Is a Hotdog a sandwich? Life’s ultimate question. Although this trivial question is less about classifying foods and more about definitions’ restrictions, I’d still like to attempt to quantify food by reflecting its effect on our health.
This analysis is based on each dish’s macronutrient content. If you’ve taken any sort of biology class, you would know that proteins are made out of building blocks called amino acids. Each source of protein has a protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) for its quality based on its essential amino acid composition, digestibility, and bioavailability (Hess, 2016). In other words, how much of the protein is what we need and can absorb. Proteins come in the form of meats, poultry, fish/seafood, dairy products, legumes, beans, and nuts. Using the glycemic index (GI), food can be quantified based on its effect on a person’s blood sugar (Harvard Health, 2021). Over-consuming high GI foods raise a person’s blood sugar and increase their risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Basically, the lower the better. Carbohydrates are found in starches, fruits, dairy, and anything with sugar. Now onto dietary fats. Classifying fats by their healthiness is controversial, but the general consensus is that trans fats are awful, saturated fats should be consumed sparingly, and most unsaturated fats are considered healthy (Harvard University, 2019).
So this system of quantifying the health of a food will be a scale out of 100 based on macronutrient distribution measured in grams. Trans fats will award 0 points, saturated fats will award 150 multiplied by the percentage of food that is saturated fat all divided by two, and unsaturated fats will award 150 multiplied by the percentage of food that is unsaturated fat. Carbohydrates on the other hand will be scored by multiplying the percentage of carbohydrates in the dish by the difference between 100 and its GI rating. The protein score will be its PDCAAS score multiplied by the percentage of protein in the dish.
Let’s use chicken pasta as an example. A quick Google search returns 3 grams of saturated fat, 8 grams of unsaturated fat, 38 grams of pasta (GI rating 55), and 23 grams of protein (PDCAAS 95) out of the total macronutrient amount of 72 grams. Plugging all the numbers in will return a score of 78.2, meaning based on purely macronutrient content, chicken pasta is a C+ dish.
Because of this system’s simplicity, it contains many drawbacks in measuring food quality and health. This system does not take calories, satiety, micronutrient content, and water content into account. What this system does measure is protein quality, carbohydrate’s effect on blood sugar, and general fat healthiness.
Citations:
Harvard Health. (2021, November 16). Glycemic index for 60+ foods. Retrieved January 2, 2022, from:https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load-for-100-foods
Harvard University. (2019, May 22). Fats and Cholesterol. The Nutrition Source. Retrieved January 2, 2022, from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/
Hess, J. (2016, May 19). Defining “Protein” Foods. National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved January 2, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4890830/
