Food Quality Guideby KarbCoach

Longevity methodology

Longevity analysis estimates how a packaged food may fit broader dietary patterns over time. It combines labeled nutrition (when available), ingredient-list signals, and KarbCoach scoring rules that map an overall 0–100 Longevity Score to a consumption-frequency recommendation (for example Everyday, Frequent, or Occasional).

Infographic titled Two scores. Two different questions. Left: Food Integrity Score asks What is it made of? and focuses on ingredient quality and processing. Right: Longevity Score asks How does it fit my diet? and focuses on nutrient density and dietary needs. Footer: Together, these scores provide a clearer picture than either could alone.
Food Integrity asks what a product is made of; Longevity asks how it fits longer-term eating patterns. Product pages publish both.

What Longevity evaluates

What Longevity does not evaluate

Missing data

Formulations can vary by region, package size, or packaging — check the current product label. Longevity scores only the information available; gaps can affect the score or standout cards.

Food Quality Guide and the KarbCoach mobile app are educational tools, not for allergy or medical decisions.

Serving-based vs per-100-gram data

Public longevity pages present nutrition on a per-serving basis when the source provides a serving size. The published scorecard shows the serving context used for the analysis.

Recommendation ranges

The 0–100 Longevity Score maps to frequency bands (for example Everyday through Rarely). Those bands are educational framing for how often a food may fit a pattern — not a prescription for your personal diet.

Diagram titled Evaluating the macro: The Longevity Score. A frequency ribbon maps scores from 0 to 100 to Everyday, Frequent, Occasional, and Rarely bands. Data inputs include fiber, protein, sugar, sodium, fats, and overall nutrition-pattern fit per labeled serving. Educational framing only — not a medical prescription.
The 0–100 Longevity Score maps to frequency bands (Everyday through Rarely). Illustrative bands — see product pages for published recommendations.
Text version of the frequency ribbon

Everyday — highest scores on the ribbon (illustrative band around 80–100). Frequent — next band (illustrative around 60–79). Occasional — middle band (illustrative around 30–59). Rarely — lowest scores (illustrative around 0–29). Inputs: fiber, protein, sugar, sodium, fats, and nutrition-pattern fit per labeled serving.

Why Longevity and Food Integrity can differ

Longevity emphasizes nutrition alignment and longer-term pattern fit. Food Integrity emphasizes ingredients, additives, processing, and label transparency. The same product can score high on one lens and lower on the other.

Watch our 6:44 explanation of why Food Integrity and Longevity measure different things

Quadrant chart titled Why a single metric fails the reality test. Axes are Longevity (low to high) and Food Integrity (low to high). Illustrative examples show products that can rank high on one axis and lower on the other, so dual scores tell a fuller story than one number alone.
The same product can look strong on one lens and weaker on the other. Illustrative placements only — published product pages are the source of truth for scores.

Sourced, calculated, and estimated fields

Labeled nutrients from a cited source (for example USDA FoodData Central) are treated as sourced values. Some figures, such as net carbs, may be calculated from those sourced macros. When labeled coverage is incomplete, estimates may fill gaps. Whenever a source is available, public pages show it in Product facts.

Related: Food Integrity methodology