Better diets with AHA Heart-Check certifiable foods

March 31st, 2014

People who regularly choose foods that meet the criteria for the American Heart Association Heart-Check Programme (AHA HCP), have diets with a higher nutritional quality,  and a higher intake of healthy food groups and nutrients. At the same time, they have a lower prevalence of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. This was the conclusion of an epidemiological study among 11,296 men and women using data from the NHANES 2007–2010 study.

Those consuming more AHA HCP-certifiable foods had a higher intake of fruit, vegetable, whole-grain, total sugar, fiber, potassium, calcium, and vitamin D. Also, their diet contained less saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, added sugars, alcohol, cholesterol and sodium. Participants with the highest daily energy intake from the AHA HCP-certifiable foods had a lower risk of obesity (26%), elevated waist circumference (29%), and metabolic syndrome (24%) compared to those with the lowest intake.

The AHA HCP is a front of pack labelling programme, designed to help Americans identify heart-healthy food choices on the basis of saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, total fat, whole-grain, sugar, sodium, omega-3 fatty acid, and dietary fiber contents. As are the Choices criteria, the AHA-HCP nutritional guidelines are category specific.

Source: Lichtenstein AH et al. (2014) Food-intake patterns assessed by using front-of-pack labeling program criteria associated with better diet quality and lower cardiometabolic risk. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 99, 454–62.

Halting the (Youth) Obesity Epidemic

February 12th, 2014

A Dutch delegation with members of public and private partners from the food industry and retailers visited Philadelphia and New York between 14 -18 October to learn how healthy eating and active living are promoted.

Marc Jansen, director of the Dutch Food Retail Association, and actively involved with the board of Choices Netherlands, gave an introduction about Choices to the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. Marc Jansen stated that “The so-called food deserts in the United States are worrying. The more difficult it is to access healthy foods, whether from a supermarket or corner store, the less likely it is that you will have a balanced diet. In the Netherlands it is much easier to make healthy choices. We have over 6500 products bearing a healthy food logo in the Netherlands. We really encourage the food industry to develop healthy innovations and help consumers to easily identify and select healthier options.”

Dutch Choices Logo in Food Navigator’s Top Stories 2013

February 12th, 2014

The daily news service Food Navigator, that provides stories and data on developments related to food and beverage in Europe, recently published its top stories of 2013. This includes a short segment on the Dutch Choices logo known as “het Vinkje” that has received authorisation as the first health logo to gain EU and member state support. Having been passed in to the Dutch Food Nutrition Information Decree, this could become a precedent for other European countries and help further the healthy choice movement in Europe and beyond.