What's Healthy? FDA Will Have to Get Back to Us on That

What’s Healthy? FDA Will Have to Get Back to Us on That

Just about three years ago, FDA started working on a new definition to guide your healthy eating. Don’t worry, they’re on it. Yep, they’re definitely going to issue new rules for what it takes to make a claim that a food product is good for you. But you have to understand. This takes time. We’ve been through two FDA commissioners since this process started.

The current commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, is leaving at the end of this week. In one of his farewell interviews last week, he told the audience that new regs for what it takes to call a food product “healthy” should be out by this summer. An aide quickly corrected him. Actually, the agency is still sifting through an avalanche of public comments on this contentious subject.

So don’t bet your life on it happening this summer.

A Healthy Icon?

According to Gottlieb, FDA is kicking around the possibility of a “healthy” icon that a distinguished brand can flaunt. It might even have the FDA logo as part of that icon. Somehow, that seems a bit fanciful.

Count us still skeptical about this whole subject. Marion Nestle summed it up quite well three years ago:

Health claims are about marketing; they are not about health.

Foods are foods, not drugs. I don’t see why companies should be allowed to carry any health claims.

Neither do we.

Click here for more on the FDA’s work to figure out what healthy food really is.

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April 3, 2019

2 Responses to “What’s Healthy? FDA Will Have to Get Back to Us on That”

April 03, 2019 at 9:03 am, Mary-Jo Overwater said:

So, chick peas may be labeled as ‘healthy’. If I eat a pound of them, do I get healthier?
- April 03, 2019 at 9:24 am, Ted said:
  
  Well, after two pounds of them, you might be twice as healthy.