Consultation outcome

UK nutrient profiling model: review and consultation outcome

Updated 27 January 2026

Introduction

The UK nutrient profiling model (NPM) 2004 to 2005 assesses the healthiness of food and drink products. It balances the contribution made by beneficial nutrients of food and drink products alongside the negative contributions from nutrients where intakes are higher than recommended, to provide an overall nutrient profiling score.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) developed the NPM 2004 to 2005 to enable Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, to identify less healthy foods and drinks that are high in saturated fat, sugar or salt (HFSS).

Ofcom uses the NPM 2004 to 2005 to enforce rules that restrict advertising of HFSS products to children, through the:

• Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice’s rules for TV advertising (since 2007)
• Committee on Advertising Practice’s non-broadcast rules for advertising (since 2017)

In October 2010, technical support for the NPM was transferred from FSA to the Department of Health, which published the guidance UK nutrient profiling model 2004 to 2005 in 2011.

Since then, the NPM 2004 to 2005 has had a wider scope. It now underpins the:

• Advertising (Less Healthy Food Definitions and Exemptions) Regulations 2024
• Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021

However, UK dietary recommendations have been updated since 2005, and the NPM 2004 to 2005 is outdated.

The independent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published its Carbohydrates and Health report in 2015. The report made a number of dietary recommendations that were accepted by UK health departments. In particular, it recommended that free sugars should account for no more than 5% daily dietary energy intake.

This prompted the Department of Health to commission the review of the NPM 2004 to 2005 in 2016 to ensure that it met the latest scientific dietary recommendations. The review was carried out by Public Health England with the advice of an independent NPM expert group.

This consultation followed in 2018. You can find the expert group’s responses to the feedback received in the folder NPM review: expert group responses to the 2018 consultation.

The Department of Health and Social Care has accepted the NPM expert group recommendations that followed the 2018 consultation and the updated NPM is called the Nutrient profiling model 2018.

The NPM 2018 reflects the recommendations from SACN and there have been no further significant changes to dietary recommendations since 2018.

The latest National Diet and Nutrition Survey 2019 to 2023 reported that children are consuming double the recommended amount of free sugars. It also recommended that fibre intakes should increase to 30g per day. Average fibre intakes are currently around half this recommendation.

Notes and definitions

Notes on tables

The NPM 2004 to 2005 and NPM 2018 score products based on their content of certain nutrients or food components, which are:

• energy (kilojoules (kJ))
• saturated fat (grams (g))
• total sugars or free sugars (g)
• sodium (milligrams (mg)) or salt (g)
• protein (g)
• fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds (% or g)
• fibre (g)

For the review, the nutrient scores are based on UK government dietary recommendations (available in the Eatwell Guide) and dietary reference values for women aged 19 to 64 years.  

Fibre is based on the Association of Official Analytical Chemists’ (AOAC) method for total dietary fibre analysis. AOAC fibre includes resistant starch and lignin to estimate total fibre, as well as non-starch polysaccharides (NSP).

The NPM 2004 to 2005 included nuts. The NPM 2018 also includes seeds because seeds and nuts are comparable in terms of nutritional composition.

Definitions

For the review, the NPM expert group used the following definitions.

‘Dietary reference values’ (DRVs) indicate the average or the maximum contribution that a particular nutrient should make to the population average intakes. DRVs for total fat, fatty acids, starch and sugars are set as a percentage of daily energy intake. There are also DRVs for energy and some vitamins and minerals.

‘Energy’ is the total metabolisable energy of food as calculated from energy producing food components (carbohydrates, fat, protein, fibre). Metabolisable energy from alcohol has been excluded in calculations for energy for the purposes of the review. Energy is termed as either food energy or total dietary energy in line with terminology used by current UK government dietary recommendations.

‘Total sugars’ are all sugars from all sources in a food or drink, defined as all monosaccharides and disaccharides (simple sugars) other than polyols (sugar substitutes).

‘Free sugars’ is defined as all added sugars in any form, including:

• honey, syrups and nectars
• all sugars naturally present in fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies, purees and pastes, and similar products in which the structure has been broken down
• all sugars in drinks (except for dairy-based drinks)
• lactose and galactose added as ingredients

Summary of differences between models

Table 1 summarises the NPM 2004 to 2005, the NPM 2018 and the modelling that was undertaken as part of the review.

Table 1: summary of the differences between the NPM 2004 to 2005 and the NPM 2018

Nutrients or food components	NPM 2004 to 2005	Modelling undertaken	NPM 2018
Energy	8,950 kJ (2,130 kilocalories (kcal))	Model a range of energy values and removal of the energy component	8,400 kJ (2,000 kcal)
Saturated fat	11% of food energy	Model saturated fat as 11% of food energy based on 8,400 kJ (2,000 kcal)	11% of food energy
Total sugars or free sugars	Total sugars: 21% of food energy	Model total sugars values as % of food energy and free sugars as a % of total dietary energy	Free sugars: 5% total dietary energy
Sodium or salt	Sodium: 2,400mg	Model salt in place of sodium	Salt: 6g
Protein	42g	Model protein in line with adult reference nutrient intakes of 45g	45g
Fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds (see note)	% in products based on 400g	Model a range of fruit, vegetables and nuts scoring options	% in product based on 400g
Fibre	24g AOAC (18g NSP)	Model a range of fibre values and scoring options	30g AOAC

Note: since the NPM expert group review was completed, the group have made an additional decision to add seeds to the fruit, vegetable and nut component.

UK NPM 2018

The NPM 2018 is based on recommendations from the NPM expert group after considering stakeholder comments and post-consultation modelling. You can find the report on this modelling in the folder Post-consultation modelling of the draft NPM 2018.

Aligning to current UK dietary recommendations

Table 2 summarises the NPM 2018 and how it aligns with current UK dietary recommendations for the:

• ‘A’ nutrients (energy, saturated fat, free sugars and salt)
• ‘C’ nutrients or food components (fibre, protein and fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds content)

The model uses a scoring system where points are allocated on the basis of the nutrient content of 100g of a food or drink. Points are awarded for ‘A’ nutrients and ‘C’ nutrients or food components.

A maximum of 10 points can be awarded for each of the ‘A’ nutrients.

Total ‘A’ points = (points for energy) + (points for saturated fat) + (points for free sugars) + (points for salt)

Total ‘C’ points = (points for protein) + (points for fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds) + (points for AOAC fibre)

You can calculate the nutrient profiling score as total ‘A’ points minus total ‘C’ points.

If a food or drink scores 11 or more ‘A’ points, then it cannot score points for protein unless it also scores 5 points for fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds.

A food is classified as ‘less healthy’ where it scores 4 points or more.

A drink is classified as ‘less healthy’ where it scores 1 point or more.

To help decide whether a food or drink contains free sugars, see the free sugars decision tree in appendix L of ‘Annex A: 2018 review of the UK nutrient profiling model’ on the consultation page.

Table 2: summary of the NPM 2018

Nutrient or food component	Dietary reference value	Score bands and increments
‘A’: energy	8,400kJ (2,000kcal)	0 to 10 point scale. Score bands start at 3.75% (note 1) of the reference value with subsequent increments of 3.75% (note 1) of the reference value. The maximum score is capped at 10 points, equivalent to 37.5% (note 1) of the reference value.
‘A’: saturated fat	11% of food energy	As above for energy.
‘A’: free sugars	5% of total dietary energy	As above for energy.
‘A’: salt	6g	As above for energy.
‘C’: protein	45g	0 to 5 point scale. Score bands start at 3.75% (note 1) of the reference value with subsequent increments of 3.75% (note 1) of the reference value. The maximum score is capped at 5 points, equivalent to 19% of the reference value.
‘C’: fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds (note 2)	grams in product based on 400g	0 to 5 point scale with 3 increments. The maximum score is capped at 5 points, equivalent to 20% of the 400g ‘5 a day’ government recommendation.
‘C’: fibre	30g AOAC	0 to 10 point scale. The maximum score is capped at 10 points, equivalent to 20% of the reference value and equivalent to 6g fibre, consistent with a ‘high fibre’ claim (note 3).

Note 1: in line with increments of the NPM 2004 to 2005.

Note 2: since the NPM expert group review was completed, the group have made an additional decision to add seeds to the fruit, vegetable and nut component.

Note 3: as defined in retained Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, as amended by the ‘Nutrition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019’ and the ‘Nutrition (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020’.

Scoring system for nutrients or food components

Table 3a outlines the points scored for the ‘A’ nutrients and table 3b outlines the points scored for the ‘C’ nutrients or food components for the NPM 2018. A point is assigned to a nutrient or food component based on its content per 100g as sold, which can be:

• less than or equal to (≤) a value
• more than (>) a value

Table 3a: basis of the nutrient or food component and scoring for the NPM 2018: ‘A’ points

Points	Energy (kJ per 100g)	Saturated fat (g per 100g)	Free sugars (g per 100g)	Salt (g per 100g)
0	≤ 315	≤ 0.9	≤ 0.9	≤ 0.2
1	> 315	> 0.9	> 0.9	> 0.2
2	> 630	> 1.9	> 1.9	> 0.5
3	> 945	> 2.8	> 2.8	> 0.7
4	> 1,260	> 3.7	> 3.7	> 0.9
5	> 1,575	> 4.7	> 4.6	> 1.1
6	> 1,890	> 5.6	> 5.6	> 1.4
7	> 2,205	> 6.6	> 6.5	> 1.6
8	> 2,520	> 7.5	> 7.4	> 1.8
9	> 2,835	> 8.4	> 8.3	> 2.0
10	> 3,150	> 9.4	> 9.3	> 2.3

Table 3b: basis of the nutrient or food component and scoring for the NPM 2018: ‘C’ points

Points	Protein (g per 100g)	Fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds (g per 100g)	Fibre (AOAC) (g per 100g)
0	≤ 1.7	≤ 40	≤ 0.6
1	> 1.7	> 40	> 0.6
2	> 3.4	> 60	> 1.2
3	> 5.1	Not applicable	> 1.8
4	> 6.8	Not applicable	> 2.4
5	> 8.5	> 80	> 3.0
6	Not applicable	Not applicable	> 3.6
7	Not applicable	Not applicable	> 4.2
8	Not applicable	Not applicable	> 4.8
9	Not applicable	Not applicable	> 5.4
10	Not applicable	Not applicable	> 6.0