How the score works

Methodology v3 — finalized July 2026

What the score claims

How compatible habitual consumption of a product is with long-term health, relative to what’s realistically available in its category. It’s not a medical judgment or a per-person prediction. 0–100, higher is cleaner: 80+ is a good pick, 60–79 fine, 40–59 middle of the aisle, under 40 — put it back.

Foods — three weighted pillars

55% Nutrition. Real FSAm-NPS points computed from per-100g energy, sugars, saturated fat, and sodium (against), fiber and protein (for) — the system the EU Nutri-Score is built on, validated against health outcomes in the EPIC cohort studies. When raw facts are missing, the official Nutri-Score letter stands in.

25% Processing. The NOVA classification. Ultra-processed food causally increased calorie intake and weight gain in the NIH’s randomized trial (Hall et al., 2019) and tracks with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality in the 2024 BMJ umbrella review.

20% Additives. Cited risk tiers, not a flat count: heavy penalties for additives with regulatory action on record (Red 3 — FDA ban 2025; titanium dioxide — EU ban 2022; nitrites — IARC Group 1 pathway), moderate for those with credible warning signals (aspartame — IARC 2B; the Southampton dyes; emulsifier evidence), small conservative penalties for everything unproven.

Beverages get their own table

Drinkable calories aren’t scored like food. Beverages use the stricter beverage points table — sugar steps of 1.5 g instead of 4.5 g — and non-nutritive sweeteners add penalty points per the 2023 Nutri-Score algorithm and WHO guidance: diet soda beats sugar soda, but it is not a free pass. Plain water sits at the top, by rule.

Beyond the pantry — SYNC’D scans anything

Makeup, shampoo, cookware, clothing, supplements, baby gear — no validated public scoring system exists for these aisles, so SYNC’D is explicit about what it does: the model’s assessment is bounded (extreme scores require real evidence), then the ingredient and material list is screened against our cited watchlists, each match subtracting by severity:

• The endocrine-disruptor watchlist (TEDX, EU EDC list, FDA, Endocrine Society) screens every category.
• The cosmetic watchlist screens makeup, personal care, and baby goods — formaldehyde and its releaser preservatives, coal-tar dyes, lead acetate, hydroquinone, mercury compounds, talc, chemical UV filters, and the benzene contamination class behind the recent aerosol recalls. Curated from FDA actions, EU restrictions, and IARC classifications.
• The material watchlist screens cookware, household goods, and textiles — PTFE/nonstick coatings, PFAS “forever-chemical” treatments (including stain-resistant and water-repellent finishes), lead and cadmium glazes, azo dyes, formaldehyde wrinkle-free finishes, flame retardants, PVC, and melamine.

Materials count as ingredients: a pan’s coating screens exactly like a food additive. The basis line under the score says “model-assessed” out loud. Scans made through the SYNC’D Chrome extension — which reads a product page rather than a label — say “web scan · model-read from the page” and run these same screens.

Alcohol never scores above 45. A sugar-free spirit would otherwise read as “clean” — the cap states the truth instead: there is no healthy level of ethanol. Within that range, alcohol is judged fairly against its own shelf.

Category-relative, on purpose

The final number maps onto the realistic range of the product’s own category, so the score answers the question you’re actually asking in the aisle — “is this a good choice among my options?” — instead of condemning entire shelves. The basis line always names the category.

The rules that can never be bought

• A recall on record caps any score at 40 — contamination evidence beats arithmetic.
• Certifications never move the score. We decode what “organic” or “non-GMO” actually requires instead of awarding halo points.
• Likes, ratings, and popularity never move the score.
• Brands cannot pay for placement — anywhere.
• Your personal diets and values change how a product fits you, never the objective number.

Known limits

Fruit-and-vegetable content isn’t available from our data source, so it scores as zero — produce-heavy products read slightly lower than the official Nutri-Score would. The additive table is curated, not exhaustive; unknowns get a conservative small penalty rather than a pass. A clear ingredient screen means “nothing on our cited list,” not “proven safe.”