Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, announced a multiyear nutrition strategy Thursday that pursues many Obama-era nutrition goals. He outlined the approach, dubbed the Nutrition Innovation Strategy, in a speech at the annual conference of the Consumer Federation of America in Washington, D.C.
The main focus of the FDA’s strategy will be using preventive efforts like education and labeling to help consumers make healthier dietary decisions. Over the long run, the goal would be to reduce the consumption of sodium, sugar, and saturated fat and ultimately lower the incidence of diet-related illnesses.
Gottlieb referenced earlier efforts by the FDA to address public health issues, including its work to reduce smoking rates in order to avoid preventable deaths from smoking-related cancers. “Improving the nutrition and diet of Americans would be another transformative effort toward reducing the burden of many chronic diseases,” he said, “ranging from diabetes to cancer to heart disease.” Throughout his speech, Gottlieb emphasized the disproportionate effect that those diet-related illnesses have on lower-income consumers, who “don’t have the same opportunities to access” healthier food options.
The FDA, which regulates 80 percent of the nation’s food supply, will work with the food industry to reformulate products to reduce added sugars and fats, said Gottlieb. The agency’s goal, he said, is to “maintain the basic nature and nutritional integrity of products while allowing industry flexibility for innovation.”
While Gottlieb’s speech was mostly an overview, he articulated some specific steps the agency will take in its Nutrition Innovation Strategy. There will be a public meeting this summer during which the agency will collect proposals for new nutrition policies that will “protect public health while removing barriers to innovation.” He noted that both consumer groups and industry have asked the FDA to define the “natural” label, and said the agency will “have much more to say on this issue very soon.”
The commissioner also discussed a timeline for finalizing the draft guidance on menu labeling, which was published in November. By May 7, he said, “consumers can walk into these covered eating establishments across the country and know at a glance how many calories are in the foods they order for themselves and their kids.” He also noted that the FDA is “taking final steps on the new Nutrition Facts label — the first overhaul in more than 20 years.”
The food industry had banked on the Trump administration’s deregulatory approach to nix the menu-labeling requirement, which was initially announced during the Obama administration.
Gottlieb repeatedly emphasized that nutrition efforts at the FDA were based on the latest science and that “science-based claims” were essential to building consumer trust in labeling and helping consumers make informed decisions. The pro-science rhetoric stands at odds with the language used by other agency leaders in the Trump administration, such as the EPA’s Scott Pruitt, who have challenged scientific research.