New York July 1 (IANS) Researchers have developed a novel app which can act as a nutritionist at the shopper s side in the grocery store.
Aptly named "FoodSwitch" the app can help users scan a packaged food s barcode quickly see its nutritional rating and identify 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

--IANS rt/gb/bg