We’re proud to be the first high street retailer to include Plant Points on the packaging for our new food range. Plant Points are a handy way to make sure you’re eating a nutrient-packed diet. We believe eating 30 different plants a week is key to supporting a happy gut, which is why we've put Plant Points on the packaging of over 300 food products.

What are Plant Points?

Think of Plant Points like your 5-a-day. For many years, we’ve been advised to eat five fruits and vegetables a day to help us get more healthy foods into our diet. Plant Points can be gained from whole foods, powdered food, and herbs & spices and focuses on increasing variety rather than just the number.

To help us count our Plant Points, foods are split into three groups: whole foods which are worth 1 Plant Point, powdered foods which are 1/2 a Plant Point and herbs & spices which are worth a 1/4 of a Plant Point. 

How to count Plant Points

It's simple, if you add a food from the lists above then it counts towards your weekly plant points!

If you were making our Flamingo Pea & Smoky Red Pepper Stew, you'd include:

• H&B Flamingo peas: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
• Red peppers: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
• Tomatoes: Whole Food = 1 Plant Point
• Flat leaf parsley: Herbs & Spices = 1/4 of a Plant Point

So, you have 3 and 1/4 Plant Points…and that's before we add the rest of the ingredients, like our new H&B Red Sauce, Passata and Kimchi. And, to help, we've included the Plant Points for an average portion size on our food packaging.

What are the benefits of Plant Points?

Studies have shown that eating 30 different plant foods a week can play a positive role in leading a healthy lifestyle.¹ For example, the 2018 American Gut Project study highlighted that participants who ate a broader range of plants had more diverse gut microbiomes – which play a huge part in human health and disease.

Increasing the variety of plant-based foods is a great move for your health, because:

• Different fibres promote the growth of different bacteria
• Different fruits and vegetables contain a range of phytonutrients 
• Different fruits and vegetables contain a variety of essential nutrients 
• Plant-based foods tend to have lower energy density