More and more people are concerned about nutrition as the basis of their health. As Hippocrates said, more than 2.300 years ago, "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food." But to follow this wise precept and know that we are on the right path, we need some help. And to help us there is Yuka, the app that analyzes food.
The proposal of this application is simple and direct: scan the barcode of supermarket products and offer an opinion about them, to determine to what extent they are beneficial or harmful to our body. Does it really work? That is precisely what we are going to try to clarify here.
Concern about health has caused interest in knowing what we eat
Nutrition is a central aspect in our life. Eating healthy is one of the wisest decisions one can make. On the contrary, neglecting this aspect can have very negative consequences: a poor diet can be the cause of all kinds of disorders and diseases. There is a lot of information about it everywhere, for that reason In recent years, interest in improving our diet has increased.
That's why it's so important control the quality of the food we consume. Although there are many different opinions, experts agree on some essential advice: the importance of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, as well as avoiding processed products as much as possible. A balanced diet should provide our body with the nutrients we need to feel better.
In general, correct eating habits can provide us with these and other and advantages:
- Increase our vitality and improve our mood.
- Stimulate our immune system.
- Maintain an adequate weight.
- Delay aging.
- Improve our ability to concentrate.
- Reduce the risk of developing diseases.
Applications like Yuka can provide us a valuable help to achieve the goal of a Healthy life. We explain it to you below:
What is Yuka?
When we go to the supermarket, we always try to buy what we need and what will be best for us. However, it is difficult to be one hundred percent sure. For leave doubts, nothing better than downloading and installing Yuka on our mobile phone. With the app we can scan and decipher what food labels and barcodes hide. In this way we will know which products are really good and which ones we should avoid. More than 10 million downloads on Android attest that the idea works.
It is important to note that Yuka is a completely independent application. This means that it does not receive any type of influence from any brand or industrial group. For this reason, it does not accept any type of advertising of this type. The app is financed by other means, which is the guarantee of the objectivity of the analysis.
Furthermore, in recent times the application has expanded its scope of action, extending it to the world of Cosmetics. So that its users can know which products are more respectful and less harmful to our skin.
How to use Yuka?
Let's move on to practical issues: How does Yuka work? We explain point by point how to use and get the most out of this application:
Scan product barcode
We must not forget the phone when we leave the house. And even less when we go shopping at the supermarket. Once the app is started, all we have to do to use it is Swipe your mobile screen over the barcode of each product, to obtain the information we are looking for.
See your score and know what scale you are on
Once the barcode scan is complete, Yuka shows us the information on the screen. punctuation given to this product, that is, how healthy it is for us. The points are also accompanied by a color, the meaning of which we explain later.
Read food recommendations and alternatives
In addition to the points and the ranking, Yuka offers its users a short text with the basic information about the food or product scanned: how and when to consume it, in what quantity, what alternative foods exist and other useful tips.
What is Yuka's rating scale like?
Yuka uses a chromatic scale so that we can better visualize and understand more easily if a specific food is more or less healthy. The color is accompanied by a scientific argument and a series of links to the nutritional research studies on which it is based.
- Dark Green (75 to 100 points), the healthiest products that we should consume daily.
- Light green (50 to 75 points), healthy foods.
- Orange (25 to 50 points), not so healthy products to consume in moderation.
- RED (less than 25 points), the most harmful foods that we should avoid.
Recommended alternative foods
One of the most interesting aspects of this application is that it not only informs us about what foods contain and whether they are more or less healthy. Also offers us healthy alternatives to products labeled with the colors red and orange.
These alternatives are based on an algorithm that assesses three factors: the product category, its classification and its actual availability.
Product category
Currently, this application has a base of more than three million foods classified into different categories. The list grows and grows with almost 1.200 new products a day. It also has nearly two million cosmetic references.
product classification
What criteria does Yuka use to assign a score and classify foods into different colors? The system used is very methodical and rigorous and is based on three different criteria with different weight:
- The index of nutritional quality according to NutriScore (60% of the score).
- La presence of additives (30% of the score).
- El ecological character of the product (10% of the score).
Nutri score is the scale developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to classify foods according to their nutritional value and their positive qualities for human nutrition. This scale includes foods in five categories (A, B, C, D and E), with A being the best and E the worst.
Product availability
When proposing alternatives, Yuka only takes into account the products that are available. Apart from this, it is the users themselves who help improve the list of products, notifying when it is not available or if there is an error in its description.
How does Yuka help our health?
Although a mobile application will never replace the advice of a doctor or nutrition professional, the truth is that Yuka can be a good complement for those people concerned about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating a balanced diet.
Using Yuka we will be able to know better what we eat and make our own decisions based on verified information when we go to fill the shopping basket.