Buying Healthy Food

Foods and grocery items are marketed toward health by letting the consumers know what they are getting before they buy it – providing people with facts about health as well as promising they will get something in return like a healthier life. Health claims describe the relationship between a food and the risk of a disease. A health claim states or implies that a food has valuable dietary properties, like being Trans fat free, boosting immunity, being high in fiber, and containing a reduced about of total fat. It is important that products that make health claima have a identified amount of the valuable dietary properties that is directly tied to the disease it claims to help. An example of a health claim would be foods that have high calcium content, which may help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, or foods that are low in fat which may help reduce the risk of some cancers (FDA.gov). The requirements of these health claims must be maintained and are regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These claims are important for the buyers to know about; and, therefore they are suitable to be placed on the label of foods. Using the same example above, if people are interested in reducing their risk of osteoporosis, it is helpful for them to know that the foods they are thinking about buying will or will not help them achieve that objective. Health claims cannot state the amount the food or grocery item can reduce the risk when describing the food-disease relationship. For an example, Nabisco Premium Original Saltine Crackers are marketed toward heart health because of its low cholesterol. While many factors affect heart disease, foods low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease. This health claim is valid because the crackers have 0 mg of cholesterol per serving which means they have less than 2 mg of cholesterol and 2 g (or less) of saturated fat. A second example is Campbell’s Low Sodium Chicken Soup with Noodles which is also marketed towards heart health, but because of its low sodium content. Foods low in sodium may reduce the risk of high blood pressure; and, in order to be considered a low sodium food, the label should only contain 140 mg or less of sodium per serving. The soup’s health claim is valid because its label reads 140 mg of sodium per serving.