Health Quotient for What You Put Into Your Mouth

Yes, we all know that the triple cheeseburger with fries is not healthy for us on any level and that carrot and celery sticks (and most fruits and veggies, for that matter) are at the other end of the spectrum. But what about that middle ground, particularly packaged foodstuffs that we throw in the grocery cart and keep in our pantry? While the FDA does require some semblance of disclosure on packaging these days, including ingredients, calories, fat content, etc., those figures can be difficult to interpret and may be somewhat misleading. Nutritional labeling may show a healthy 100% of your daily Vitamin C and 6 grams of fiber but have a significant amount of unhealthy saturated or trans fats. So what’s a person to do?

This where GoodGuides comes in. This new website (also available online via smart phones and via an iPhone application see below) provides the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home. Currently in beta testing, with new products being added on a regular basis. GoodGuides has set out to rate the impact of consumer products, including foodstuffs, on your health and the environment.

The diligent staff at Good Guides analyzes and evaluates products based on potentially hazardous ingredients (genetically modified ingredients come to mind), environmental impact (including shipping/transportation), and social, labor and political practices of the manufacturer. They have gone a step further with consumer foodstuffs by measuring the ratio of restricted-to-recommended ingredients. This is where the good vitamins and fiber get pitted against the sugars and bad fats. The end result is a nutritional analysis that can help you make an informed decision about the companies you spend your money on and what goes into your mouth.

Currently, the site has rated over 30,000 packaged foods, garnering information from such organizations as the Center for Food Safety,  Environmental Working Group,  Food and Water Watch,  and TransFair USA.  You can find safe and green products, get expert advice and recommendations, and even create a favorites list, if you so choose. Membership is free and fast, but you don’t have to be a member to use the site.

The site lists categories of Food, Personal Care, Household Chemicals, and Toys. Almost 1 million products are included on GoodGuides, making it a good information point for you and your family. I tested the site with Pasta. You can stick to just pasta or add all pasta-related products (560 results). The initial results showed two pages of top pasta products. American Beauty Enriched Macaroni came in first with an 8.9 rating. When I expanded the search to all pasta-related products, I found that there was actually a product that scored a 10: Ancient Harvest Rotelle – Quinoa. The high score is attributable to the health/nutrition performance of the product, as no environmental or social performance data was available on the manufacturer. 

When you click on a product it takes you to a product page which has the product image, GoodGuide Rating, User Reviews, Average Price, Information Behind the Rating, scores and background data on Health/Nutrition Performance, Environmental Performance, and Social Performance. The page shows the actual Nutrition label as well as a nutrition summary. And in an effort to provide “green” data, you can find out the environmental impact for a production in 5 categories: Energy, Global Warming, Water, Land, and Air.

For those of you with fancy phones, you can access GoodGuides with the following:

Smart Phones: Cal 41411, text “gguide” and the barcode of the packaged food
IPhone App: www.goodguide.com/about/mobile