Food and Health

Health food is food considered to be beneficial to health in ways that go beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. Because there is no precise, authoritative definition from regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, different dietary practices can be considered healthy depending on context.

Foods considered "healthy" may be natural foods, organic foods, whole foods, and sometimes dietary 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 that designed to address specific health concerns, such as the prevention of disease. Additionally, "health food" is sometimes used in contrast with "junk food", which may be high in calories but has little other nutritional value.


Contents
  [hide]  1 Health claims
 2 Examples
 3 See also
 4 References

Health claims[edit]

Main article: Health claims on food labels

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]