Meal Plan Variety Score Calculator

Assess and improve the nutritional variety in your meal plan

What is a Meal Plan Variety Score?

The Meal Plan Variety Score is a quantitative measure of the diversity of foods in your diet. It's calculated by counting the number of different food items consumed over a specific period.

Research shows that a varied diet is associated with better nutritional adequacy, improved health outcomes, and reduced risk of frailty, especially in older adults.

Benefits of Dietary Variety:

  • Ensures intake of essential nutrients
  • Reduces nutritional deficiencies
  • Provides diverse phytochemicals and antioxidants
  • Promotes better gut health through diverse fiber sources
  • Associated with lower obesity rates and better weight management

How It's Calculated

The Food Variety Score (FVS) is calculated by simply counting the number of different food items consumed during a specified period (typically 24 hours).

Calculation Method:

  1. Record each unique food item consumed
  2. Foods prepared differently but with same main ingredient count as one item
  3. Neither quantity nor frequency affects the score
  4. Sum the total number of unique food items

Interpretation: Higher scores indicate better dietary variety. A score of 25+ is generally considered excellent, while scores below 15 indicate low dietary variety.

Calculate Your Meal Plan Variety Score

Food Categories

Your Food List

Your Variety Score Results

out of 50

Category Breakdown

Recommendations

Why Dietary Variety Matters

Dietary variety is important because different foods contain different nutrients, phytochemicals, and fibers that work together to support optimal health.

Research shows that people with higher food variety scores tend to have:

  • Better overall diet quality
  • Higher intake of essential vitamins and minerals
  • Reduced risk of nutrient deficiencies
  • Lower risk of chronic diseases
  • Better weight management

The World Health Organization recommends consuming at least 25 different foods each week for optimal nutrition.

Research Findings

  • Studies have found that higher food variety scores are linked to better nutritional adequacy and a reduced risk of malnutrition.

  • Research from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that dietary patterns with high food variety scores were associated with a lower risk of frailty in older adults.

  • A dietary pattern rich in vegetables, oils, and fish combined with high food variety was found to be protective against frailty development.

  • Higher dietary variety is associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality according to epidemiological studies.

Tips to Improve Your Dietary Variety

Plan Your Meals

Create weekly meal plans that include foods from all food groups. Aim to try at least one new food each week to gradually expand your dietary variety.

Eat Seasonally

Shop for seasonal produce to naturally increase variety throughout the year. Visit farmers' markets to discover local and unique food options.

Try Global Cuisines

Explore dishes from different cultures to introduce new ingredients, spices, and cooking methods into your meals. Each cuisine offers unique nutritional profiles.