A new federal definition for \u201chealthy\u201d foods can help consumers make nutritious choices at the grocery store, confirms research from Washington State University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study, published in Current Developments in Nutrition<\/a><\/u><\/em>, analyzed more than 3,000 commonly consumed foods and beverages and found that items meeting the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) updated definition had a significantly higher nutrient density than those that did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results confirm\u00a0the accuracy of\u00a0a\u00a0new FDA rule<\/a>\u00a0for \u201chealthy\u201d food claims,\u00a0first\u00a0created in\u00a02024\u00a0and\u00a0finalized\u00a0last year.\u00a0Under\u00a0the\u00a0new rule, food and beverages can be marketed as healthy if\u00a0they\u00a0contain a\u00a0minimum\u00a0serving from a food group recommended\u00a0in\u00a0the\u00a02020\u20132025\u00a0Dietary Guidelines for Americans<\/a>,\u00a0such as\u00a0fruits, vegetables,\u00a0and\u00a0whole grains,\u00a0and\u00a0have limited sodium, saturated fat, and added sugars.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe new standard focuses on dietary recommendations instead of detailed nutrient information, which makes it easier for consumers to identify foods they should prioritize in their diet,\u201d said lead study author Kayla Hooker, MS, a researcher in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A new symbol could make it even easier to find nutritious options on the shelves. The FDA is currently developing a logo that manufacturers can use to indicate that a product meets the healthy food standard, similar to the USDA\u2019s organic seal<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next challenge is increasing the availability of healthy options. Only 14% of foods and beverages included in the study qualified as healthy under the new standard. While the sample doesn\u2019t capture all healthy food options, it uses data from the\u202fNational Health and Nutrition Examination Survey<\/a>\u202f(NHANES), a nationally representative survey of what Americans eat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n High sodium and saturated fat, often added during food processing and cooking, were the most common disqualifiers. The new rule makes an exception for some nutrient-dense foods that have naturally high fat content, such as nuts and seeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The updated rule may encourage manufacturers to reformulate their products or processing methods to meet the new standard, notes co-author Pablo Monsivais, PhD, MPH, a Nutrition and Exercise Physiology professor. Revised food labeling requirements have successfully spurred healthier formulations<\/a> in multiple countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond availability, cost is a key factor in food choices. The researchers also compared the price of qualifying and nonqualifying items and found that qualifying items had a lower median cost per serving, but higher cost per calorie. It\u2019s cheaper to meet your daily energy needs with calorie-rich, nutrient-poor foods, Monsivais explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAmericans are not eating enough healthy foods, and the reasons why are complex\u2014access, affordability, food insecurity, and the challenges of navigating nutrition labels all play a role,\u201d he said. \u201cOur hope is this change improves access to affordable, healthy foods that support better health outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to Hooker and Monsivais, the study included co-author Namrata Sanjeevi, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology. The research was supported by WSU faculty start-up funding and was conducted as part of Hooker\u2019s thesis research in the Master of Science in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology<\/a> program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Stephanie Engle, WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine Communications and Marketing, 509-368-6937<\/a>, stephanie.engle@wsu.edu<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A new\u00a0federal\u00a0definition for \u201chealthy\u201d\u00a0foods\u00a0can help consumers make\u00a0nutritious\u00a0choices at the grocery store,\u00a0confirms\u00a0research from Washington State University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25158,"featured_media":35723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,74],"tags":[97,107,99,21,73],"wsuwp_university_location":[],"wsuwp_university_org":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35721"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35888,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35721\/revisions\/35888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35721"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_location?post=35721"},{"taxonomy":"wsuwp_university_org","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medicine.wsu.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wsuwp_university_org?post=35721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Media Contact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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