Does Healthy Fat Equal Healthy Food?

Nothing relating to food regulation surprises me anymore. The latest in a series of decisions by the FDA will most certainly provide a mixed signal to consumers about "healthy" eating. Frito-Lay (a unit of PepsiCo) will now be able to claim that their products with unsaturated fat can curb the risk of heart disease. That's certainly a true statement, and unsaturated fat (replacing trans fats and saturated fats in foods) is a big plus when it comes to choosing a healthy fat.

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But I have some major concerns with this recent ruling, which covers products ranging from salad dressings, to crackers, to vegetable oils. Any food containing 80% or more unsaturated fat as part of the total product's fat content can carry the label "replacing saturated fat with similar amounts of unsaturated fats may reduce the risk of heart disease. To achieve this benefit, total daily calories should not increase".

While I appreciate the clarification at the end - calories count - I am concerned that as consumers, we will continue to focus on the idea that heart healthy fat counts as a healthy food, and that portion control is not an integral part of that equation. For so many people, it's good enough that a healtheir choice was made. A typical response I often hear is "I've made a healthy choice, isn't that good enough?". In the perfect world, that would be true. But calories count, and we cannot confuse the concept of healthy fat as always being a healthy food - our waistlines often feel the consequences.

When a healthy fat (no matter what food it's in) goes hand in hand with portion control, that's what I call a healthy food choice.

What about you? Do you eat more when you see the "heart healthy" label?