The Unique Way To Help You Avoid Buying Processed Foods At The Grocery Store

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Ultra-processed foods have been a high health concern for most major health organizations. These foods are defined by the American Medical Association as "industrial creations made with little — if any — whole foods that often contain large amounts of added sugar and salt." Lacking nutritional value with large amounts of artificial ingredients, excessive consumption of processed foods can contribute to issues like diabetes and cardiovascular complications. If you're trying to avoid these red-flag ingredients in food at the grocery store, a group of scientists might've just found the solution.

TrueFood is the brainchild of researchers from Harvard Medical School, Mass General Brigham, and the Network Science Institute, who worked together to make an accessible information system for people to see what's in their food. The database was developed after the team conducted a study on groceries from major chains like Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods to identify ultra-processed ingredients. The best part is that it's a completely free resource for anyone to use! Just head to www.truefood.tech to try it for yourself.

On the TrueFood website, food items are sorted from least to most processed. Clicking on an image of the food item will direct you to a page full of nutritional information and ingredients, designating whether they're processed or not. Let's compare two cereals: Bob's Red Mill Hot Cereal and Trix by General Mills. The former has a positive score of 0, made completely out of organic oat bran, while the latter has a score of 92, made of mostly artificial ingredients. Search for items by category and sort by the grocer (Target, Walmart, or Whole Foods) to find what works for you.

TrueFood is a creative tool to keep you informed as the food landscape changes, with even bigger alterations potentially coming because of budget cuts in FDA and health agency personnel and tariffs that could hike the prices of groceries. Ultra-processed foods tend to be less expensive than high-quality, organic foods, and a database like this can help you weigh the best decisions for your health and budget. TrueFood is still in its youth, so we should to expect more updates to come.