Diet Risk Score Calculator — Dietary Quality Screening
Get a quick dietary risk score by rating six key food factors against WHO dietary guidelines. A score of 0 means excellent adherence; 12 means high diet-related risk across all factors. Each category highlights an area to improve.
Fruits & vegetables (servings/day)
Whole grains (servings/day)
Red & processed meat (servings/week)
Added sugar (teaspoons/day)
Fish & seafood (servings/week)
Sugar-sweetened beverages (servings/week)
Low dietary risk
- 1
Protective food risk scores (fruits & veg + whole grains + fish)
0 + 0 + 0 = 0 - 2
Harmful food risk scores (red meat + added sugar + sugary drinks)
0 + 0 + 0 = 0 - 3
Total dietary risk score
0 + 0 = 00 = all factors meet guidelines; 12 = all factors well below guidelines.
How does this calculator work?
Rate six dietary factors (fruits & veg, whole grains, red meat, added sugar, fish, sugary drinks) on a 0–2 scale against WHO guidelines, then sum for a total dietary risk score of 0–12 (lower is better). Scores 0–3 = low, 4–7 = moderate, 8–12 = high diet-related risk. Educational tool — not a clinical diagnosis.
Formula
How this is calculated
Diet is one of the most modifiable risk factors for chronic disease. This tool scores six dietary components that the WHO and global burden-of-disease studies consistently identify as having the strongest links to cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes, and all-cause mortality: fruits and vegetables, whole grains, red and processed meat, added sugar, fish, and sugar-sweetened beverages.
Each factor is scored 0 (meets or exceeds the relevant guideline), 1 (slightly below), or 2 (substantially below). The guideline thresholds are drawn from the WHO Healthy Diet fact sheet and the GBD 2019 Diet Collaborators paper, which estimated that poor diet was responsible for about 11 million deaths globally in 2017. The six scores are summed for a total between 0 and 12. A score of 0–3 indicates low dietary risk across these factors, 4–7 moderate, and 8–12 high.
This is an educational screening tool, not a validated clinical instrument. It uses self-reported intake, which people systematically under- or over-estimate, and it covers only six factors out of a broader dietary picture (fibre, dairy, nuts, seeds, sodium, and many others are not included). The score is intended to identify the most impactful areas for improvement, not to predict disease risk precisely. Consult a registered dietitian for a full individualised assessment.
Frequently asked questions
The WHO recommends at least 400 g (about five 80 g servings) of fruits and vegetables per day, excluding starchy vegetables like potatoes. Higher intake — up to 800 g per day — is associated with further reductions in risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer in observational studies.
A serving is approximately 90 g (3 oz) of cooked red meat (beef, pork, lamb) or 45 g (1.5 oz) of processed meat (bacon, sausage, deli meats). The WHO and IARC classify processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen and red meat as Group 2A; most guidelines suggest limiting red meat to 350–500 g per week cooked weight.
Oily fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring) are rich in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA), which are associated with reduced cardiovascular risk in large meta-analyses. Two servings of fish per week — including at least one oily — is the recommendation from most cardiovascular and dietary guidelines including the American Heart Association and EFSA.
Also known as
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. (2026). Diet Risk Score Calculator — Dietary Quality Screening [Online calculator]. TG we-Calculate. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/diet-risk-score-calculator
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team. "Diet Risk Score Calculator — Dietary Quality Screening." TG we-Calculate. 2026. https://we-calculate.com/calculator/diet-risk-score-calculator.
TG we-Calculate Editorial Team, "Diet Risk Score Calculator — Dietary Quality Screening," TG we-Calculate, 2026. [Online]. Available: https://we-calculate.com/calculator/diet-risk-score-calculator
@misc{wecalculate_diet_risk_score_calculator, title = {Diet Risk Score Calculator — Dietary Quality Screening}, author = {{TG we-Calculate Editorial Team}}, howpublished = {\url{https://we-calculate.com/calculator/diet-risk-score-calculator}}, year = {2026}, note = {TG we-Calculate} }
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