Food chart: Lucky Charms healthier than wheat bread, steak?

By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation

Some things on the internet are not what they seem to be at first glance. The chart below, purporting Lucky Charms to be healthier than both steak and whole wheat bread.  Frosted Mini Wheats is healthier than almost everything except Kale, is a perfect example.

The chart was created not to support those ridiculous claims, but as a criticism of Tufts University’s food rating system ‘Food Compass.’ According to Tufts, “By evaluating foods across 9 domains and using a unique algorithm to determine a score, we can assign a Food Compass Score (FCS) between 1 and 100 (with 100 being the most healthful) to nearly any food.”

If we are to believe Food Compass, Foods such as millet, whole wheat bread, skinless chicken breast, boiled eggs, and whole milk, are comparable to those of sweet potato fries, Lucky Charms, canned pineapple in sugar syrup, almond M&M’s, and ice cream cones with nuts.

The nutrition scientists who created the chart contend Food Compass “produces results that fail to discriminate for common shortfall nutrients, exaggerate the risks associated with animal-source foods, and underestimate the risks associated with ultra-processed foods.”

According to the Food Compass website, Food Compass was developed with support from your tax dollars through the National Institutes of Health.