How does the Health Star Rating work?
I hear so much confusion around the Health Star Rating system that I thought it’d be worthwhile to clear the air with a quick article.
One of the most frustrating claims, often spread by influencers, is when seemingly unhealthy products are compared to healthier ones (e.g., comparing ice creams to beef mince) and the unhealthy option ends up with a higher rating. This often leads to dramatic statements like, “YOU CAN’T TRUST OUR FOOD SYSTEM OR THE MEDIA OR THE GOVERNMENT OR ANYONE!”
Hopefully, this article will help you better understand how the Health Star Rating works, so you can make sense of it for yourself.
What Is the Health Star Rating?
The Health Star Rating is a voluntary labelling system that rates the nutritional value of packaged food on a scale from 0.5 to 5 stars. Simply put: the more stars, the healthier the choice.
How Is It Calculated?
The rating considers two main groups of components:
Components that increase health risk, such as excess energy, saturated fat, sugar, and sodium.
Components that reduce health risk, like protein, fibre, and fruits/vegetables.
These elements are weighed against each other to calculate the final star rating. For example, the protein and fibre content could be calculated against the saturated fat and sugar content to result in a final number that is converted to a rating out of 5.
How Can I Use It?
The Health Star Rating is designed to compare products within the same category, such as different breakfast cereals. You cannot use it to compare unrelated items, like yogurt and pasta sauce.
For example:
If you’re cooking pasta for dinner and comparing two pasta sauces—one with a 1-star rating and the other with a 4-star rating—the 4-star product would generally be the healthier option.
It would not work to compare your load of bread with your pasta sauce, because these are actually different foods altogether.
Key Takeaways
The system is voluntary: Some less healthy products may choose not to display the rating.
It assesses components of health risk vs those that promote health.
Use it for comparing similar products within the same category, not across categories.