Health & Wellness

Nutrition guidance program Guiding Stars formed a partnership with Wellness Layers, Inc., a provider of health-related online and mobile portals to launch an integrated nutrition guidance program for consumers in stores and online.

“Along with the re-launch of our Web site earlier this year, the partnership with Wellness Layers is another step in our continued commitment to offer our customers information that can help them make healthier food choices,” said John Eldredge, director of brand and business development at Guiding Stars Licensing Company. “We can provide consumers with access to our easy-to-use nutrition guidance program while at the same time enhancing their online experience through a growing list of web based Guiding Stars initiatives.”

A new search engine to be introduced this summer, called the Guiding Stars “Food Finder,” will mark the first stage of the partnership. The FoodFinder will allow shoppers to search for any of 60,000 foods in the Guiding Stars database and view the zero, one, two, or three star nutrition rating for that food. An online community will be created to support the “Food Finder” to encourage consumers to have conversations, exchange ideas and share ratings.

The second phase of the partnership will occur later this year and will consist of an accessible portal with a smart shopping function plus a meal planner. In addition to learning about healthier food choices, other topics will include: Medical condition related alerts, shopping on a budget, and weight loss.

“For us, the partnership between Wellness Layers and Guiding Stars begins to put together the pieces of the puzzle for a healthier America and world,” said Amir Kishon, PhD, CEO of Wellness Layers. “We believe that the user friendly Guiding Stars food rating system combined with our award winning healthy lifestyle platform will offer consumers a comprehensive and easy-to-use solution to nutrition guidance at their local grocery store, at home, at work and anywhere else they may be.”

The Guiding Stars nutrition guidance program was developed as a simple, easy-to-understand tool for making good nutrition choices and is designed to make a positive and lasting impact on public health. Guiding Stars is utilizes in more than 1,500 supermarkets including Food Lion, Hannaford, Bloom, and Sweetbay, and is coming soon to Kings Super Market and Homeland. Guiding Stars has also expanded into public schools and colleges, and appears on the Shopper mobile iPhone application. Additional information can be found at www.guidingstars.com.