Food labeled as "natural" isn’t necessarily healthy! According to the August, 2008 issue of Tufts University Nutrition and Health Letter, Americans spend 13 billion dollars per year on foods labeled as "natural." While the word "natural" sounds like it might mean that the food is better for you, that isn’t necessarily the case.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets standards for the nutrition information and health claims that can be made on a food label. Yet, it's still easy for some claims to be confusing.

The three terms that many people are confused about are "natural," "healthy" and "organic." Each of these words have different and specific meanings. For a food to be labeled as "healthy," it must meet certain criteria for the amount of fat, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium and have specific minimum amounts of vitamins, minerals or other beneficial nutrients.

If a food is labeled as "organic," it must meet standards set by the United States Department of Agriculture in the way the food is grown or produced.

When a food is labeled as "natural," it means that the product doesn't contain any synthetic or artificial ingredients or is minimally processed. The food label should explain how they are using terms such as "no added colorings" or "no added artificial ingredients" along with the "natural" claim. For example: a bag of fried snack chips could contain the term "natural" on the bag if the manufacturer added no artificial ingredients, but could still be loaded with fat, calories and sodium!