Context definitely matters! Salt may be bad if it causes you hypertension, or good if you were sweating a lot. Eating a lot of pasta may be good if you depleted your glycogen stores by running all day, or not so great if you are trying to lose weight.
Nutri-Score et al can still be useful 1. to nudge manufacturers to reduce or avoid things like trans fats or added sugars (don't want to have a lower score than your competitor), and 2. to flag products that you assumed were healthy for closer inspection (few people are going to read all the labels on everything they buy).
An app like this is only as good as the beliefs informing its creation - obviously, there is an anti-fat bias here that you've perceptively identified. Eric is absolutely right that context matters.
As a chemist, I'm less scared by chemical names. Both potassium and phosphorus are essential - the latter is a major constituent of your bones. A potassium salt will be highly soluble, and you'll be able to absorb both parts of the compound, neither of which I believe can hurt you. However, the average person doesn't have that kind of understanding. It looks like a "chemical." Beware!
I do avoid anything with bromine, either as bromide or bromate. This is a nonessential element that tends to displace the much more vital iodine, which you can't be healthy without. Fortunately, it's use has been largely discontinued in food production in the US.
Context definitely matters! Salt may be bad if it causes you hypertension, or good if you were sweating a lot. Eating a lot of pasta may be good if you depleted your glycogen stores by running all day, or not so great if you are trying to lose weight.
Nutri-Score et al can still be useful 1. to nudge manufacturers to reduce or avoid things like trans fats or added sugars (don't want to have a lower score than your competitor), and 2. to flag products that you assumed were healthy for closer inspection (few people are going to read all the labels on everything they buy).
An app like this is only as good as the beliefs informing its creation - obviously, there is an anti-fat bias here that you've perceptively identified. Eric is absolutely right that context matters.
As a chemist, I'm less scared by chemical names. Both potassium and phosphorus are essential - the latter is a major constituent of your bones. A potassium salt will be highly soluble, and you'll be able to absorb both parts of the compound, neither of which I believe can hurt you. However, the average person doesn't have that kind of understanding. It looks like a "chemical." Beware!
I do avoid anything with bromine, either as bromide or bromate. This is a nonessential element that tends to displace the much more vital iodine, which you can't be healthy without. Fortunately, it's use has been largely discontinued in food production in the US.