How can I tell if a health claim is legit? How can I assess whether a packaged food is really healthy?
A health claim on a food package relates some component or nutrient within a food to a disease or condition. For instance, some health claims relate consumption of whole grains to reduced risk for heart disease, or lower sodium to reduced risk for hypertension. Health claims are regulated by the FDA and are based on strong evidence and widespread agreement among scientists that the relationship between the food and the disease or condition is real. Thus, health claims in general can be considered legitimate. It’s important to be wary, however, of other claims you might find on food packages. Sometimes, you’ll see a small asterisks after a claim which notes the FDA has not approved the claim. In this case, the claim is not well-substantiated by science and its validity is questionable. When it comes to determining whether a packaged food is actually healthy, things get tricky. The best way to go about this is to consider four pieces of information provided to you in the Nutrition Facts
