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FAQs

Scoring  & Dietary Health

  • Our Scoring Algorithm is based on established UK and US public guidelines  and methodologies for good nutrition (UK Eatwell Guide; USDA Healthy Eating Index). 

    The key dietary principles that underpin the scoring methodology are based on established public guidelines and include:

    • Eat a good variety of nutritional food groups (Fruit, Vegetables, Grains, Dairy, and Protein Foods) balancing into the mix:

      • Whole Fruits

      • Greens & Beans

      • Whole Grain

      • Plant and Seafood Protein Food

      • Oils and Spreads higher in unsaturated fats

    • Moderate foods and drinks that can be harmful in high concentrations:

      • foods that are high in calories but low in nutritional content (eg. treats and fizzy drinks)

      • foods high in salt, added sugar, and saturated fats (eg. Some ultra processed foods)

      • alcohol 

  • We think it is easier to make sustainable dietary health improvements if:

    • personalised data is used to engage, educate and track changes

    • incremental steps are mapped out and taken over time rather than to focus on one big radical change to what you eat

    • you make positive changes by adding more good stuff to your diet (nutritional variety) rather than just focusing on reducing foods that are less healthy for you (foods high in saturated fats, salt, and added sugar)

  • No, Truth Trolley is not suitable as a calorie counter. While we do calculate the overall calories in your shopping, our approach to dietary health is to gauge the nutritional quality of your shopping pattern rather than the quantity of your calories. Our understanding is that focusing on the nutritional quality of what you eat rather than just the quantity of calories, can be a significantly better way of managing your dietary health. 

  • Yes, the Truth Trolley Score is still very relevant to your household, even if household members have very different eating preferences. Your weekly shop is the nutritional foundation of your  household. If your weekly shop has a sub-optimal nutritional profile, then it is likely that family nutrition is sub optimal.  Truth Trolley generates a factual data point which can be used to have a household Truth Trolley Chat. Using a personalised data point to talk about what the household eats and what this means is a great way to start small steps to better health. 

  • Yes, our scoring algorithm ultimately reflects the macronutrients you eat rather than how they are sourced. For example, using public guidelines, we give additional points to your score is there is a good mixture of plant proteins in the Protein Foods you buy. 

  • Yes, we can compare your score to national and regional averages per household demographic. We have used  shopping data sourced from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) annual survey, to score the average UK weekly shop. Why don’t you see how your household compares?

Data Collection - Questions

  • Yes, we can help you collect data from all the major supermarkets your shop at where you use loyalty cards. The magic of Truth Trolley is that we standardise all the data so that we can generate an aggregated view of your shopping with an overall standardised score.

  • We don’t currently process data from takeaways and food delivery apps. But we aim to enable this capability soon So, watch this space.

  • We don’t currently process receipt data. But we aim to enable this capability soon So, watch this space.

  • Unfortunately, we can’t do this as no major supermarket in the UK allows this. You may be familiar with UK Open Banking regulations that mandate Banks to make your data available to you via an automated API. We hope that over time UK regulations will also extend this requirement to all retailers that collect your shopping data. We demonstrate that your data can help you make smarter steps to better health and that your data should therefore be accessible to you in an automated way! 

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