Avocados now qualify as “healthy” foods under the Food and Drug Administration’s new definition. In an effort to improve American diets, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Thursday released a new definition of what it means for a food to qualify as “healthy.”
Products like fruit-flavored yogurt, fortified white bread and sweetened energy bars will no longer be allowed to label themselves as healthy if they exceed certain limits on saturated fat, sodium and added sugars.
At the same time, foods like salmon, almonds and even water will qualify as healthy for the first time.
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The new definition reflects the advice offered in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans , which are produced by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services. The hope is that consumers who consider health claims on packaged foods while filling their grocery carts will be steered toward a more nutritious eating pattern, the FDA said .
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There’s no question that Americans can use some help with their diets. For example, less than half of U.S. adults eat a piece of fruit on any given day, and only 12% consume the recommended 1.5 to 2 cups of fruit per day, according to national surveys conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Americans are even further off the mark with vegetables, with only 10% meeting the target of 2 to 3 cups per day.
On the other hand, 90% of us eat too much sodium, 75% eat too much saturated fat and 63% eat too many added sugars, the FDA said.AdvertisementThe new definition of healthy foods aims to turn that around by excluding foods with excess sodium, saturated fat and added sugars even if they also contain valuable nutrients like protein and whole grains.The specific limits vary depending on food groups. The limits will also depend on whether a product is an individual food (like cheese), a “mixed product” (like trail mix) or a complete meal (like a frozen dinner).For instance, in order for a dairy […]
Avocados, salmon, strawberry yogurt: Which of these meets FDA’s new definition of a “healthy” food?
