In late 2024, the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration updated its definition for grocery items eligible to make a ‘healthy’ claim.

The updated criteria, to qualify for a ‘healthy’ claim, recognises the importance of healthy dietary patterns and the food groups that comprise them, and also considers dietary fat type (rather than total fat), along with sodium and added sugars content.

For a food to meet the updated criteria for the ‘healthy’ claim, it must: 

1. Contain a certain amount of fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy and protein (including nuts), recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and 
2. Meet specific limits for added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. 

The criteria reflect recent nutrition science and dietary guidance – replacing the now-outdated, previous approach of focussing only on specific nutrient levels in foods.  

It’s the FDA’s first update to its ‘healthy’ criteria in 30 years.  

Nuts and seeds, higher fat fish (such as salmon), certain oils (such as 100% olive oil), and water are examples of foods that did not qualify for the ‘healthy’ claim before but are foundational to a healthy eating pattern and recommended by the US Dietary Guidelines. US Food and Drug Administration

These foods now qualify to carry the ‘healthy’ claim. And many other foods that fit into a range of budgets, such as some peanut butters and canned fruits and vegetables, also qualify.  

Foods that previously qualified under the original ‘healthy’ claim include snack bars and fruit snacks high in added sugars. 

The inclusion of nuts in the new ‘healthy’ definition reinforces decades of research on the important role of nuts within healthy dietary patterns.

The new definition moves from an exclusive focus on individual nutrients to a system that also emphasises the type of food and how it contributes to a healthy dietary pattern. American Heart Association (1)

Closer to home, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is currently reviewing nutrition labelling, including the Health Star Rating (HSR) and Nutrition Information Panel (NIP).

Nuts for Life has called for all tree nuts and peanuts (that are minimally processed, with no added fat, sugar/sweeteners, or salt) to receive an automatic 5 stars, under the HSR system.

This would support increased consumption of nuts – which are identified as a healthy, core food in the Australian Dietary Guidelines (2), but are vastly under-consumed (3).

Did you know? Australians aren’t eating enough nuts. Just 2% meet the target of a daily (30g) handful of nuts (4). The average intake is less than 5g a day.