and i assume that means it's much better. it makes it so much easier than having to read through the ingredients labels and the nutritional information. that's great. >> reporter: they're called nuval scores. a for-profit business. yale university researchers and other top experts developed a secret math formula that gives points for good nutrients, like protein and calcium, and takes points away, for bad ones like transfat and cholesterol. >> what nuval has intended to do, is empower people. knowledge is power. now, you know. some people will certainly use that to trade up to better nutrition. some people would say, i'd rather not know. i'm going to choose what i like. i don't care whether or not it's good for me. >> reporter: not surprisingly, fruits and veggies straight from nature, like blueberries, butternut squash and spinach, score 100 on the nuval scale. processed foods don't do as well. but there's intriguing differences among them.