Humankind faces two crises: global warming and global bloat, the latter also known as the "obesity crisis." At least in the English speaking world, the fight against obesity will not succeed if health educators and journalists fail to discern between "healthy" (meaning "in good health") and "healthful" (meaning "conducive to good health")
You may remember the 2004 U.S. movie "Supersize Me," a documentary in which the filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock, eats only at McDonalds restaurants for a month. If you are unfamiliar with this film, the web link www.imdb.com/title/tt0390521/ provides a synopsis. Several times in the film, Mr. Spurlock holds up a Big Mac or other McDonalds' product just before consuming it.
The knowledgeable among us, who differentiate between "healthy" and "healthful," understand that Mr. Spurlock displays the products before imbibing them to emphasize that they are "healthy" looking ( i.e., in good health), although "unhealthful" (not conducive to good health) to eat. No one would eat an unhealthy Big Mac (e.g., one that was undercooked or moldy) or eat unhealthy looking McDonald's fries ( e.g. ones that were soggy rather than crisp).
However, this film's less enlightened viewers (i.e., those unaware of the distinction between "healthy" and "healthful") would instead observe Mr. Spurlock's display of "healthy" looking McDonald's products which are "unhealthy" (rather than "unhealthful") to eat. For these unfortunates and for an equally unfortunate segment of the general population, McDonalds' products will remain, at least in some sense, both "healthy" and "unhealthy." Such cognitive confusion makes this population segment much more likely to succumb to McDonalds and other similarly odious vendors' products. This population segment will continue to grow in both number and girth (and health in English-speaking countries will continue to deteriorate) if journalists and educators, the stalwarts of public enlightenment, fail as stalwarts of the distinction between "healthy" and "healthful."
Admittedly, "healthy" and "healthier" require fewer printed letters than "healthful" and "more healthful," but this extra typographical effort is critical to the health of the world's English-speaking population.
