Nutrient Density History

Health Organizations Urge a Nutrient-Rich Approach to Choosing Foods

Choosing foods based on their nutrient density is a long-standing concept that's receiving renewed attention in the nutrition community.

Applying the nutrient density concept to a daily eating plan means first making nutrient-dense foods — those that provide substantial amounts of nutrients and relatively few calories — the foundation of the diet and then including less nutrient-dense foods — those that provide calories but few or no nutrients — as calorie needs and activity levels allow. The phrase "nutrient-rich foods" is a consumer-friendly way to describe nutrient-dense foods.

Nutrient density is a cornerstone of the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans¹ and USDA’s MyPyramid², which translates the Dietary Guidelines into practical advice for consumers.

Dietary Guidelines recommendations that underscore the importance of nutrient density:

• "Consume a variety of nutrient-dense foods and beverages within and among the basic food groups while choosing foods that limit the intake of saturated and trans fat, cholesterol, added sugars, salt, and alcohol."
• "Meet recommended intakes within energy needs by adopting a balanced eating pattern, such as the USDA Food Guide..."

MyPyramid helps consumers use the Dietary Guidelines to:

• "Get the most nutrition out of calories."
• "Make smart choices from every food group."

In addition to the Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid, several major health professional organizations support a nutrient rich foods approach, which considers the total nutrient package of a food or beverage, as a way for Americans to build and enjoy a healthier diet by getting the most nutrients from their calories. These organizations include the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Dietetic Association, Action for Healthy Kids, National Hispanic Medical Association, National Medical Association and School Nutrition Association.

The Institute of Medicine's Food and Nutrition Board's Dietary Reference Intake: Applications in Dietary Planning report proposes nutrient density as a means to plan diets.³

A Call to Action

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee identified the need for the nutrition research community to develop a scientifically valid definition for nutrient density that could be useful on food labels and to determine what criteria are necessary for foods to meet this definition.⁴

The Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition (NRFC)—a partnership that brings together leading scientific researchers, health professionals, communications experts and agricultural commodity organizations — is dedicated to answering this need and helping educate people on how to get more nutrients from their calories by choosing nutrient-rich foods first.

Learn more about the science behind the Nutrient Rich Foods approach.

Learn more about the NRFC’s work, the scientists it works with and its members.

Get materials to use in speaking with patients and clients about the Nutrient Rich Foods approach.

References:

1. Department of Health and Human Services/US Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005. Available at: http://www.healthgove/dietaryguidelines/dga2005/document/. Accessed December 1, 2005.
2. US Department of Agriculture. MyPyramid.gov. Available at: http://mypyramid.gov. Accessed December 1, 2005.
3. Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Dietary reference intakes: Applications in dietary planning. 2003. Available at: http://books.nap.edu/catalog/10609.html. Accessed December 1, 2005.
4. Fulgoni VL III, Keast DR, Drewnowski A. Development and validation of the nutrient-rich foods index: a tool to measure nutritional quality of foods. J Nutr 2009;139(8):1549-54.
5. Drewnowski A, Fulgoni V III. Nutrient profiling of foods: creating a nutrient-rich food index. Nutr Rvws 2008;66(1):23–39.
6. Report of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. Available at: http://www.health.gov/DietaryGuidelines/dga2005/report/default.htm