The Science Behind Healthy Enough
Healthy Enough turns food and movement into two understandable daily scores. This page explains what each score looks at. Detailed methodology and references are being prepared and will be published here once reviewed.
HE-Food
HE-Food scores a day's eating on three dimensions: food quality, nutrient adequacy and portion size.
Food Quality
Which foods make up the diet, not only how many calories they provide.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The food-quality scoring method will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
Nutrient Adequacy
Whether intake meets recommended amounts of key nutrients.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The nutrient-adequacy method and reference standards will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
Portion Size
How much is eaten, so the score reflects quantity as well as choice.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The portion-size method will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
54 Nutritional Attributes
HE-Food describes intake across 54 nutritional attributes.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The full list of attributes and data sources will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
30 Recommended Daily Intakes
Intake is compared against 30 recommended daily intakes.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The list of intakes and the guidelines they come from will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
HE-Move
HE-Move combines five movement components into one daily score.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: The weighting and scoring of each component will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
Movement
General daily activity and regularly getting up.
Aerobic Exercise
Sustained activity that raises heart rate.
Strength
Resistance and muscle-loading exercise.
Flexibility
Range-of-motion and stretching work.
Balance
Stability practice.
Research Foundations
The Healthy Enough homepage names the population data sets that inform the scoring engine: US NHANES (1999–2025), UK Biobank, the Australian Healthy Eating Index and the Global Burden of Disease study.
To be supplied. Content in preparation: A description of how each data set is used, with citations will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.
Healthy Enough Pilot
A Healthy Enough pilot followed 237 participants through the professional dashboard. 67% met a predefined adherence criterion of remaining in the programme with both Food and Move scores at or above 70%. This was a pilot, not a randomised controlled trial.
References
To be supplied. Content in preparation: Verified references will be added by James Behrens. Nothing here has been filled in with assumed or invented information.