When it comes to food, defining “healthy” is a major preoccupation of food companies. Marketers are busy labeling food products with numbers or symbols to convince you that their products are better-for-you choices -- but these scoring systems tend to be about marketing, not health.
Now, the Strategic Alliance, the component of the Oakland-based Prevention Institute devoted to “promoting healthy food and activity environments,” has produced a working definition of a healthful food. Its suggests three principles: Healthful food should be (1) wholesome, (2) produced in ways that are good for people, animals, and natural resources, and (3) available, accessible, and affordable.
“Wholesome” is defined to mean foods that are minimally processed, full of naturally occurring nutrients, produced without added hormones or antibiotics, and processed without artificial colors, flavors, or unnecessary preservatives.
It’s safe to say that many of the processed products with “healthy” labels in supermarket aisles do not meet this definition.