Hello!
The above characteristics are for output voltage, and the current is the test condition.
Of course, the safest solution is to use some kind of buffering system, transistor or fet,
which will guarantee that the low and high levels of the ports are not significantly altered.
But depending on what you do, for instance for a very low cost applications, powering a
LED directly from one port is not a problem at all. I do it frequently and it works fine.
I did a development with 5 LEDs powered directly by a port and it worked fine. Note that
recent LEDs have a very high efficiency and even if you power them at 1 mA, they are
bright enough.
So basically it depends on what you want to do. If it's for a LED blinker on TI's launchpad,
don't hesitate, and use an LED directly with the proper resistor. If what you are building is
scheduled to be a product, then you have to be more careful.
Dora.