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Tufts’ Befuddling “Food Compass”


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Occasional mental confusion is common as one grows older and is nothing to be particularly alarmed about. Really smart people have told me that repeatedly over the years, and I’ve taken comfort in what they said.  Especially when I repeatedly forget where I put my car keys (typically in my coat pocket). Or where I’ve left my reading glasses (usually on my head). Or what my Amazon account password is (a highly punctuated profanity).

But I’ve got to admit I was thrown for a very serious loop when I came across something called the Tufts Food Compass Score…

In case you haven’t heard, the Food Compass Score is supposed to be the latest and best offering from the Really Smart Scientists Community for people trying to make better choices about the food they eat.  The Score applies page after page after page of detailed and elaborately footnoted criteria for judging just how good for us various foods are.

There are all sorts of smart-sounding evaluative criteria related to diet and nutrition, chemistry, biology and all the other subjects I either failed or scraped by with a solid “D” in high school and college.

So I was prepared to be wowed by this newest and supposedly simplest way to judge the food options I have and the choices I make every day. Lord knows I want to live a long, long time. More accurately, I need to live a lot longer if I’m ever going to pay my way out of debt. And what’s better for that than a smart-decision-making tool based on science from an outfit like Tufts University?

Now this prestigious institution has gone and made me wonder: either I’m having a serious period of senior mental confusion, or my faith in the Tufts name and reputation may be misplaced.

You see, the conclusions drawn in their new Food Compass create some real mental disconnects for me. Foods that I like and thought of as at least somewhat “healthy” and good for me fare poorly on the Food Compass. Many I considered suspect at best rank nearer the top of their charts. I don’t pretend to be a scientist or an intellectual, but I have survived seven decades by making what I think are halfway intelligent decisions about what I eat.

The Food Compass Nutrient Profiling System evaluates more than eight thousand foods and beverages, spanning all major food categories against a complex mix of science-based measures related to nutrition and health. The formula also tries to consider foods that are actually mixtures of different foods, such as pizza. Each food winds up with a cumulative score based on a scale of 100 points. The higher the point ranking, the better the food is supposed to be for me.

Foods and beverages scoring 30 or below are to be “minimized.” Those with scores of 70 or better are to be “encouraged.” Anything in between – you’re on your own to decide.