The Winning Scores - Big Y® World Class Market®

NuVal's™ High Achievers

When it comes to scores, higher is always better. In just about any game or sport, the high score wins. The higher you score on a test, the better your grade. The higher your credit score, the better your interest rate. Now with NuVal,™ the same goes for the foods you purchase for your family. Selecting foods with high NuVal™ scores will give you the most nutritional bang for your buck.

NuVal™ scores are determined by a complex formula that takes into account beneficial and not-so-beneficial nutrients. While the typical nutrition label only highlights a handful of components, the NuVal™ score utilizes more than 30 different factors to arrive at its final number. Very simply, the NuVal™ algorithm takes the “good stuff” - numerator nutrients - and divides it by the “bad stuff” - denominator nutrients -9 to arrive at the NuVal™ score. Wondering exactly which nutrients are used? Here they are:

Numerator Nutrients:
Fiber
Folate
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin B12
Vitamin B6
Potassium
Calcium
Zinc
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Total Bioflavonoids
Total Carotenoids
Magnesium
Iron

Denominator Nutrients:
Saturated Fat
Trans Fat
Sodium
Sugar
Cholesterol

In addition to all of those nutrients, NuVal™ looks at other factors such as the quality of the protein and fat in a particular food, its glycemic load and how much energy the food provides. The end result is an at-a-glance representation of just how nutritious any given food will be for you.

As you shop, you’ll be able to choose the best scores throughout any category, even among traditionally less-nutritious items like chips and cookies.
You’ll find that many of the top-scoring foods are fruits and vegetables, which
should come as no surprise. But plenty of other categories include foods with winning NuVal™ scores, too. Here’s a sampling of some of the best NuVal™ finds:

	Blueberries, broccoli and green beans all score a perfect 100.
	Ruby red grapefruit and pineapple each weigh in with a score of 99.
	Tomatoes and sweet potatoes have a score of 96.
	You can put together a delicious bowl of breakfast with these 91-score wonders: Fat-free milk, bananas and shredded wheat and bran cold cereal.
	Avocados (score of 89) and sardines (score of 88) don’t have much in common, but they are only one point apart in their NuVal™ scores!
	An Atlantic salmon fillet will provide you with a score of 87.
	Believe it or not, iceberg lettuce and canned regular spinach share the same score value: 82.
	Skinless turkey breast is one of the highest ranking meats with a score of 48.
	Many salty snacks don’t score terribly high. But if you’re still craving some crunch, try one of the all-natural tortilla chips that carry a score of 40.

The goal of NuVal™ is to have scores for just about every food we carry here at Big Y® - even our own brands. We’ll be constantly adding scores as we get them, so if there’s a category in the store that doesn’t have its NuVal™ scores up yet, we will likely have them soon. In the meantime, look for your favorite nutritional all-stars on our shelves using their NuVal™ scores as your guide.