New FDA food label initiatives aim to combat diet-related chronic disease by improving nutritional decision making
Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-3266
URL goes live when the embargo lifts
New initiatives by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) aim to combat preventable death and disability caused by poor nutrition by making food nutrition labels easier to understand for consumers. A commentary describing recent and proposed upcoming changes to food labeling is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Authors from the FDA describe three important changes to nutrition labels – one already implemented and two proposed – designed to help consumers more easily understand the nutritional contents of the food they consume. The first change, implemented by food manufacturers by 2021, requires the addition of added sugar, vitamin D, and potassium to the Nutrition Facts label. The second change being considered by the FDA is the inclusion of standardized, science-based, front-of-package scheme to complement information on the Nutrition Facts label. The third proposed change is the inclusion of a “healthy” symbol that manufacturers could voluntarily use on product labels to visually communicate that a food meets the “healthy” definition. The authors encourage clinicians to engage with the FDA’s proposed labeling changes, including providing comment on changes that would be most beneficial to their patients.
The authors say clinicians have conversations about dietary choices with their patients and can play a key role in communicating the changes to nutrition labeling. Free continuing medical education programs have been designed to help health care professionals better understand and utilize food labels when counseling their patients.
Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Angela Collom at acollom@acponline.org. To speak with the corresponding author, Haider J. Warraich, MD, please contact FDA’s Office of Media Affairs at FDAOMA@fda.hhs.gov
