Nutrient profiling systems (NPS) aim to discriminate the healthfulness of foods for front-of-package labelling, warning labels, taxation, company ratings and more. Existing NPS often assess relatively few nutrients and ingredients, use inconsistent criteria across food categories and have not incorporated the newest science. Here, we developed and validated an NPS, the Food Compass, to incorporate a broader range of food characteristics, attributes and uniform scoring principles. We scored 54 attributes across 9 health-relevant domains: nutrient ratios, vitamins, minerals, food ingredients, additives, processing, specific lipids, fibre and protein, and phytochemicals. The domain scores were summed into a final Food Compass Score (FCS) ranging from 1 (least healthy) to 100 (most healthy) for all foods and beverages. Content validity was confirmed by assessing nutrients, food ingredients and other characteristics of public health concern; face validity was confirmed by assessing the FCS for 8,032 foods and beverages reported in NHANES/FNDDS 2015–16; and convergent and discriminant validity was confirmed from comparisons with the NOVA food processing classification, the Health Star Rating and the Nutri-Score. The FCS differentiated food categories and food items well, with mean ± s.d. ranging from 16.4 ± 17.7 for savoury snacks and sweet desserts to 78.6 ± 17.4 for legumes, nuts and seeds. In many food categories, the FCS provided important discrimination of specific foods and beverages as compared with NOVA, the Health Star Rating or the Nutri-Score. On the basis of demonstrated content, convergent and discriminant validity, the Food Compass provides an NPS scoring a broader range of attributes and domains than previous systems with uniform and transparent principles. This publicly available tool will help guide consumer choice, research, food policy, industry reformulations and mission-focused investment decisions.

营养分析系统 (NPS) 旨在通过包装正面标签、警告标签、税收、公司评级等来区分食品的健康程度。现有的 NPS 通常评估相对较少的营养素和成分，在食品类别中使用不一致的标准，并且没有纳入最新的科学。在这里，我们开发并验证了 NPS，即食品指南针，以纳入更广泛的食品特性、属性和统一评分原则。我们对 9 个健康相关领域的 54 个属性进行了评分：营养比率、维生素、矿物质、食品成分、添加剂、加工、特定脂质、纤维和蛋白质以及植物化学物质。所有食品和饮料的领域得分被汇总为最终的食品指南针得分 (FCS)，范围从 1（最不健康）到 100（最健康）。通过评估营养素、食品成分和其他公共卫生关注的特征来确认内容有效性；通过评估 NHANES/FNDDS 2015-16 中报告的 8,032 种食品和饮料的 FCS 来确认表面有效性；通过与 NOVA 食品加工分类、健康星级评级和营养评分的比较，确认了收敛和区分有效性。FCS 很好地区分了食品类别和食品，平均标准差范围从开胃小吃和甜点的 16.4 ± 17.7 到豆类、坚果和种子的 78.6 ± 17.4。在许多食品类别中，与 NOVA、健康星级评级或 Nutri-Score 相比，FCS 提供了对特定食品和饮料的重要区分。在已证明的内容、收敛效度和区分效度的基础上，Food Compass 提供了一个 NPS，它比以前具有统一和透明原则的系统对更广泛的属性和领域进行评分。这一公开可用的工具将有助于指导消费者选择、研究、食品政策、行业重新制定和以任务为中心的投资决策。