diff --git a/api/types/container/health.go b/api/types/container/health.go
index 59ff576998..96e91cc8d8 100644
--- a/api/types/container/health.go
+++ b/api/types/container/health.go
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
 package container
 
-import "time"
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+)
 
 // HealthStatus is a string representation of the container's health.
 //
@@ -29,3 +33,18 @@ type HealthcheckResult struct {
 	ExitCode int       // ExitCode meanings: 0=healthy, 1=unhealthy, 2=reserved (considered unhealthy), else=error running probe
 	Output   string    // Output from last check
 }
+
+var validHealths = []string{
+	NoHealthcheck, Starting, Healthy, Unhealthy,
+}
+
+// ValidateHealthStatus checks if the provided string is a valid
+// container [HealthStatus].
+func ValidateHealthStatus(s HealthStatus) error {
+	switch s {
+	case NoHealthcheck, Starting, Healthy, Unhealthy:
+		return nil
+	default:
+		return errInvalidParameter{error: fmt.Errorf("invalid value for health (%s): must be one of %s", s, strings.Join(validHealths, ", "))}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/api/types/container/health_test.go b/api/types/container/health_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dbd1cb96b9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/types/container/health_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+package container
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"gotest.tools/v3/assert"
+)
+
+func TestValidateHealthStatus(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		health      HealthStatus
+		expectedErr string
+	}{
+		{health: Healthy},
+		{health: Unhealthy},
+		{health: Starting},
+		{health: NoHealthcheck},
+		{health: "invalid-health-string", expectedErr: `invalid value for health (invalid-health-string): must be one of none, starting, healthy, unhealthy`},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(tc.health, func(t *testing.T) {
+			err := ValidateHealthStatus(tc.health)
+			if tc.expectedErr == "" {
+				assert.NilError(t, err)
+			} else {
+				assert.Error(t, err, tc.expectedErr)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/container/state.go b/container/state.go
index 9493dfcf48..d2cc536e17 100644
--- a/container/state.go
+++ b/container/state.go
@@ -102,13 +102,10 @@ func (s *State) String() string {
 
 // IsValidHealthString checks if the provided string is a valid
 // [container.HealthStatus].
-func IsValidHealthString(s container.HealthStatus) bool {
-	switch s {
-	case container.NoHealthcheck, container.Starting, container.Healthy, container.Unhealthy:
-		return true
-	default:
-		return false
-	}
+//
+// Deprecated: use [container.ValidateHealthStatus] and check for nil-errors.
+func IsValidHealthString(s string) bool {
+	return container.ValidateHealthStatus(s) == nil
 }
 
 // StateString returns a single string to describe state
diff --git a/container/state_test.go b/container/state_test.go
index e5d3515462..42825f68fd 100644
--- a/container/state_test.go
+++ b/container/state_test.go
@@ -9,28 +9,6 @@ import (
 	libcontainerdtypes "github.com/docker/docker/libcontainerd/types"
 )
 
-func TestIsValidHealthString(t *testing.T) {
-	tests := []struct {
-		health   container.HealthStatus
-		expected bool
-	}{
-		{health: container.Healthy, expected: true},
-		{health: container.Unhealthy, expected: true},
-		{health: container.Starting, expected: true},
-		{health: container.NoHealthcheck, expected: true},
-		{health: "fail", expected: false},
-	}
-
-	for _, tc := range tests {
-		t.Run(tc.health, func(t *testing.T) {
-			v := IsValidHealthString(tc.health)
-			if v != tc.expected {
-				t.Fatalf("Expected %t, but got %t", tc.expected, v)
-			}
-		})
-	}
-}
-
 type mockTask struct {
 	libcontainerdtypes.Task
 	pid uint32
diff --git a/daemon/list.go b/daemon/list.go
index 00373dd9aa..251c17b409 100644
--- a/daemon/list.go
+++ b/daemon/list.go
@@ -297,10 +297,9 @@ func (daemon *Daemon) foldFilter(ctx context.Context, view *container.View, conf
 	}
 
 	err = psFilters.WalkValues("health", func(value string) error {
-		if !container.IsValidHealthString(value) {
-			return errdefs.InvalidParameter(fmt.Errorf("unrecognized filter value for health: %s", value))
+		if err := containertypes.ValidateHealthStatus(value); err != nil {
+			return errdefs.InvalidParameter(fmt.Errorf("invalid filter 'health=%s': %w", value, err))
 		}
-
 		return nil
 	})
 	if err != nil {