A New Nutrition System That Could Actually Work

Now comes a new twist from abroad, in the form of a concept dreamed up by designer Hayden Peek and Birmingham University health expert Dr. Matthew Cole, who say the current "traffic-light" system in the United Kingdom is confusing and doesn't give a broader picture. So what they propose is putting the red, amber and green traffic-light system on the cash register receipt to rank the contents of the entire shopping cart.

The results, which would rate calories, sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt, would then appear on the receipt.

Dr. Cole told The Mirror: "A till receipt summary gives a much better representation of what a person eats over a period of time. This isn’t really about one shop – it’s about looking at your dietary trends over time." He goes on to report that Brits eat over 121 different ingredients every day, but they believe they actually consume about a third of that.

When seven U.K. supermarkets were approached by The Mail on Sunday, only Sainsbury's responded, saying it was always exploring new ways to get customers to make healthier choices.

Fortunately, here in the United States, practically every supermarket has programs in place led by registered dietitians to combat that problem. Take a look at what's taking place, at retaildietitians.com.