Method and system for assessing, scoring, grouping and presenting nutritional value information of food products

• US 7,974,881 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Guiding Stars Licensing Company
• Original Assignee: Guiding Stars Licensing Company
• Inventors: Vitagliano, John A., Fischer, Leslie M., Culver, Stephen F., McBride, James L., Sutherland, Lisa A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart; Matthew S
• Assistant Examiner(s): CRAWLEY, TALIA F
• Application Number:
  US11/926,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059342A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,345 Days
• Field of Search: 426/72, 434/127, 705/15
• US Class Current: 705/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/0092 Nutrition
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/60 relating to nutrition control, e.g. diets

Abstract

A method and system for presenting nutritional information about food products. The method involves gathering nutritional data about food products, analyzing that data to determine a nutritional value, scoring the product, and applying a designation reflecting the nutritional score. The nutritional value score designation is then displayed at the point of sale for observation by customers. The system includes a data gathering function, a data analyzing function, a data storing function, a scoring function, a reporting function and a display function to perform the steps of the method described.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of assigning nutritional value ratings to a plurality of food products of the same and different type, the computer-implemented method using a computer system having (i) a plurality of computer-implemented functions, and (ii) one or more databases, the computer-implemented method comprising, for each food product, assigning a rating by:

a) executing a data gathering function and a data filtering function of the computer system that

(i) identifies nutritional data for a plurality of nutritional quality attributes of the food product, wherein caloric value is not a nutritional quality attribute of the food product; and

(ii) stores the nutritional data in the one or more databases;

(b) establishing ranges of nutritional quality attribute values for each nutritional quality attribute;

c) assigning a point value to each of the ranges of nutritional quality attribute values to establish the relative importance of each of the ranges, and storing the assigned point values in the one or more databases; and

d) executing a scoring function of the computer system that is in communication with the one or more databases that

(i) calculates a total nutritional quality score for the food product based on the point values of the nutritional quality attributes for the food product and a scoring algorithm, and

(ii) assigns a nutritional value rating based on the total nutritional quality score, wherein each nutritional value rating corresponds to a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and wherein the same scoring algorithm and rating correlations are used for different types of food products.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the nutritional data is based on a normalized serving size.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the serving size is normalized on a predetermined caloric value.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the nutritional value rating is a designation of stars.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the designation of stars ranges from zero to three.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the nutritional quality attributes include trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugars, added sodium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and whole grain.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the scoring algorithm adds up the assigned point values to obtain the nutritional quality score.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein a first plurality of types of food products uses a first correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and a second plurality of types of food products uses a second correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, the same nutritional value ratings being used for the first and second plurality of types of food products.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of executing a reporting function of the computer system in communication with the scoring function that presents the nutritional value rating for each food product in a human readable printed form.

10. A computer-implemented system for assigning nutritional value ratings to a plurality of food products of the same and different type, the computer-implemented system comprising:

(a) a data gathering function and a data filtering function of a computer system that

(i) identifies nutritional data for a plurality of nutritional quality attributes of the food product, wherein caloric value is not a nutritional quality attribute of the food product;

(ii) stores the nutritional data in one or more databases; and

(iii) establishes ranges of nutritional quality attribute values for each nutritional quality attribute;

(b) one or more of the databases of the computer system storing a point value assigned to each of the ranges of nutritional quality attributes to establish the relative importance of each of the ranges; and

(c) a scoring function of the computer system in communication with the one or more databases that

(i) calculates a total nutritional quality score for the food product based on the point values of the nutritional quality attributes for the food product and a scoring algorithm, and

(ii) assigns a nutritional value rating based on the total nutritional quality score, wherein each nutritional value rating corresponds to a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and wherein the same scoring algorithm and rating correlations are used for different types of food products.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the nutritional data is based on a normalized serving size.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the serving size is normalized based on a predetermined caloric value.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the nutritional value rating is a designation of stars.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the designation of stars ranges from zero to three.

15. The system of claim 10 wherein the nutritional quality attributes include trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugars, added sodium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and whole grain.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein the scoring algorithm adds up the assigned point values to obtain the nutritional quality score.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein a first plurality of types of food products uses a first correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and a second plurality of types of food products uses a second correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, the same nutritional value ratings being used for the first and second plurality of types of food products.

18. The system of claim 10 further comprising a reporting function of the computer system in communication with the scoring function that presents the nutritional value rating for each food product in a human readable printed form.

19. A computer program product for assigning nutritional value ratings to a plurality of food products of the same and different type, wherein the computer program product includes computer-readable instructions tangibly embodied on a computer-readable medium that, when executed by a computer system, uses the computer system to perform a method comprising, for each food product, assigning a rating by:

a. executing a data gathering function and a data filtering function of the computer system that

i. identifies nutritional data for a plurality of nutritional quality attributes of the food product, wherein caloric value is not a nutritional quality attribute of the food product;

ii. stores the nutritional data in one or more databases of the computer system; and

iii. establishes ranges of nutritional quality attribute values for each nutritional quality attribute;

b. assigning a point value to each of the ranges of nutritional quality attributes to establish relative importance of each of the ranges, and storing the point values for each of the ranges in the one or more databases; and

c. executing a scoring function of the computer system that is in communication with the one or more databases that

i. calculates a total nutritional quality score for the food product based on the point values of the nutritional quality attributes for the food product and a scoring algorithm, and

ii. assigns a nutritional value rating based upon the total nutritional quality score, wherein each nutritional value rating corresponds to a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and wherein the same scoring algorithm and rating correlations are used for different types of food products.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the nutritional data is based on a normalized serving size.

21. The computer program product of claim 20 wherein the serving size is normalized based on a predetermined caloric value.

22. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the nutritional value rating is a designation of stars.

23. The computer program product of claim 22 wherein the designation of stars ranges from zero to three.

24. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the nutritional quality attributes include trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugars, added sodium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and whole grain.

25. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the scoring algorithm adds up the assigned point values to obtain the nutritional quality score.

26. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein a first plurality of types of food products uses a first correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and a second plurality of types of food products uses a second correlation between each nutritional value rating and a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, the same nutritional value ratings being used for the first and second plurality of types of food products.

27. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the computer readable instructions further perform a method comprising the step of executing a reporting function of the computer system in communication with the scoring function that presents the nutritional value rating for each food product in a human readable printed form.

28. A computer-implemented method of assigning nutritional value ratings to a plurality of food products of the same and different type, the computer-implemented method using a computer system having (i) a plurality of computer-implemented functions, and (ii) one or more databases, the computer-implemented method comprising, for each food product, assigning a rating by:

a) executing a data gathering function and a data filtering function of the computer system that

(i) identifies nutritional quantity data for a plurality of nutritional quality attributes of the food product, wherein caloric value is not a nutritional quality attribute of the food product;

(ii) analyzes the data to determine its relative importance with respect to the nutritional value of the product;

(iii) normalizes the nutritional quantity data for a predetermined caloric value to allow accurate comparison of different food products;

(iv) stores the normalized nutritional data in the one or more databases including at least the Uniform Product Code and the normalized nutritional data; and

(v) establishes ranges of nutritional quality attribute values for each nutritional quality attribute based on the normalized nutritional data;

b) assigning a point value to each of the ranges of nutritional quality attributes to establish relative importance and storing the point values for each of the ranges in the one or more databases; and

c) executing a scoring function of the computer system that is in communication with the one or more databases that

(i) calculates a total nutritional quality score for the food product based on the point values of the nutritional quality attributes for the food product reflecting the food'"'"'s value and a scoring algorithm assessing amounts of at least trans fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, added sugar, added sodium, dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and whole grain, and

(ii) assigns a nutritional value rating based on the total nutritional quality score, wherein each nutritional value rating corresponds to a nutritional quality score or a range of nutritional quality scores, and wherein the same scoring algorithm and rating correlations are used for different types of food products.