Study Qualifies Choices Programme as Most Restrictive Nutrient Profile Model

The study compares the health claims of fine bakery products, including cookies and crackers, commercially available in Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and the UK between January 2007 and December 2009, with the criteria of five nutrient profiling models.

1/27/2011 --- A study assessing 200 fine bakery products displaying on-pack nutrition or health-related communication was recently completed by Kraft Foods R&D and Justus-Leibig University’s Institute of Nutrition in Germany. It was published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in December 2010.

The study compares the health claims of fine bakery products, including cookies and crackers, commercially available in Germany, France, Spain, Sweden and the UK between January 2007 and December 2009, with the criteria of five nutrient profiling models: The Choices Programme, FDA, FSA/OFCOM, Smart Choices Programme and the French SAIN/LIM. Energy, saturated fat, sugar, sodium and fibre content were used to classify products.

For all models, more savoury than sweet products met the criteria, and overall the Choices Programme proved to be the most restrictive model. Indeed, it would only allow 6% of products with a healthier label image to also carry a positive front-of-pack logo.

The study concludes that nutrient profiles can be applied to fine bakery products that have a significantly better nutritional composition than the average range of products positioned as healthier.