healthy food

healthy food

Health food
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The term health food is generally used to describe foods that are considered to be beneficial to health, beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. However, the term is not precisely defined by national regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Health food" is sometimes used as an umbrella term encompassing natural foods, organic foods, whole foods, and sometimes nutritional supplements. Such products are sold in health food stores or in the health/organic sections of supermarkets. "Health food" may also refer to functional food: foods for which a specific claim of health benefits is made, such as that consumption of the food may prevent disease. Additionally, "health food" is sometimes used in contrast with "junk food", which may be high in calories but has little other nutritional value.
[edit] Health claims in food labeling and marketing
Main article: Health claims on food labels

In the United States, health-related claims on Nutrition facts labels are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) while advertising is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission. According to the FDA, "Health claims describe a relationship between a food, food component, or dietary supplement ingredient, and reducing risk of a disease or health-related condition".[1]

In general, claims of health benefits for specific foodstuffs have not been evaluated by national regulatory agencies. Additionally, research funded by manufacturers or marketers that may form the basis of such marketing claims has been shown to result in more favorable results than independently funded research.[2]

While there is no precise definition for "health food", the United States Food and Drug Administration has warned food manufacturers against labeling foods as being "healthy" when they have a high sugar, salt, or fat content.[3]
[edit] References

^ "Claims That Can Be Made for Conventional Foods and Dietary Supplements". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. September, 2003. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
^ Lenard I. Lesser; Cara B. Ebbeling, Merrill Goozner, David Wypij, and David S. Ludwig (January 9, 2007) "Relationship between Funding Source and Conclusion among Nutrition-Related Scientific Articles" PLoS Medicine doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040005 . Retrieved November 1, 2010 "Industry funding of nutrition-related scientific articles may bias conclusions in favor of sponsors' products, with potentially significant implications for public health."
^ FDA to beef up standards for "health" food labeling, Scientific American

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