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A new Food and Drug Administration
proposed rule, "Food Labeling: Nutrient Content Claims; Definition of Term Healthy," released on September 28, would offer new guidance to brands who label their products as "healthy" options.
The FDA is looking to regulate the use of the word because of the rise of diet-related illnesses in the U.S."In the current marketplace,
about 5 percent of all packaged foods are labeled as 'healthy,'" the FDA
writes in the proposal. "Because nutrition science has evolved over time, updating the definition of the implied nutrient content claim 'healthy'
to closely align with nutrition science underpinning the
Dietary Guidelines, 2020-2025 will better inform consumers who are selecting those products to choose a more healthful diet, which may result in lower incidence of diet-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes."
So what does this mean? Let's say you're walking down the cereal aisle in the grocery store. Dozens of products have the word "healthy" stamped on their boxes in bold lettering, based on their nutrition claims, whether that be no cholesterol or that it's multi-grain.
That's no longer enough, according to the FDA. If the proposal becomes an official rule, the cereal would have to have a certain amount of whole grains as well as low counts of
saturated fats, sodium and added sugars. If it meets the quality standards, the cereal would then be allowed to have an official FDA-approved "healthy" marker.
Nuts and seeds,
fatty fish such as salmon, certain oils and
water are currently categories of food that
would not be able to be labeled as healthy with this proposed definition. But the FDA notes that these products can be part of a healthy dietary pattern and therefore can still qualify to be labeled as "healthy."
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