New Health Rankings for Food Brands

The Good Nutrition Guide reveals true health rankings for UK's best-loved food brands. Food packaging and food advertising is rife with vague and exaggerated health claims. Research on which brands really are the healthiest and which are the unhealthiest are revealed for the first time in a new book out on January 31st, The Good Nutrition Guide.

London, UK (PRWEB) January 31, 2008 -- Working with the Food Standards Agency official guidelines on sugar, fat, salt and fibre, the new book, The Good Nutrition Guide at last reveals the true health rankings of UK food brands. Today the link between food choices and a range of life-threatening conditions such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes is clear. So, using straight forward nutrition facts, The Good Nutrition Guide analyses and compares hundreds of famous food products (from Heinz to Hob Nobs) in detail.

The Good Nutrition Guide also provides pages of healthy eating information and good nutrition advice. The book makes sensible food planning easy, showing how to make all the best food choices for personal wellbeing -- from interpreting current guidelines on recommended daily amounts to deciphering the highly confusing traffic light labelling systems.

The Good Nutrition Guide tables show how much energy, protein, fibre and carbohydrates plus sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt content is found per 100g of the food item. This information is then calculated to give each food product its Good Nutrition Guide Score: The total scores are out of 100 and the results rang from 12.5 upwards - this allows consumers and supermarket buyers a quick comparison between brands in a particular food category and indicates which foods are heaviest in potentially unhealthy ingredients.

Preview of The Good Nutrition Guide scores:

There are some surprising results, for example while the jam-filled, chocolate-covered Jaffa Cake may seem something of an indulgent treat it actually scores significantly better than the supposedly healthy Weightwatchers' Oat Crunch Biscuits. Likewise Kellogg's Frosties achieve an astonishingly higher score than the apparently "healthier" option of Kellogg's Fruit and Fibre.

Biscuits

Best in category: Jaffa Cakes Orange (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 50.0)

Lowest in sugars: McVitie's Original Digestives

Lowest in fat: Weightwatchers Oat Crunch Biscuits

Lowest in salt: Baiocchi Hazelnut & Cocoa Filled Biscuits

Worst choice includes: Cadbury's Milk Chocolate Fingers, Maryland Choc Chip Cookies and McVitie's Milk Chocolate Digestives

Butter and Margarine

Best in category: Country Life Unsalted (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 50.0)

Lowest in sugars includes: Flora Original, Pre with Soya and Flora Pro Active

Lowest in fat: St Ivel Gold Low Fat

Lowest in salt: Country Life Unsalted

Worst choice includes: I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and Stork

Breakfast Cereals

Best in category: Shredded Wheat (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 100.0)

Lowest in sugars: Shredded Wheat

Lowest in fat: Frosties

Lowest in salt includes: Sugar Puffs, Quaker Oats and Ready Brek

Worst choice: Nestle Curiously Cinnamon

Crisps

Best in category: Kettle Chips Lightly Salted (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 50.0), Kettle Chips Salsa with Mesquite (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 50.0), Walkers Cheese & Onion (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 50.0)

Lowest in sugars: Hula Hoops

Lowest in fat includes: Walkers Cheese & Onion, Walkers Prawn Cocktail and Walkers Salt & Vinegar

Lowest in salt: Doritos Lightly Salted Corn Chips

Worst choice includes: Pringles Salt & Vinegar, Doritos Cool Original Flavour, Sensations Slow Roasted Lamb with Moroccan Spices, Wotsits

Gravy, Stock and Stuffing Mix

Best in category: Paxo Sage & Onion Stuffing; Chiltern Herbs Country Stuffing; Just Bouillon Chicken Stock; Just Bouillon Red Meat Gravy; Just Bouillon Concentrated Stock Vegetable; Schwartz Rich Onion Gravy; Shropshire Spice Co. Sage & Onion Stuffing Mix; Knorr Simply Stock Chicken; Knorr The Fish Cube (All have a Good Nutrition Guide Score of 87.5)

Lowest in sugars: Knorr The Fish Cube

Lowest in fat: Knorr Simply Stock Chicken

Lowest in salt: Sierra Rica Organic Traditional Chestnut Stuffing

Worst choice: Bisto Favourite Gravy Granules

Quiche

Best in category: Morrisons Eat Smart Reduced Fat Cheese & Onion (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 75.0), Asda Good For You Cheese & Onion (Good Nutrition Guide Score: 75.0)

Lowest in sugars includes: Asda Chicken & Mushroom, Morrisons Smoked Ham, Cheese, Chicken & Leek Flan

Lowest in fat: Morrisons Eat Smart Reduced Fat Quiche Lorraine

Lowest in salt includes: Asda Spinach & Ricotta, Asda Chicken & Mushroom, Morrisons Eat Smart Reduced Fat Cheese & Onion

Worst choice includes: Asda Extra Special Wensleydale & Tomato, Sainsbury's Quiche Lorraine, Tesco Cheese & Bacon

In short The Good Nutrition Guide is a stream of surprises that quite simply blows the lid off hundreds of household brand names.

The proven links between good nutrition, vitality, health and happiness are being strengthened with every study. The Good Nutrition Guide provides shockingly clear information - and shows why good nutrition starts with knowing exactly which are the real heroes and villains of the supermarket shelves.

William Sankey, research and editorial director, says, "The Good Nutrition Guide scoring system sets out to reward only those products which are genuinely healthy. There are many packaging claims out there which do not withstand a full health analysis - these products are given low scores in The Good Nutrition Guide."

The Good Nutrition Guide can be found in all good bookshops or ordered direct from www.ethical-company-organisation.org

More about The Ethical Company Organisation

The Ethical Company Organisation aims to promote a universally responsible corporate attitude towards people, animal welfare and the environment. Its three divisions include Ethical Research, Ethical Publications and the Ethical Company Accreditation scheme. Its flagship book, The Good Shopping Guide is now on its sixth annual edition and has become the world's leading ethical shopping reference book. Over 60 companies (including Innocent Drinks, Sainsbury's and Good Energy) have joined the Ethical Accreditation scheme as a mark of commitment to a broad ethical agenda, independently certified.

For more information, see www.ethical-company-organisation.org or please contact The Ethical Company Organisation Press Department on 0845 257 6818.

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