What Defines the Nordic Diet
How do researchers define and measure the Nordic diet, and what do the validated indices find?
Nordic Diet Companion gathers the studies that define and score the Nordic eating pattern here — the consensus definition and the validated food indices — including the cohorts where higher adherence showed no association with an outcome.
Contents — 6 entries
- 📄 Guidelines for the New Nordic Diet
- 📄 The Healthy Nordic Food Index and Total Mortality
- 📄 The Baltic Sea Diet Score (Index Development)
- 📄 Healthy Nordic Food Index and Cardiovascular Disease in Swedish Women
- 📄 Nordic and Mediterranean Diet Scores and Chronic Disease (EPIC-Potsdam)
- 📄 Healthy Nordic Food Index and Type 2 Diabetes
📄 Guidelines for the New Nordic Diet
Mithril C, et al. — Public Health Nutrition, 2012 · pubmed / 22251407
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers how the New Nordic Diet is formally defined. The 2012 consensus guidelines set out the pattern across 3 organising principles — more calories from plant foods and fewer from meat, more foods from the sea and lakes, and more foods from the wild countryside — translated into named staples such as whole-grain rye, berries, cabbage, and fish. It is a normative definition rather than a test of health outcomes, so it reports no effect sizes.
What it examines: the formal consensus definition and design principles of the New Nordic Diet. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: the consensus paper that defines the New Nordic Diet pattern.
📄 The Healthy Nordic Food Index and Total Mortality
Olsen A, et al. — The Journal of Nutrition, 2011 · pubmed / 21346102
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers the food index used to score Nordic eating and its link to mortality. In the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort of 57,053 adults followed about 12 years, the Healthy Nordic Food Index — built from fish, cabbage, rye bread, oatmeal, apples and pears, and root vegetables — was associated with lower all-cause mortality, a mortality rate ratio of 0.96 (95% CI 0.92 to 0.99) per 1-point higher score. The study is observational with a single baseline food questionnaire, and the women's confidence interval reached up to 1.00.
What it examines: the construction of the Healthy Nordic Food Index and its association with all-cause mortality. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: the cohort study that built the Healthy Nordic Food Index.
📄 The Baltic Sea Diet Score (Index Development)
Kanerva N, et al. — Public Health Nutrition, 2014 · pubmed / 24172174
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers a second tool for scoring Nordic eating. The 2014 paper developed the Baltic Sea Diet Score from 9 dietary components in a Finnish FINRISK sample of 4,710 adults, and a higher score correlated with more fibre, iron, and vitamins A, C, D and folate, and with less saturated fat and alcohol. It validates the score against nutrient intake rather than disease outcomes, and relies on a self-reported food questionnaire.
What it examines: the development of the Baltic Sea Diet Score and its nutrient correlates. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: the development of the Baltic Sea Diet Score scoring tool.
📄 Healthy Nordic Food Index and Cardiovascular Disease in Swedish Women
Roswall N, et al. — Journal of Internal Medicine, 2015 · pubmed / 25991078
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers whether the Nordic food index predicts heart disease. In a Swedish cohort of 43,310 women with 8,383 cardiovascular events, the study found no association between the Healthy Nordic Food Index and overall cardiovascular disease risk; an inverse signal appeared only within a former-smoker subgroup. The result is observational, and the lone subgroup finding may reflect chance.
What it examines: whether Healthy Nordic Food Index adherence predicts incident cardiovascular disease in women. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: a cohort testing the Nordic food index against cardiovascular disease, with a null overall result.
📄 Nordic and Mediterranean Diet Scores and Chronic Disease (EPIC-Potsdam)
Galbete C, et al. — BMC Medicine, 2018 · pubmed / 29945632
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers how the Nordic pattern performs outside the Nordic region. In the German EPIC-Potsdam cohort of 27,548 adults followed about 10.6 years, a Nordic diet score showed only statistically non-significant inverse associations with heart attack and, in men, stroke, and no association with cancer, while a Mediterranean score reached significance for type 2 diabetes (hazard ratio 0.93 per standard deviation, 95% CI 0.88 to 0.98). The Nordic associations did not reach significance and were tested in a non-Nordic population.
What it examines: Nordic versus Mediterranean diet scores against diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and cancer in a German cohort. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: a cohort comparing Nordic and Mediterranean scores outside the Nordic region.
📄 Healthy Nordic Food Index and Type 2 Diabetes
Lacoppidan SA, et al. — Nutrients, 2015 · pubmed / 26506373
Nordic Diet Companion research surfaced this report because it covers the Nordic food index and diabetes risk. In the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort of 57,053 adults with 7,366 incident type 2 diabetes cases over a median 15.3 years, high adherence to the Healthy Nordic Food Index (score 5 to 6) versus low adherence (score 0) was associated with a hazard ratio of 0.75 (95% CI 0.61 to 0.92) in women and 0.62 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.71) in men. It is observational and draws on the same Danish cohort as the index's original mortality study, so the two are not independent.
What it examines: Healthy Nordic Food Index adherence and incident type 2 diabetes in a Danish cohort. Why it's in the Nordic Diet Companion research index: a cohort of the Nordic food index and type 2 diabetes risk.
All 6 sources last verified June 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is the Nordic diet defined?
Researchers use a 2012 consensus definition (the New Nordic Diet) plus validated scoring tools — the Healthy Nordic Food Index and the Baltic Sea Diet Score — built from foods like rye, fish, root vegetables, cabbage, and berries (Mithril, 2012; Olsen, 2011; Kanerva, 2014). This summarizes research and is not medical advice.
Does following the Nordic diet lower mortality?
One large Danish cohort linked a higher Healthy Nordic Food Index score to lower all-cause mortality (rate ratio 0.96 per point; Olsen, 2011), but these are observational associations, not proof of cause.
Does the Nordic food index predict heart disease?
Not consistently. A Swedish cohort of 43,310 women found no association between the index and overall cardiovascular disease (Roswall, 2015).
Does the Nordic pattern work outside the Nordic countries?
The evidence is weaker there. In a German cohort, a Nordic diet score showed only non-significant associations with chronic disease (Galbete, 2018).
More in Nordic Diet Research
Educational information only — not medical advice, and not a recommendation to start, stop, or change any diet, supplement, or treatment. Talk to a qualified healthcare professional before making changes. Nordic Diet Companion and Copper Sun Content and Creative, LLC are not medical providers.