Help from healthy beverage index

Following in the footsteps of a Healthy Eating Index, attempts are now being made to devise a commonly accepted Healthy Beverage Index.

The rationale is that US dietary guidelines need elaboration for individual cases and a scoring system for a healthier beverage balance has been outlined in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The researchers felt too much attention was being paid to sugar-sweetened beverages and too little to overall intake quality.

The objective is to reach a score of 100, based on consuming 2.65 litres of liquid per day with an energy value of 196 calories.

The challenge is that the current average US adult score is 56, based on consuming 1.74 litres weighing in at 490 calories.

The optimum “shows water as the major source of total fluids, with skim milk and red wine as beverages contributing energy”, whereas the current pattern “shows water and soda as the primary sources of fluids, with soda and a vanilla latte contributing to beverage energy”.

Whatever the system, it has to reach where it is needed most.