June 2025.

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And available everywhere you listen to podcasts: https://pod.link/thehealthyhandful

About this episode

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling tools are designed to help consumers make healthier food choices and support a balanced diet.

One such tool is Australia’s Health Star Rating (HSR) system, which assigns foods a rating from 0.5 to 5 stars. These ratings are based on the presence of “risk” nutrients (such as saturated fat, sugar, and sodium) and “positive” components (like fibre and protein, and fruit, vegetables, nuts, and legumes).

But how accurately does the HSR reflect the healthfulness of products? And how well does it align with dietary guidelines?

In this episode, we speak with Associate Professor Sara Grafenauer, who shares insights from her recently-published research. Her study explored three potential modifications to the HSR algorithm, aiming to improve how nuts and nut-containing products are rated, to ensure better alignment with current dietary guidance and scientific evidence.

Sara walks us through the findings from the tested scenarios, highlights some unintended effects, and offers her recommendations for improving public trust and confidence in Australia’s HSR system.

Key take-outs:

• The current HSR algorithm can unfairly penalise certain types of nuts due to their energy density and saturated fat content, leading to lower star ratings compared to other nuts.
• These inconsistencies may confuse consumers, as the ratings are not always reflective of current scientific evidence or dietary recommendations.
• Simple adjustments to the HSR algorithm could significantly improve the ratings of plain nuts and nut-containing foods, better aligning them with established dietary guidance.

About today’s guest

Associate Professor Sara Grafenauer is the Lead for the Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Innovation Program at UNSW and was instrumental in conceptualising and developing the program. She is an APD and Fellow of Dietitians Australia. She is on the Governing Boards for the International Whole Grain Initiative, and Oat Australia. Although she loves research and teaching, Sara still has a weekend private practice in Thirroul, New South Wales, where she lives.

Supporting resources

Improved recognition of the nutrition and health benefits of nuts and seeds within the Health Star Rating System

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Host: Belinda Neville

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admin@nutsforlife.com.au