I’ve always been health conscious – ever since 2010, when I was suffering with a chronic health condition, I’ve avoided unnecessary chemicals and additives. But I’ll admit that since becoming a parent, my dedication to being conscious about ingredients has dropped.
This is something I harbour secret guilt about – I know better, and now I’m caring for a child it’s more important than ever, but sometimes parent exhaustion just wins.
So when I learned about Yuka, a new app that promises to decipher ingredients and help you make healthier food choices, I was intrigued.
By hovering your camera over any barcode, a whole host of information about the product is brought up on screen with an easy “red”, “orange”, “light green” to “green” intuitive colour code and number score, with products rated “bad: 0-25”, “poor: 20-50”, “good: 50-75”, or “excellent: 75-100”.
The break-down of the composition (calories, sodium, sugar, fibre, protein, saturated fat etc) provides an overview, while the “additives” section allows you to educate yourself on what those E numbers really mean.
Of course, most food labels already list these ingredients, and many carry traffic light labels too – but the app sets it all out with easy to understand ratings so you can make a quick decision.
Yuka’s ratings are based on a food’s health and environmental impact – its nutritional quality, the presence of additives and whether or not the product is organic.
The app, which is free to download, has gone viral, with wellness gurus showing how they use it on social media. I decided to see if it changes the way I shop.
As soon as I download Yuka, I’m ready to start scanning. I attack the groceries already filling my kitchen.
Oat milk: excellent. Organic peanut butter: good. Feeling smug I keep going, but I’m surprised to find that products I know to be reasonably healthy score “poor”. For example, my wholegrain oatcakes get knocked down by their apparent high salt content – and end up getting a lower score than artificially flavoured crisps. Meanwhile, my strawberry jam got a 60/100 rating which seemed weird, being high in sugar and low in nutrition and fibre.
The app forces me to be more mindful about what I buy. The next time I head to the shops, my son asks for cocktail sausages as a snack, but a quick scan reveals a shocking “8/100” score so he gets vegetable sushi instead. I know deep down that sausages are an unhealthy choice, but the stark statistics empower me to resist buying them.
I’ve influenced my 65-year-old mother-in-law to download the app too, to help her choose the best food to feed my son when she has him over to stay – something I’ve been trying to get her onboard with for a while, but clearly haven’t managed to impart the importance of it enough to have her take heed. That night I receive a text from her saying “Loving the Yuka app! It gives you good alternatives”, and when we next visit many of her usual purchases have been swapped out.
“Overall, Yuka is a useful tool for health-conscious consumers, but it’s important to use it as a guide rather than a definitive source,” says Clinical Nutritionist MSc & Coach, Sarah-Louise Moloney.
“The app’s scoring system might oversimplify complex nutritional or ingredient information, and the recommendations are based on its own criteria, which may not always align with other health guidelines or personal needs. However, it does encourage healthier living and may make it simple for users to quickly assess products in real-time while shopping.”
While it’s easy to nit-pick over whether or not supposed health foods are good or bad, what seems more clear-cut are the additives. I scan a pack of fruit flavoured chewing gum on the shelf, my seven-year-old’s favourite. It’s listed as “poor” – although perversely, gets a number of green lights for having 0g fat, 0g sugar and 0g salt, and its overall score is 42/100, higher, for example, than my coconut oil which got 35/100. However, what is terrifing is the six listed additives, three of which are marked as “hazardous’”
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These include E133 (Brilliant Blue FCF) – a synthetic blue dye believed to contribute to ADHD and which may also have genotoxic (toxic to the genome) and cytotoxic (toxic to cells) potential – and E950 (Acesulfame K) and E951 (Aspartame). Both of the latter are artificial sweeteners that may promote metabolic disorders, such as glucose intolerance. Two studies in 2022 suggested an association between the overall consumption of sweeteners and increased risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.
I already knew that chewing gum wasn’t good for you, but having it laid out like this made me realise that giving my child, who already has ADHD, something containing these ingredients as a treat is far from innocent. Yuka has a toxicologist in charge of analysing the risks of food additives and cosmetic ingredients and their benchmarks are based on the latest scientific research, expert reports (EFSA, FDA, IARC, etc) and numerous independent studies.
Without a second thought, I throw the pack in the bin.
For years, scientists have warned about high levels of toxic chemicals in our food and everyday products, let alone the importance of a balanced diet. But unfortunately, it’s getting harder to cut those out completely.
Recent research found high levels of PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”: a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 50s and are now known to be dangerous) in foods that might otherwise be considered healthy, such as eggs, rice and half of fruit and vegetable samples tested in the UK.
While Yuka isn’t able to tell us about these other chemicals, it does empower us to be able to minimise the additional chemicals and unhealthy foods we choose to consume.
Sarah-Louise Moloney says we should use Yuka’s ratings as one piece of information, but also think about the product’s role in your overall diet. “Consider what’s most important for your health. Always check the full nutritional profile and ingredient list of a product, not just the Yuka rating.”
If you’re consuming a product with additives or higher levels of certain nutrients like salt or fat, balance it out by choosing lower-risk foods throughout the day. Additives should be approached with informed caution rather than outright fear, particularly as avoiding all additives is impractical, and not all are harmful.”
But wherever possible, choose whole, unprocessed foods. They typically don’t contain additives and offer the most nutrients per calorie.”
I’m definitely a fan of Yuka and will continue to use it when I shop. I love that it helps steer me towards mindful consumption. But, while very easy to use, I can see how relying on it entirely could potentially lead to a less-than-ideal choices. So go ahead and join the Yuka club, but do so with common sense and your own research applied.
