Nutrient Dense Foods

This has popped up before, put I just had a look around to see if it's being discussed lately and I don't think it is. I always remind myself of this, to make sure I'm not eating empty calories.

http://www.glamour.com/health-fitness/blogs/vitamin-g/0209-andi-scores_vg.jpg

The scores are explained here:

http://onthelime.com/_blog/On_The_Lime_Blog/tag/kale/

But basically, they're saying per calorie, Kale and Collards have the highest amount of vitamins and minerals. Relative to the amount that they have, they then have scored other foods per calorie.

It's because of this that I eat so much spinach now, I eat it every day, because I can get it all year round. Now that it is Winter, I can get Kale, so I am eating a tonne of that.

Thank you for posting this. This is a great reference to look at everyday.

I also like this reference, and the fact that it pervades Whole Foods these days, but I think the ratings might be a bit hyperbolic. For example, is kale really 27 TIMES more nutrient dense than avocado? I'm not sure about that, although I am sure that kale is more nutrient dense than avocado overall. Also, I really wish Dr. Fuhrman would release the formula he uses to calculate the numbers. I fear he may give too much weight to certain components of food (i.e. fiber) and not enough to others (i.e. protein completeness).

All in all, a good thing to have on the fridge

I don't know, but I am assuming (because it seems logical to me) that the score for each nutrient depends on the %RDA that the food provides. So if something provides a larger amount of nutrient A than nutrient B, it doesn't matter, it only matters what %RDA of nutrient A there is. Otherwise, for a nutrient which you need 10x mg of, getting x mg is not much, whereas if it's a nutrient you only need 2x mg per day, and you can get x mg, then it should get a higher rating, if you see what I mean. But I have no idea how he calculates it.

Thanks for posting this Richard. It is very good information from Dr. Fuhrman.

I believe Dr. Fuhrman himself has said in the past that the ANDI scores are not the end all. I believe he is in the process of revising how he calculates it actually since new nutrients have been found in some foods like mushrooms and onions.

I believe he has said the main purpose of the ANDI scores is to encourage the consumption of green vegetables, berries, and other nutrient rich foods and discorage the consumption of processes foods such as sweets and oils by revealing how nutrient barren they really are.

My main focus is to eat foods high in nutrients, especially phytonutrients/antioxidants,(which are also calculated in the ANDI to my understanding, atleast to what is currently known about them in foods. I believe there are a lot yet undiscovered) so I do try to eat more of the higher ANDI scoring foods.

I can look up the formula in the the Eat For Health book if you wish so.

Yes, that would be great if you could Mufflon. I didn't realize it was in his Eat For Health book.

IIRC it is. I have to look it up. I only have the cook book part of it here.