As Vegan Bamboo Bar we introduce an indicator with the figure of 0 to 10 that really takes into account the health aspects of the ingredients of our dishes and products:
- The difference between good and bad oils.
- The difference between simple and complex carbohydrates.
- The richness of nutrients
- Amount of antioxidants that are healing
- Amount of substances that are harmful to the body
- How significant is the contribution of diet on ageing
Our health indicator differs from Nutri-Score, which is not a health indicator, but an indicator of certain aspects of nutrition such as the number of calories and the amount of sugar, salt, fat, protein, fibre, fruit, and vegetables.
We believe it is important to indicate how healthy the food is that we serve. However, at this moment, there is no formal generally accepted indicator that indicates how healthy a dish or product is.
Nutri-Score
The closest is the Nutri-Score, devised by the French government. However, no consensus has been reached with the food industry. We think that it is impossible to have a real health indicator that the food industry will approve. For such a thing to be accepted by the industry, we expect that too many compromises must be made, which will weaken the value of the health indicator. Nutri-Score, for example, is not a health indicator, but an indication of certain aspects of nutrition such as the number of calories and the amount of sugar, salt, fat, protein, fibre, fruit, and vegetables.
Nutri-Score is still better than nothing. For example, it indicates how much sugar is in a product, and that is good. In the current food industry, sugar is added in large quantities to many products without it being known to the public.
VBB Health Score
As Vegan Bamboo Bar we introduce an indicator with the figure of 0 to 10 that really takes into account the health aspects of the ingredients of our dishes and products. With this indicator, we take the following aspects into account:
- The difference between good and bad oils.
- Omega 3 oils are healthier than saturated fats and refined omega 6 plant-based oils.
- The refined vegetable oils oxidize in our body and cause inflammation.
- The difference between simple and complex carbohydrates.
- Simple carbohydrates are absorbed by the body and converted into energy.
- Simple carbohydrates are not harmful when your body needs to grow and burn a lot of energy. They only become bad when you get them abundantly while you don’t need them.
- We classify them therefore as not that healthy, but some nuance is appropriate.
- The richness of nutrients
- Amount of antioxidants that are healing
- Amount of substances that are harmful to the body
- The amount of AGE that the World Health Organization has classified as a carcinogen in category 1. AGE is Advanced Glycation End products and are mainly found in meat that is prepared under high temperatures.
- The amount of acrylamide that the World Health Organization has classified as carcinogenic in category 2A. These are mainly found in starchy products that have been prepared under high temperatures, such as cornflakes, cookies, bread, etc.
- How significant is the contribution of diet on ageing
- This is based on the work of Dr David Sinclair and his fellow researchers in the area of genetics and the biology of ageing.
Examples
Below we explain the grades with some examples.
| Category | Health Score | Examples Ingredients | Examples products |
| Eat abundantly | 10 | Organic vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts, tea, spices, and fruits | Jars containing vegetables, frozen vegetables, salad or plant-based dishes that are organic |
| 9 | Non-organic vegetables, beans, seeds, nuts, tea, fruits, olive oil, and spices | Jars containing vegetables, frozen vegetables, salads or plant-based dishes that are not organic | |
| 8 | Sweet potato, sweet fruits, unsweetened plant-based yoghurt and milk | Oatmeal, vinegar, sauerkraut, smoothies mostly out of vegetables | |
| 7 | Small fatty fish | Most vegan burgers, sardine, mackerel, herring, anchovies, and wild salmon | |
| Eat in moderation | 6 | Potato, coconut oil, brown rice, sushi rice | Potato salad, sushi, canned vegetables, smoothies mostly out of fruit |
| 5 | Medium-sized fish, dates, rice, sweet fruit juices | Tilapia, shrimp, crab, Beyond Meat burger, unsweetened yoghurt, freshly squeezed orange juice, air-popped organic popcorn, mustard | |
| 4 | Whole grain, grass-fed meat, organic chicken | Whole grain bread, farmed salmon, grass-fed meat, organic chicken | |
| Eat as little as possible or avoid | 3 | Refined vegetable oil, heated starchy products, large fish | Sunflower oil, cake, breakfast cereal, white bread, sweetened yoghurt, tuna |
| 2 | Diet soft drinks, beer, farmed fish | Cola light, milk, hamburger with organic beef, cow meat, pork meat, crips, chicken meat, eggs, cake with refined sugar, ketchup, mayonnaise | |
| 1 | Heated meat, non-organic meat, alcohol, processed foods | Hamburger, sausages, hot dogs, cola, cookies, refined sugar, doughnuts, snickers, mars | |
| 0 | non-foods | Cigarettes, drugs, medicine |
Below we highlight several examples and explain their rating:
- Eat as much as you want
- Health Score 10
- We save this figure for the healthiest foods of unprocessed and organic origin.
- With vegetables it does not matter whether they come from glass jars or freezer. In addition, so many nutrients are retained that they are still healthy.
- Health Score 9
- The maximum figure for unprocessed products of non-organic origin.
- Health Score 8
- We rate our self-made vegan burgers at 8. These burgers are selected on healthy ingredients. We only use olive oil. Only the sandwiches from the citizens are less healthy, but on the other hand there are many nutrients in the form of vegetables.
- Oatmeal is healthy because it contains complex carbohydrates. These carbohydrates are only partially absorbed in the small intestine and the rest flows through to the large intestine as food for our microbiome. In addition, it contains oatmeal fiber.
- Smoothies with lots of vegetables are healthy. However, some vegetables contain extremely much oxalic acid, such as spinach. If you take this every day, you can get into trouble in the long term.
- Health Score 7
- Small fat fish contains omega 3 fatty acids that are good for our brains. We do not serve them, but if you occasionally want to eat animal products, then these are the best choice.
- Health Score 10
- Eat in moderation
- Health Score 6
- There is a lot of controversy surrounding coconut oil. Although it contains a lot of saturated fat, according to certain groups, doctors are healthy. According to another group of doctors, these saturated fats behave just like other saturated fats.
- We are reserved in regards to coconut oil.
- Health Score 5
- Many people think that all fruit juices are very healthy, because they contain fruit that we also rate with an 8, 9 or 10. However, sweet fruit juices are a sugar shots and behave as if you eat a lot of sugar in one go. For example, if you eat an entire orange, you consume a lot of fiber at the same time, so your body handles it differently.
- Health Score 4
- Many people think that whole grain bread is much healthier than white bread. They are indeed slightly healthier because they contain more fiber and nutrients. For people who are not overweight and who can use the energy well, bread is fine.
- However, for people who are already a bit overweight, the carbohydrates ingested will be converted into glucose by the body, which is then converted into body fat. In addition, acrylamide is formed by heating and has been declared carcinogenic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
- Animal meat contains all the proteins that humans need and that is good. Meat with low level of contamination are , for example, steak from grass-fed cows or organic chicken. Unfortunately, meat contains also components that are bad for health:
- Meat contains saturated fats that cause inflammation.
- When heating meat, advanced glycation end products are created (a collection of substances that are carcinogenic in category 1 according to the WHO).
- Eating meat protein triggers the aging process by stimulating the production of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) and initiating the mTOR pathway.
- Health Score 3
- Refined vegetable oils, such as sunflower and salad oil, are obtained by chemical treatments and heating, making them unstable and causing DNA damage in the body through oxidation, which increases the risk of diseases. They cause inflammation that your body must clear up.
- Health Score 2
- Non-organic animal meat, which contains a high level of pesticide (accumulation of cheap feed for livestock), anti-biotics and hormones (to stimulate their growth and meat production).
- Processed foods (around 65% of all supermarket foods), which contain high level of sugar, refined carbohydrates, refined oils, salt, pesticides, or contaminations.
- Health Score 1
- This figure is reserved for products that we take that are catagorized as food, such as cigarette.
- Health Score 6