New App Helps You Choose Healthier Foods

A new app has been developed and is aptly named "FoodSwitch", which acts as a nutritionist and helps users scan a packaged food's barcode, quickly checks the nutritional rating and identifies similar foods that are healthier.

"FoodSwitch //is unique in that users don't have to hunt for healthier alternatives. They're all listed in the app," Mark Huffman, Associate Professor at Northwestern University in the US said in a statement released by the university.

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‘"FoodSwitch" app developed helps users scan a packaged food's barcode and acts as a nutritionist at the shopper's side in the grocery store.’

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Unlike other nutrition apps, FoodSwitch also asks users to crowdsource information on new and changing foods within a country's food supply to update the app's 268,000-product database in real time.

The app provides a simple "Health Star Rating" that scores each food between 0.5 stars of unhealthy to 5 stars of the healthiest.

The scoring is based on a scientific algorithm that weighs the impact of different nutrients on health.

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The app also provides a breakdown of the food's fat, saturated fat, sugars and salt in grams and gives a percentage of an adult's daily intake for each, which is shown as red, yellow and green lights.

When a food gets few stars or multiple red lights, consumers can see it's high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt.

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Users also can compare multiple products in the same category, such as regular and fat-free salad dressing, to quickly determine which product is healthier.

"That's when you should take a step back and say, 'Maybe, I shouldn't be eating this. What else is out there?'" Huffman said.

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FoodSwitch has launched successfully in many countries, including India, Australia, New Zealand, Britain, China, South Africa and Hong Kong, and is available in Apple and Google Play stores.

Source-IANS