Nutrient Balance Indicator™

The Nutrient Balance Indicator™ appears in every ND analysis, and also on ND's Total Consumption report. This symbol illustrates nutrient density and provides visual feedback that can help you create meals that are healthier and more nutritionally balanced. It also includes a calculated "Completeness Score™," which indicates how complete the food is with respect to 23 essential nutrients.

How to Interpret the Nutrient Balance Indicator™

The main portion of the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ is a special type of radial graph. It's very similar to a bar graph, but instead of having horizontal or vertical bars, the bars (or "spokes") of this graph extend outward from the center. Each spoke represents a different essential nutrient and is grouped into one of five color-coded categories — Dietary Fiber (green), Protein (blue), Vitamins (purple), Minerals (white), and potentially troublesome nutrients (yellow).

The nutrient densities used for the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ are derived from the percentages of FDA Daily Values that are contained in a 1,000-calorie portion of the food. If the 1,000-calorie portion contains less than 10% of the Daily Value for a nutrient, or if no data is available for that nutrient, the nutrient's spoke appears completely gray. For higher nutrient densities, a proportionate part of the spoke is filled with color.

Nutrient Balance at a Glance
The main purpose of the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ is to visually expose some of the food's nutritional strengths and weaknesses. For example, in the above detail, it's very easy to see that this food is a poor source of vitamin D, vitamin B12, and selenium, but that the food does contain abundant amounts of dietary fiber, vitamin K, thiamin, vitamin B6, folate, manganese, potassium, and sodium.

 

Understanding the Completeness Score™
At the bottom of the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ is a Completeness Score™ that ranges from 0 to 100. This score essentially tells you how close the food is to filling your needs for all of these essential nutrients. With a Completeness Score™ of 100, all of the spokes on the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ (except for the three yellow ones) will be completely filled.

Note: Saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium are not included in the calculation of ND's Completeness Score™. They're shown on the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ simply to provide feedback to those individuals who are restricting their intake of these nutrients.

While the Completeness Score™ and Nutrition Data's Rating are both derived from the density of the essential nutrients in the food, they have very different purposes. ND's Rating compares the levels of "good" nutrients to the levels of "bad" nutrients to evaluate the food's potential for making a positive impact on your diet. It does not, however, provide any indication of whether the food contains a complete array of essential nutrients. Therefore, it's possible (and very common) to have foods with good ratings that are still deficient in some nutrients.

For example, consider the following food:

ND gives cooked mushrooms its highest rating of 5.0 because they are a good source of many nutrients and are especially rich in vitamin D, niacin, pantothenic acid, and copper. However, look at the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ above. Despite their high rating, mushrooms are a poor source of calcium and are completely deficient in vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin K, and vitamin B12. Because of these deficiencies, its Completeness Score™ is well below 100.

 

Using the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ to Improve Your Meals and Recipes
While the ND Rating provides feedback on the nutritional value of a single food, the Nutrient Balance Indicator™ provides a better way to gauge the nutritional value of an entire meal. By using My ND, you can easily experiment with your own meals and recipes to find combinations of foods that are more nutritionally complete.

For example, below are Nutrient Balance Indicators™ for three individual foods, plus a recipe that combines them. The nutritional strengths of these foods complement one another, so the resulting recipe is more nutritionally complete.

Note: To learn how to create and analyze your own recipes with My Recipes, please see the My Recipes Help page.

 

Does the Completeness Score™ Need to Be 100?
It's a good idea to strive for higher Completeness Scores™, but don't become obsessed with this number. Remember that this score is based on the nutrients contained in 1,000 calories of the food. In a single day, it's likely that you consume roughly two times that amount of food, so it's possible for you to be fully nourished even if the overall Completeness Score™ for your diet is below 100.

Most people consume some foods (e.g., junk foods, desserts, flavored drinks) for reasons other than simple nourishment. If junk food is all that you eat, your health will eventually suffer. However, if you make sure that nutritionally rich and complete foods make up the majority of your diet, you have more leeway to enjoy some of the less nutritious foods without jeopardizing your nutritional health. Nutrition Data's Nutrient Balance Indicator™ and Completeness Score™ simply help you find those nutritionally superior foods.

 

Can You Rely on Nutritional Supplements to Satisfy Your Needs?
All of the essential nutrients in Nutrition Data's Nutrient Balance Indicator™ are available in supplement form. So, in theory, you could correct a weak diet simply by adding a daily multivitamin. Realize, however, that vitamin and mineral supplements are refined products that typically contain only the nutrients shown on their label. Nutrition is an evolving science, and not every essential nutrient has yet been identified. By consuming nutritious whole foods, it's more likely that you'll benefit from trace nutrients that your supplements don't include.

Instead of relying on nutritional supplements, consider using them to fill in during the times when it's not possible or practical to prepare and eat a regular meal. Nutrition shakes, such as the one profiled below, are a type of supplement that is especially well suited for this purpose.