Veggie Soup: Mmmm... Good!

The next time you're looking for a healthy snack, forget reaching for that power bar -- have a cup of veggie soup instead.

A brand new food rating system that analyzes nutrition against the cost value of food was released Monday at the American Dietetic Association's Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo, reports Reuters.

The Affordable Nutrition Index (ANI) is the brainchild of leading nutrition expert and University of Washington Professor Adam Drewnowski. Nearly 300 foods ranging from fresh fruits and veggies to canned soups were assessed in the index study. Dark colored vegetables, fruits and vegetable soups were found to provide the most affordable nutrition. It's the first nutrition index to consider the cost of food as a factor in its value.

The ANI, which was guided by U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, calculates a food's score based on nine essential nutrients -- protein, fiber, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and vitamins A, C and E) and also considered three nutrients to limit: saturated fat, sugar and sodium.

"In today`s economy, more people are making food choices based solely on cost, so it's important to guide them on ways to get nutritious options without hurting their wallets," Drewnowski told Reuters. "It is important to identify a wide range of affordable, nutritious choices that can help people build a balanced diet that fits their lifestyle and budget."

Interestingly, two dozen soups ranked as high as or even higher than many fruits and vegetables. In particular twenty-five Campbell's soups ranked high on the ANI scale, especially those that are lower in sodium and those marked as heart-healthy by the American Heart Association (no word on whether Campbell's was a sponsor of the study.)

Other super value foods include carrots, sweet potatoes and broccoli in the veggie category, while oranges and bananas were best in show in the fruit category. Of course berries ranked high, as did peas, string beans, squash, lettuce, grapes, nectarines and apples.

I guess soup really is mmmm... good!

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.