By Robin Foster HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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THURSDAY, Dec. 19, 2024 (HeathDay News) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration wants to redefine the meaning of healthy food, issuing a new rule Thursday that changes the way food companies can claim their products are indeed nutritious.<\/p>\n
What foods will qualify for the new designation?<\/p>\n
Under the final rule<\/a>, pretty much everything in the produce section<\/a> — whole fruits and vegetables — would be considered healthy, as would other nutrient-rich foods like whole grains, dairy, eggs, beans, lentils, seafood, lean meat, nuts and seeds.<\/p>\n “It’s critical for the future of our country that food be a vehicle for wellness. Improving access to nutrition information is an important public health effort the FDA can undertake to help people build healthy eating patterns,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf<\/a> said in an agency news release announcing the new rule. “It is vital that we focus on the key drivers to combat chronic disease, like healthy eating.”<\/p>\n “Now, people will be able to look for the \u2018healthy\u2019 claim to help them find foundational, nutritious foods for themselves and their families,” he added.<\/p>\n The idea is to simplify things for shoppers who are confused by nutrition fact labels that don\u2019t give any real-world guidance on whether one product is better than another, the agency added.<\/p>\n Nutrition experts welcomed the change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a terrific advance,\u201d Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian<\/a>, director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University in Boston, told NBC News<\/em>. \u201cFor the first time, FDA will be judging foods not based on a handful of negative nutrients like calories or fat or salt, but on whether the food has healthy ingredients.\u201d<\/p>\n The previous rule had a cap on total fat, which excluded products with heart-healthy fat, such as avocados, NBC News<\/em> reported. Products could also qualify if they had at least 10% of the daily value for certain vitamins, calcium, iron, protein or fiber.<\/p>\n Manufacturers took advantage of that earlier rule.<\/p>\n \u201cThat led companies to fortify junk food and call them healthy,\u201d Mozaffarian explained. Fruit juice could be labeled as \u201chealthy\u201d if they had enough vitamin C, despite a tremendous amount of added sugar.<\/p>\n The new rule eliminates that possibility. Products that can no longer claim to be healthy include fortified white bread and highly sweetened yogurts and cereals.<\/p>\n It\u2019s one of the final moves from the Biden administration, and it’s likely to be embraced by the incoming Trump administration, NBC News<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for replacing ultra-processed food with healthier alternatives, to fight chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n Companies have until 2028 to comply with the new rule, and the FDA said it is also working on a healthy symbol that companies can add to packaging in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe updated definition should give consumers more confidence when they see the \u2018healthy\u2019 claim while grocery shopping,” Nancy Brown<\/a>, chief executive of the American Heart Association, said in a statement after the new rule was announced. “And we hope it will motivate food manufacturers to develop new, healthier products that qualify to use the ‘healthy’ claim.”<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n The World Health Organization has more on a healthy diet<\/a>.<\/p>\n