If you

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have a question you like me the

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answer You can email me at Nutrition

10:10

at Quick and Dirty tips.com You can

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also lead me a voicemail at four

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four three Nine six One Six Two

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Zero, Six. I'd. Also like

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to invite you to check out my

10:20

other podcast it's called the Change Academy

10:22

where we explore the arts and science

10:24

of creating positive behavior change and we're

10:27

going to be running a special series

10:29

on the Change Academy Podcast starting December

10:31

twenty sixth designed to help you get

10:33

your mindset to death for a healthy.

10:35

New Year Nutrition. Diva

10:38

is a quick and dirty to to had

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cast any supported by sending Get your me

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some some Divina Tomlin. Holly Hutchings,

10:44

Morgan Christensen, and Cameron Lazy.

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That's all for this episode. Think so much for listening.

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See a next week.