What does the word “healthy” mean? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the definition of “healthy” on food packaging, excluding some white bread, sugary cereals, and sweetened yogurts from the claim.

This is the first FDA update of the label in decades. The previous “healthy” definition centered on individual nutrients, such as specific amounts of vitamins, minerals, fat, and protein in the product. However, the new definition emphasizes supporting a balanced, nutrient-dense dietary pattern.

“Things have changed since the 1990s and the definition had to be updated in order for it to comply with modern nutritional science and the Dietary Guidelines,” Livleen Gill, MBA, RDN, LDN, president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a registered dietitian based in Maryland, told Verywell.

Food manufacturers have until Feb. 25, 2028, to comply with the updated claim, an FDA spokesperson told Verywell.

Public health experts say the new definition will help guide consumers toward nutritious choices.

“Having a healthy label with a very specific definition is a quick way to reference if you’re trying to shop for things and look for nutritious choices,” Melanie Hingle, PhD, MPH, RDN, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Arizona, told Verywell.

What Does the FDA Consider Healthy?

To meet the FDA’s updated definition of “healthy,” a product must contain a certain amount of food from one of the food groups—like fruits, vegetables, or dairy—and stay below specified limits for saturated fats, sodium, and added sugars.

Foods that qualify in this new definition include fresh or frozen whole fruits and vegetables, salmon, trail mix with nuts and dried fruits, eggs, and plain low-fat yogurt. Even water counts.

The limits on added sugar, sodium, and saturated fat vary for different food types. A 2/3 cup of yogurt, for example, can have at most 2.5 grams of added sugar, 230 milligrams of sodium, and 2 grams of saturated fat.

“As registered dietitians, we’ve always been saying: Cut the salt, skip the sugar, trim the saturated fat,” Gill said.

Previously, foods had to stay below certain limits for total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and dietary cholesterol. The new label now only limits saturated fats, sodium, and added sugar.

This change instead recommends unsaturated fat—such as salmon, avocados, nuts, seeds, and 100% olive oils—to qualify for the “healthy” claim. Current evidence suggests that unsaturated fats offer heart health benefits, especially when used in place of saturated fat sources.

FDA Wants a ‘Healthy’ Symbol for Food Packages

The FDA wants to develop a symbol that food manufacturers could use on items that meet the “healthy” criteria.

“Symbols may be particularly helpful for those who are less familiar with nutrition information to identify foods that can be the foundation of a healthy eating pattern,” an FDA spokesperson said.

Other countries already do this. The United Kingdom uses a traffic-light style system to indicate if foods have high (red), medium (amber), or low (green) amounts of salt, sugar, and fat. Australia and New Zealand use an image featuring one-half to 5 stars to grade the food’s overall nutritional quality.

Will The New Healthy Claim Lead to Healthier Diets?

In recent years, nutrition science has started prioritizing a person’s overall dietary pattern instead of the consumption of individual nutrients, like calcium or vitamin A. This idea is reflected in the most recent Dietary Guidelines and the FDA’s new definition of “healthy.”

“We know that it’s not a single food that makes or breaks your diet, but it’s your overall way of eating, consistently, that really impacts your health,” Hingle said.

However, most Americans don’t follow the Dietary Guidelines’ recommendations. By updating the “healthy” definition, the FDA hopes to make it easier for consumers to find healthy foods on grocery store shelves, encourage nutritious eating patterns, and reduce the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.

“It might serve to push food manufacturers to reformulate some products to meet the stricter standards. So in that case, we would all benefit, because the overall food supply would be a better nutrition quality,” Hingle said.

But, if you start seeing the words healthy, healthier, or healthfulness pop up on more food packages, keep in mind that nutrition and health recommendations are not always appropriate for every person’s unique needs.

“It’s all very individualized, what health means and what kind of foods are contributing to people’s health, even though we have these general guidelines. So it’s always good to kind of think about yourself in the context of the recommendations,” she said.