Hailey Heseltine
news@greenepublishing.com
“You are what you eat.” We've all heard it. What we use to fuel ourselves has an impact on our bodies and minds, for better or worse, depending on the decisions we make. Because of this, many people try to be choosy about what they eat, whether it's by following a diet, eating natural or organic or simply keeping an eye on the products they choose to use. It's no secret that some products on the shelves are better for our bodies than others. For the everyday consumer, it's difficult to know which is which.
The mobile app, Yuka, which helps users pick which products to purchase and which ones to avoid, has seen a boom in popularity since its launch in 2017. The app is a food and cosmetic scanner; using the device's camera, it analyzes the product's ingredients and evaluates its health quality on a simple color-coded, red to green scale of 0 to 100, with products 75 and above being excellent, 50 to 75 being good, 20 to 50 being poor, and 0 to 25 being bad. If you're looking for more details on the product's score, the app will show why it was given a good or bad score, ingredient-by-ingredient. It's free, not affiliated with any brands and has no advertisements.
Yuka's advantage comes from its simplicity and convenience. Its scale is easy to understand and its analyses are generated quickly. If there's a product you're considering buying while at the supermarket, a quick scan may be enough to help you get an overview of its contents and make your decision. If the product you pick is evaluated as poor or bad, the app will suggest substitutes with better ingredients.
The app, however, is not without criticism. Note that some believe the nutrition information it presents is oversimplified when it comes to certain ingredients, such as sugars, fats and additives. With some additives, as soon as there is any trace of them in the product, even if only in small amounts that many experts believe do not pose any negative effects to health, Yuka will drastically lower the score of the product automatically. Natural sugars and fats are also heavily penalized. Situations like this may require extra research on the part of the consumer to understand and evaluate the ingredients to make informed choices for their own health. If you are unsure about the contents of a product, seek the advice of a nutrition professional.
Overall, though Yuka cannot always present the complete picture regarding the nuances of nutrition, it may be a useful tool to monitor the products you consume, especially if you hope to make conscious choices that are generally healthier.