In this paper, I first provide definitions of nutrient profiling and of a nutrient profile model. I set out the purposes of nutrient profiling: both general and specific. I give two examples of nutrient profile models that have been developed for regulatory purposes by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in the UK and the WHO for its European Region - the UK FSA/Ofcom and the WHO-Euro models - and compare the way the models are constructed and function, how they have been developed, the extent to which they have been tested and validated and their use in regulation. Finally I draw some conclusions about the future use of nutrient profiling for regulatory purposes. I argue that its full potential has yet to be realised and give some reasons why. I pose some urgent research questions with respect to nutrient profiling.
Journal article
Proc Nutr Soc
08/2017
76
230 - 236
FSA Food Standards Agency, Food marketing, Food regulation, Nutrient profiling, Adolescent, Adult, Biomedical Research, Child, Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Congresses as Topic, Dietetics, Europe, Food Packaging, Food, Preserved, Food-Processing Industry, Health Promotion, Healthy Diet, Humans, Models, Biological, Nutritional Sciences, Nutritive Value, Societies, Scientific, United Nations