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A GOVERNMENT analysis of the nation’s most popular foods has turned most conventional wisdom on its head — and declared that a burger and chips can be healthier than a bowl of cornflakes.

Polyunsaturated margarine is found to be the least healthy product of all when compared pound-for-pound with other foodstuffs.

The league table of more than 300 individual and processed food products was drawn up by scientists at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and gives all foods a ranking between minus 10 and 26 according to their overall nutritional value.

Critics say it is a “confusing” and “nonsensical” model that gives high scores to foods that are widely accepted to be less healthy options.

Most previous analysis of foodstuffs concentrated only on the negatives such as fat, salt and sugar, pushing products such as pizza, chips and burgers to the bottom of the league.

In contrast, the FSA analysis factors in positives such as energy, protein and vitamin content to give a more rounded result. The findings are surprising and are likely to provoke debate.

Foods such as oven chips, some takeaway burgers, sliced white bread, a supermarket chicken jalfrezi, and spaghetti in tomato sauce are ranked as being healthier than many breakfast cereals, cheeses and olive oil.

Polyunsaturated margarine and butter, the analysis reveals, are the least healthy products.

“There are some iconic foods like burgers and chips which are not as unhealthy as one might assume,” said Mike Rayner, director of the British Heart Foundation health promotion research group at Oxford University, which produced the model for the FSA.

“If they are made with just a little fat, they can offer fibre, protein and vitamin and contribute to a balanced diet.”

Rayner said the margarine was likely to have scored badly because the model did not factor in polyunsaturated fats, which have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels.

Most breakfast cereals come out badly, with many brands ranking below takeaway sausages, chicken nuggets, doughnuts and chips. Along with cornflakes, sugar-coated puffed wheat cereal and bran cereal are ruled unhealthy options, largely because of their high sugar and salt content and lack of many nutritional positives.

Bizarrely, the league table ranks a glass of Coke healthier than a milkshake, and chocolate fudge cake healthier than streaky fried bacon.

At the top of the table are lentils boiled in unsalted water, steamed tofu and baked beans with reduced sugar and salt. At the bottom, with butter and margarine, come cheesecake and spicy-flavoured corn snacks.

The nutritional “profile” system has been developed to be used by Ofcom, the broadcast watchdog, as it considers whether to impose restrictions on advertising junk food to children.

Rayner accepted there were anomalies, but said he was satisfied that the new system was “robust”.

“Anything with a high fat, sugar or salt content does badly in the model because the government has decided that these are the priority issues with regard to nutrition and health,” he said.

Food manufacturers said last week that they would strongly oppose the model being used for any nutritional advice.

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drink Federation said: “The model tries to distil a product’s nutritional value into one single score, so products like cereals score quite badly despite containing some very good nutrients like fibre and protein.

“We are disappointed that an opportunity to take a scientific and objective approach to this important issue has actually been lost.”

The FSA defended the model and said the government’s scientific advisory committee on nutrition believed that it “accurately” identified foods which could in future be covered by broadcast advertising restrictions.

The new rules for wise eating

‘HEALTHIER’ FOODS

Oven chips
Chicken tikka masala (supermarket brand)
Roast beef dinner
Spaghetti bolognese
Sliced white bread

‘LESS HEALTHY’ FOODS

Cornflakes
Bran flakes
Polyunsaturated margarine
Chicken caesar salad with low-fat dressing
Olive oil

Source: Food Standards Agency

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