The label tells you more than the marketing ever will. Here are the seven checks a physician runs in under thirty seconds.
Under five: almost always a minimally-processed whole food. Five to fifteen: a standard processed product, scan the list carefully. Over fifteen: you are looking at an ultra-processed formulation. This is the single strongest signal on the label and the first thing our score responds to.
US law requires ingredients to be listed by weight, most-to-least. If "sugar," "enriched flour," or a seed oil shows up in the top three, that is the product's real base — regardless of what the front of the package implies.
A single product can hide sugar under a dozen names: sucrose, dextrose, maltodextrin, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, barley malt, brown rice syrup, honey, agave, cane juice, fruit concentrate. When three or more of these stack in one list the total sugar load is higher than any single entry suggests — we call this "sugar stacking" and our score deducts for it.
Partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), sodium nitrite, potassium bromate, azodicarbonamide, BHA, BHT, TBHQ, artificial colors (Red 40, Yellow 5/6, Blue 1/2), titanium dioxide, aspartame, and carrageenan are the ones a physician will stop on every time. Not all of these have proven harm, but they have enough signal in the peer-reviewed literature that our engine treats them as negatives.
Polysorbate 80, carboxymethylcellulose, and mono/diglycerides are emerging as gut-microbiome concerns. Xanthan and guar gum are much lower-risk but still a processed-food tell. None of these appear in a home-cooked meal.
Soybean, canola, cottonseed, and "vegetable oil" are industrial oxidation-prone fats. They are cheap and stable on the shelf, which is why they show up everywhere. Olive, avocado, coconut, and grass-fed butter are our preferred cooking fats.
Trust: USDA Organic, EWG Verified, EPA Safer Choice, Non-GMO Project Verified, Fair Trade USA. Do not trust alone: "natural," "clean," "farm fresh," "artisan." These words have no regulatory meaning.
Want the app to run these seven checks for you automatically? Download What's the Score? — scan any barcode, get an instant 0–100 rating with the specific red flags called out.