Scientists call on Price, FDA to keep Nutrition Facts deadline

More than 40 scientists and researchers from across the country are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to maintain the July 2018 compliance date for the updated Nutrition Facts label.

Food industry trade groups have mounted a lobbying campaign to delay the label until May 2021.

“Americans consume added sugars, especially sugar-sweetened beverages, in amounts that are linked to a higher risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity, tooth decay, and nutrient-poor diets,” the scientists and researchers wrote to Price and Gottlieb.  “The new Nutrition Facts labels would also tell consumers how much of a day’s worth of added sugars a serving of food contains.”

The updated label is important, they wrote, because it will better allow consumers to follow the advice of leading health authorities, including the government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans: “Without those labels, consumers cannot follow advice from the government’s own Dietary Guidelines for Americans, American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and other health authorities to cut back on added sugars.”

The letter by the scientists and researchers comes on the heels of a letter to Price from a number of leading public health and consumer advocacy groups in February.

Those 29 signatories said: “Any delay in the compliance deadline deals a blow to the health of our nation, especially to vulnerable populations that disproportionally suffer from obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and tooth decay—chronic diseases associated with the overconsumption of added sugars.”