healthy

It is sometimes argued that healthy should be used only to describe a living being in good health, and that healthful is the word for such things as habits or foods promoting good health. There is nothing wrong with observing this distinction, but there is also nothing wrong with using healthy as a synonym for healthful, as reputable writers have been doing for centuries. Indeed, this usage received federal sanction in 1995, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration issued regulations governing the ways healthy may be used on labels to describe food products.