In an era where nutritional information bombards us from every angle, understanding the core principles of healthy eating is more crucial than ever. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of healthy food, leveraging graphic representations of dietary guidelines and exploring the benefits of informed food choices. We'll delve into resources like MyPlate, discuss the updated "healthy" claim on food packages, and examine the impact of dietary patterns on overall health.
Visualizing a Balanced Diet: The Power of Graphics
Navigating the world of nutrition can be daunting. Graphic representations of healthy eating guidelines, such as the Healthy Eating Plate, offer a clear and accessible way to visualize a balanced diet. These tools break down complex nutritional information into easily digestible components, making it simpler for individuals to make informed food choices.
MyPlate: A Versatile Tool for All Ages
The MyPlate collection, with its printable tip sheets and resources, serves as an excellent starting point for understanding healthy meal construction. It provides age-appropriate guidance, offering lessons, workshops, activities, and curricula for teachers to educate children on building healthy eating habits. For younger children, there are tips for building healthy eating habits in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.
The Healthy Eating Plate: A Detailed Guide
The Healthy Eating Plate, developed by nutrition experts at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, offers a more detailed and nuanced approach to healthy eating than the USDA’s MyPlate. It emphasizes key components of a balanced diet:
- Veggies: The more veggies - and the greater the variety - the better, filling a significant portion of the plate.
- Whole Grains: Emphasizes a variety of whole grains like whole-wheat bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice.
- Protein Power: Encourages healthy, versatile protein sources such as fish, poultry, beans, and nuts, occupying a quarter of the plate. These are great mixed into salads, and pair well with vegetables.
- Healthy Plant Oils: Advocates for the use of healthy vegetable oils like olive, canola, soy, corn, sunflower, and peanut oils in moderation, while advising to avoid partially hydrogenated oils, which contain unhealthy trans fats. Use healthy oils (like olive and canola oil) for cooking, on salad, and at the table. Limit butter.
- Water, Tea, and Coffee: Recommends these as primary beverage choices, with little or no sugar. Drink water, tea, or coffee (with little or no sugar).
- Limit Dairy and Juice: Suggests limiting milk/dairy (1-2 servings/day) and juice (1 small glass/day).
The Healthy Eating Plate does not define a certain number of calories or servings per day from each food group. The relative section sizes suggest approximate relative proportions of each of the food groups to include on a healthy plate. There are many cultures around the world in which people may not eat their meals from a plate.
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Healthy Eating Index
To see how well the principles embodied in the Healthy Eating Pyramid stacked up against the government’s advice, researchers at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health created an Alternate Healthy Eating Index with a scoring system similar to the USDA’s index. Men who scored highest on the USDA’s original Healthy Eating Index (meaning their diets most closely followed federal recommendations) reduced their overall risk of developing heart disease, cancer, or other chronic disease by 11% over 8 to 12 years of follow-up compared to those who scored lowest. Women who most closely followed the government’s recommendations were only 3% less likely to have developed a chronic disease. In comparison, scores on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index did appear to correlate more closely with better health in both sexes. Men with high scores (those whose diets most closely followed the Healthy Eating Pyramid guidelines) were 20% less likely to have developed a major chronic disease than those with low scores. Women with high scores lowered their overall risk by 11%. A study that tracked 7,319 British civil servants for 18 years found that men and women with the highest scores on the Alternate Healthy Eating Index had a 25% lower risk of dying from any cause, and a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease, than people with the lowest scores. Another observational study in 93,676 post-menopausal women found that following a Healthy Eating Pyramid-style diet (as measured by adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index) was superior to following a low-fat diet at lowering cardiovascular disease and heart failure risk.
The "Healthy" Claim: An Evolving Definition
The FDA announced on December 19, 2024, a final rule to update the “healthy” claim that manufacturers can voluntarily use on food packages. Claims like “healthy” on food labels can help consumers identify healthier food choices at a quick glance. Foods must meet specific criteria to use the “healthy” nutrient content claim. The updated criteria for the claim replace outdated criteria for “healthy” with criteria that are consistent with current nutrition science and Federal dietary guidance. These dietary guidelines include a focus on the importance of healthy dietary patterns and the food groups that comprise them, the type of fat in the diet rather than the total amount of fat consumed, and the amount of sodium and added sugars in the diet.
Updated Criteria for the "Healthy" Claim
Under the updated ”healthy” claim, nutrient-dense foods that are encouraged by the Dietary Guidelines - vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and low-fat dairy, lean game meat, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, nuts, and seeds - with no added ingredients except for water, automatically qualify for the “healthy” claim because of their nutrient profile and positive contribution to an overall healthy diet. Under the updated claim, foods such as water, avocados, nuts and seeds, higher fat fish, such as salmon, and olive oil will now qualify to use the “healthy” claim. These include many varieties of these foods that fit into a range of budgets, for example, fruits, vegetables, and fish that are either fresh, frozen, or canned.
The FDA's Rationale for Updating the Claim
Previous ActionsOn September 29, 2022, the FDA issued a proposed rule to update the nutrient content claim “healthy,” which was set in 1994. The previous definition had limits for total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and to qualify, foods also had to provide at least 10% of the Daily Value (DV) for one or more of the following nutrients: vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, iron, protein, and fiber. The proposed rule was informed in part by a public meeting the FDA held on March 9, 2017 to discuss use of the term “healthy” in food labeling.During the FDA’s consideration of how to update the "healthy” claim, in September 2016, the FDA issued a guidance that states the agency’s intent to exercise enforcement discretion for products labeled with a “healthy” claim that meet certain nutrient requirements.Also in September 2016, the FDA issued a request for information and comments related to the use of the term “healthy” in food labeling.
The "Healthy" Symbol: A Visual Aid
“Healthy” SymbolOn a separate but related track, the FDA is also continuing to explore development of a symbol that manufacturers could use on food labeling to show that a product meets the definition of “healthy.” Having a standardized graphic to show that a food meets the criteria for the “healthy” claim would further support the FDA’s goal of helping consumers to identify food products that can be the foundation of healthy eating patterns.The FDA issued two procedural notices for public comment when seeking Office of Management and Budget approval for the “healthy” symbol’s preliminary quantitative consumer research. The first notice was issued in May 2021 and the second notice was issued in March 2022, and the FDA’s research was approved.
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Dietary Patterns and Health Outcomes
The impact of dietary choices extends far beyond immediate well-being, influencing long-term health outcomes and chronic disease risk.
The Link Between Diet and Chronic Disease
faces an ever-growing epidemic of preventable diet-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity. Improving nutrition is one of the best public health interventions for reducing these and other chronic illnesses and premature death.
Research Supporting Healthy Eating Patterns
Akbaraly TN, Ferrie JE, Berr C, Brunner EJ, Head J, Marmot MG, Singh-Manoux A, Ritchie K, Shipley MJ, Kivimaki M. Alternative Healthy Eating Index and mortality over 18 y of follow-up: results from the Whitehall II cohort. The American journal of clinical nutrition. Belin RJ, Greenland P, Allison M, Martin L, Shikany JM, Larson J, Tinker L, Howard BV, Lloyd-Jones D, Van Horn L. Diet quality and the risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI). The American journal of clinical nutrition. McCullough ML, Feskanich D, Stampfer MJ, Giovannucci EL, Rimm EB, Hu FB, Spiegelman D, Hunter DJ, Colditz GA, Willett WC. Diet quality and major chronic disease risk in men and women: moving toward improved dietary guidance. The American journal of clinical nutrition. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Continuous Update Project Report Summary. Wang DD, Leung CW, Li Y, Ding EL, Chiuve SE, Hu FB, Willett WC. Trends in dietary quality among adults in the United States, 1999 through 2010. JAMA internal medicine.
Additional Resources for Healthy Eating
Beyond MyPlate and the "healthy" claim, numerous other resources are available to support healthy eating habits:
- DASH Diet: Browse handouts and recipes for the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Diet.
- Healthy Aging: Looking for materials about healthy aging for older adults?
- Sisters Together Program: The Sisters Together program encourages Black women ages 18 and older to reach and maintain a healthy weight.
- Eating Disorders: Download, print,or order a free copy of this brochure on eating disorders.
- Vitamin and Mineral Supplement Fact Sheets: Access vitamin and mineral supplement fact sheets for the consumer or health professional.
- Physical Activity Guidelines: Print and share these fact sheets and posters to help people learn key recommendations from the Physical Activity Guidelines.
- Healthy Cooking Methods: What are healthy cooking methods, and what equipment do you need for each method?
- Weight Management: Find handouts to help you manage your weight with healthy eating and physical activity.
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