Heathy and food

Health food is food purported to have specific human health effects beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. These are the foods having functional health effects. Foods marketed as health foods may be part of one or more of the following categories: natural foods, organic foods, whole foods, and sometimes vegetarian foods or dietary supplements. These products are sold in health food storesor in the health food or organic sections of supermarkets.

Health claimsMain article: Health claims on food labels

In 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]

The following is a non-exhaustive list of foods that have been considered healthy:

Apple cider vinegar, a fruit vinegar considered a health food
Broccoli sprouts
Certain cereal products:
- Corn flakes, patented food invented in 1894
- Digestive biscuit, English baked good from 1851, containing fiber and sometimes sodium bicarbonate
- Graham cracker, cracker made with whole grain Graham flour (1829)
- Graham bread, a type of whole wheat bread
- Granola, a food made from mixed, toasted grains
- Granula, the first manufactured breakfast cereal (1863)
- Grape-Nuts, an American breakfast cereal made from baked and ground grain (1897)
- Muesli, breakfast cereal of rolled oats, fruit and nuts, made by a Swiss doctor (1900)
- Shredded wheat, whole wheat cereal (1893)
Eggplant, hosts of vitamin and minerals, and also contains important phytonutrients
Herbal extract, plants, often medicinal that are concentrated and standardized
Herbal teas
Honey, a naturally occurring whole sweetener
Malt, whole sprouted barley
Meat analogue, a dietary alternative to meat, found in some vegetarian and vegan diets^[4]
Molasses, black strap molasses has been sold as a health food
Certain oils, including olive oil and fish oil
Postum, a coffee alternative from 1895^[5]
Yogurt, traditional cultured milk product