Alicia M Prater, Contributing writer Maintaining a healthy diet
is an important part of heart disease prevention. The American
Heart Association created the heart-check mark as a means to
certify foods and extend a stamp of approval to healthier
choices on the grocery store shelves. Products with the mark
must pass the group's criteria for saturated fat and
cholesterol. In order to receive AHA certification, a food
manufacturer must supply the dietary and nutrition information
for the product. If the levels are close to the cutoff criteria,
the American Heart Association conducts its own lab testing to
verify that the product's nutritional content. There are three
kinds of certification that can be obtained, each based on the
nutrition content of a single serving size, as determined by the
manufacturer. The first level is standard certification. To be
granted this certification, products must contain 3 g or less of
total fat, 1 g or less of saturated fat, less than 0.5 g of
trans fat, 20 mg or less of cholest