Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Comment
  • Published:

Best practices for applying the Nova food classification system

Nature Food volume 4, pages 445–448 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

The assignment of foods to one of four categories proposed by the Nova framework may be challenging in the absence of information on how these foods were prepared and their specific composition. A three-step iterative approach can make the categorization process more efficient and transparent, thereby increasing the accuracy of Nova estimates.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Monteiro, C. A. et al. Public Health Nutr. 21, 5–17 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Monteiro, C. A. et al. Public Health Nutr. 22, 936–941 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Dinu, M. et al. Int. J. Food Sci. Nutr. 72, 861–869 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Sarbagili-Shabat, C. et al. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 74, 1653–1660 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Neri, D et al. Preprint at medRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.04.28.23289211 (2023).

  6. Khandpur, N. et al. J. Nutr. Sci. 10, E77 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Louzada, M. L. C. et al. Rev. Saude Publica 57, 12 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Martinez Steele, E. et al. Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Dis. 32, 2739–2750 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Chang, K. et al. JAMA Pediatr. 175, e211573 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Srour, B. et al. BMJ 365, l1451 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Mendonça, R. D. et al. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 104, 1433–1440 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Bonaccio, M. et al. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 113, 446–455 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Rauber, F. et al. Eur. J. Nutr. 60, 2169–2180 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Cummings, J. R., Lipsky, L. M., Schwedhelm, C., Liu, A. & Nansel, T. R. Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act. 19, 61 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Kliemann, N. et al. Lancet Planet. Health 7, e219–e232 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  16. Rauber, F. et al. Nutrients 10, 587 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  17. Martínez Steele, E. et al. J. Nutr. 153, 225–241 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wang, L. et al. BMJ 378, e068921 (2022).

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Fangupo, L. J. et al. Nutrients 11, 1290 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Oviedo-Solís, C. I. et al. Front. Nutr. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.737432 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Oviedo-Solís, C. I., Monterrubio-Flores, E. A., Cediel, G., Denova-Gutiérrez, E. & Barquera, S. J. Acad. Nutr. Diet. 122, 1129–1140 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Jung, S., Park, S. & Kim, J. Y. Public Health Nutr. 25, 1166–1175 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Huybrechts, I. et al. Front. Nutr. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2022.1035580 (2022).

  24. Sneed, N. M. et al. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 117, 182–190 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Concerning authors affiliated to the International Agency for Research on Cancer and/or World Health Organization, these authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article — which do not necessarily represent the decisions, policies or views of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and/or World Health Organization.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Euridice Martinez-Steele, Neha Khandpur, Maria Laura da Costa Louzada & Carlos A. Monteiro

  2. Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Euridice Martinez-Steele, Neha Khandpur, Renata B. Levy, Maria Laura da Costa Louzada, Fernanda Rauber & Carlos A. Monteiro

  3. Department of Human Health and Nutrition, Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

    Neha Khandpur

  4. Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Neha Khandpur

  5. Health and Nutrition Research Center, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico

    Carolina Batis

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain

    Maira Bes-Rastrollo

  7. Navarra Institute for Health Research (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain

    Maira Bes-Rastrollo

  8. CIBERobn, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain

    Maira Bes-Rastrollo

  9. Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed, Pozzilli, Italy

    Marialaura Bonaccio

  10. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia

    Gustavo Cediel

  11. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France

    Inge Huybrechts

  12. Department of Public Health Policy and Management, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY, USA

    Filippa Juul

  13. Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Renata B. Levy & Fernanda Rauber

  14. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia

    Priscila P. Machado

  15. Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Quebec, Canada

    Jean-Claude Moubarac

  16. Social and Behavioral Sciences Branch, Division of Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Tonja Nansel

  17. Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Bobigny, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

  18. Université Paris Cité, Paris, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

  19. INSERM, Paris, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

  20. INRAE, Paris, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

  21. CNAM, Paris, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

  22. Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN) of the Center of Research in Epidemiology and StatisticS (CRESS), Bobigny, France

    Bernard Srour & Mathilde Touvier

Authors
  1. Euridice Martinez-Steele
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Neha Khandpur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Carolina Batis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Maira Bes-Rastrollo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Marialaura Bonaccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gustavo Cediel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Inge Huybrechts
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Filippa Juul
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Renata B. Levy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Maria Laura da Costa Louzada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Priscila P. Machado
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Jean-Claude Moubarac
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Tonja Nansel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Fernanda Rauber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Bernard Srour
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Mathilde Touvier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Carlos A. Monteiro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Neha Khandpur or Carlos A. Monteiro.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Food thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Martinez-Steele, E., Khandpur, N., Batis, C. et al. Best practices for applying the Nova food classification system. Nat Food 4, 445–448 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00779-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-023-00779-w

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing