What is Guiding Stars

Decoding nutrition labels can be confusing. Guiding Stars takes the guesswork out of choosing foods that are nutritious for you and your family.

Guiding Stars is an objective food rating system that rates food based on nutrient density using a scientific algorithm. Rated foods are marked with easy-to-follow tags indicating 0, 1, 2, or 3 stars. The more nutritional value a food has, the more Guiding Stars it receives. If a food doesn’t receive a star – it means it doesn’t meet our rigorous criteria.

  • One Guiding Star indicates good nutritional value
  • Two Guiding Stars indicate better nutritional value
  • Three Guiding Stars indicate the best nutritional value

As you go through each aisle of the store or navigate through your cafeteria at lunchtime, the Guiding Stars system can help you identify more nutritious choices. Guiding Stars is not intended to tell you what to buy, but rather point you toward foods that have more vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, whole grains –and less fats, cholesterol, sugar and sodium.

Guiding Stars is objective, based on consumer research, and not influenced by price, brand or manufacturer trade groups. And with over 60,000 rated foods, making nutritious choices for you and your family is now simple… and even fun.