CalorieCount Nutritional Report Analysis

Under "My Account," there is an analysis of your daily nutritional intake and it's graded. Does anyone know what that grade is based on? It's obviously graded automatically, so there must be a preset grade based on what data goes into the analysis. What kind of data would have to be entered into the system to yield an "A"? Likewise, what kind of data constitutes a low grade?

What generates an A is if you include plenty of things like fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, pulses/legumes and other unprocessed foods in your diet.  What reduces the grade of individual foods/drink is if they are very high in fat, sugar, salt or alcohol.... and the more of those foods you have in the mix the lower the average.   So you'll find something like salmon gets a lower grade because it's a naturally oily fish but, as part of the overall picture, it doesn't reduce the average.  Same goes for chocolate which gets a low grade due to the fat & sugar content but is OK in small amounts.  The analysis doesn't judge the total calorie intake.

The approximate benchmarks for a healthy diet are 50-65% carbohydrates, 15-25% protein, 25-30% fats, 25g+ fibre, <50g sugar, <2400mg sodium

i got an A- today and was very upset!  i was wondering the exact same thing... 

thank you gi-jane, you are always super helpful!

Well, I actually realized a day or two ago that the grade is based off of the grades of the food you enter in because I previously didn't see that the food itself was graded.

But what I really wanted to know is what is the BASIS of the grade? I'm not really sure how to phrase it better than that. Like if an apple has an A+ grade, is that because apples are traditionally regarded as good for you? Or is it based on how balanced all the aspects of the food are and how nutritionally dense a food is for the calories?

I guess it doesn't matter so much now, but I was just really curious at the time I posted this. Thank you for your answer.

If you check out any individual food you get the nutrition info plus a little summary of its good points and bad points.  I think the rating depends on how it scores against certain criteria.... saturated fat, sugar content, salt content, alcohol content.   Olive oil being 14% saturated fat, for example, gets a B.  Butter being 50% saturated fat gets an F.  Apples get a note that they are 'high in sugar' but there are 5 'good points' that more than offset that to make them an A.  Chocolate gets a D+ because it's not only high in sugar but high in fat too.

If most of what you eat is plant-based.... grains, fruit, veg, pulses/legumes... and if you treat meat, fish, dairy, sugars and oils as side-events then it balances up.  If you went back to your A- day and added 4oz broccoli to your food log it will probably become an A.