\n<\/p>\n
Until now, an orange couldn\u2019t be called healthy, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The fruit has 70 calories, three grams of fiber and more than 100 percent of the recommended daily value for vitamin C. Yet the whole fruit can\u2019t qualify for a \u201chealthy\u201d label based on existing FDA guidelines for use of the term. Water can\u2019t do so either\u2014along with pistachios, bananas and many other fresh foods.<\/p>\n
But what\u2019s labelled \u201chealthy\u201d is about to change. A revised FDA rule<\/a>, just announced this month, would allow whole foods such as oranges, in addition to fish such as salmon, to qualify as healthy. What can no longer use the word? Foods that have higher amounts of added sugar or saturated fats than the rule allows.<\/p>\n This change\u2014the first in 30 years\u2014 could stop a lot of companies that call their breakfast cereals \u201chealthy\u201d from using the word on the box. The agency is working on a logo symbolizing \u201chealthy\u201d that manufacturers can use only if they meet new standards, but that may take a while.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing<\/a>. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The old rule for using the word healthy on a food label was that the grocery item must contribute at least 10 percent of the established daily value of certain vitamins, calcium, iron, protein or fiber and not go over specific limits for saturated fat, total fat, sodium or cholesterol. The nutrients didn\u2019t have to occur in the product naturally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current rule is dangerously outdated, focusing on 1980 dietary priorities around fat and saturated fat, and so on,\u201d says Dariush Mozaffarian<\/a>, a cardiologist and director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. He says the rule needed to change to focus on the FDA\u2019s 2020\u20132025 Dietary Guidelines recommendations, which no longer accept adding nutrients in most foods as a replacement <\/a>for a naturally occurring nutrient. Thus, an orange that has 100 percent of the recommended daily value of natural vitamin C is now preferred to most orange juices, which drain the nutrient-rich pulp from the juice, in a healthy diet.<\/p>\n The revised rule for adding healthy labels promotes eating whole foods\u2014foods that have not gone through a process that could remove nutrients such as fiber\u2014and also low-sugar and low-saturated-fat foods that include enough protein, oil, grains, vegetables or fruit by volume.<\/p>\n The previous rule did not require a product to be low in added sugar to be labeled healthy. But the new rule does. For instance, a food that meets the standards for protein\u2014meat, seafood, beans, eggs, nuts or seeds\u2014can\u2019t have more than two percent of the recommended daily amount of sugar. This automatically eliminates, for example, chicken sausage with maple that may be otherwise healthy. Vegetable and fruit products must have no added sugar, and dairy and grain products can have up to five percent of the recommended daily value. Saturated fat content also is subject to sharp limits: five or 10 percent of the daily value depending on the type of protein.<\/p>\n Why did the FDA choose to limit added sugar? The agency consulted the Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> the same report that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans<\/a> are based on. A scientific committee analyzed 23 studies, and found that added sugar could increase overall caloric intake without a nutritional benefit like the ones you would get from a vegetable or whole grain.<\/p>\n The 2013\u20132016 data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)<\/a> that influenced the report showed that the average added sugar consumption contributed at least 200 calories to daily diets across all age and sex groups. At the same time, most people did not eat in a way that met food group and nutrient requirements.<\/p>\n Food companies object to the sugar standards, however, and argue they could actually induce consumers to buy products with more fat. Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy and federal affairs at the Consumer Brands Association, which represents most companies selling packaged foods, says that if foods currently able to describe themselves as \u201chealthy\u201d are barred from using the word because of sugar content, \u201cconsumers may migrate to full-flavor offerings that contain more saturated fat, added sugars and sodium.\u201d In other words, why get one lasagna over another if the fuller-fat one doesn\u2019t have a healthy label either?<\/p>\n Gallo adds that \u201cthe FDA\u2019s proposed added sugars limit may reflect an inaccurate understanding of the products available in the marketplace and how truly restrictive FDA\u2019s proposed added sugars thresholds are.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, very few cereals and yogurts that you see on grocery shelves meet the added sugar limits. After reviewing a draft version of the new rule, the Consumer Brands Association noted in response that one of its member companies applied the FDA\u2019s proposed criteria to its 195 yogurt products and 104 cereals. Only three cereals and 24 yogurts had sugar levels that qualified as healthy.<\/p>\n Nutrition experts are more optimistic about the new standards, because the \u201chealthy\u201d label offers people an easy way to find some healthy foods. \u201cI can tell my patients that foods with a healthy label are a safe bet. It takes time, 15 to 20 minutes, [to] learn how to read a nutrition label,\u201d and not everyone will take the time, says Courtney Pelitera, a registered dietitian specializing in sports nutrition and wellness nutrition. \u201c<\/i>Any shortcuts are helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the label leaves no room for foods that may not go all the way to meeting the standards but come close. For instance, a Trader Joe\u2019s Chicken Burrito Bowl has 22 grams of protein, nine grams of fiber and three kinds of whole grains. It seems like a nutritionally solid choice among frozen food options for nutrients and balance among food groups. In part because it uses full-fat cheddar cheese, however, it has 4.5 grams of saturated fat, or 23 percent of the total recommended daily value. That is slightly above the 20 percent (four-gram) recommended daily value required to qualify as healthy. Someone who has a meal within that limit could easily make up for the 0.5 gram extra of saturated fat by eating a low-fat cheese or yogurt in another meal. And even if all three of their meals that day had 23 percent of the recommended daily value, that would still be under the daily total; they could get up to 31 percent of their daily value of saturated fat from snacks and still meet the guideline.<\/p>\n Consumer brands are finding other ways to show consumers which options are healthier than others, Gallo says. It\u2019s not unusual to see a package advertise the number of grams of whole grains a product has or the lack of added sugar, even though it might not meet the healthy label. Front-of-package labels often show fiber, protein, saturated fats, and so on. \u201cI can tell my patients to look for certain saturated fat, fiber and protein numbers on labels,\u201d Pelitera says.<\/p>\n While Mozaffarian supports the new healthy label requirements, he recommends the FDA take a different approach to encourage products to change to healthier recipes. \u201cImagine a front-of-package label that showed the actual servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes and nuts and seeds in a package,\u201d he says. That would give companies an incentive to start to increase those ingredients.<\/p>\nOn supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n