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FDA Joins War On Obesity
Obesity Working Group Issues Report Urging More,
Better Consumer Information
March 12, 2004 - A Food and Drug Administration
report was issued today that calls for strengthening food labeling,
educating consumers about healthy diet and weight, and encouraging
restaurants to provide calorie and nutrition information.
HHS Secretary Tommy G.
Thompson released the
report as another element in HHS' comprehensive strategy for
combating the epidemic of obesity that threatens the health of
millions of Americans.
The report by FDA's Obesity Working Group also recommends increasing
enforcement to ensure food labels accurately portray serving size,
revising and reissuing guidance on developing obesity drugs and
strengthening coordinated scientific research to reduce obesity and
to develop foods that are healthier and low in calories.
"Counting calories is critical for people trying to achieve and
maintain a healthy weight," Secretary Thompson said. "This new
report highlights FDA's overall strategy for getting consumers
accurate, helpful information that allows them to make wise food
choices at home, at supermarkets and in restaurants. Taking small
steps to eat a more balanced diet and to stay physically active can
go a long way to reversing the epidemic of obesity that harms far
too many Americans."
The FDA report comes on the heels of a new study from HHS'
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that shows poor
diet and inactivity are poised to become the leading preventable
cause of death among Americans -- causing an estimated 400,000
deaths in 2000. CDC estimates that 64 percent of all Americans are
overweight, including more than 30 percent who are considered obese.
About 15 percent of children and adolescents, aged 6 to 19, are
overweight -- almost double the rate of two decades ago.
Secretary Thompson on Tuesday unveiled a new national education
campaign to encourage Americans to take small steps to fight obesity
and a new obesity research strategy at the National Institutes of
Health. Today's report builds on those initiatives by highlighting
actions that FDA, which regulates many foods and their labels, can
take to enable consumers to make smart choices about their diet and
maintain a healthy weight.
"Our report concludes that there is no substitute for the simple
formula that 'calories in must equal calories out' in order to
control weight," said FDA Deputy Commissioner Lester M. Crawford,
D.V.M., Ph.D. "We're going back to basics, designing a comprehensive
effort to attack obesity through an aggressive, science-based,
consumer-friendly program with the simple message that 'Calories
Count.'"
The report's recommendations include:
-- Evaluating how the "Nutrition Facts" panel on food labels can
be revised to highlight the critical role calories play in
consumers' diets -- such as increasing type size and adding a column
to list quantitative amounts of calories as a Percent Daily Value
for the entire package. The report recommends FDA issue an advance
notice of proposed rulemaking to gain public input on approaches to
effectively revise food labels.
-- Considering the authorization of health claims on certain
foods that meet FDA's definition of "reduced" or "low" calorie. An
example of such a health claim might be: "Diets low in calories may
reduce the risk of obesity, which is associated with type 2
diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers." The report recommends
an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to obtain public input on
the approach.
-- Encouraging manufacturers to use dietary guidance statements,
such as, "To manage your weight, balance the calories you eat with
your physical activity; have a carrot, not the carrot cake; or have
cherry yogurt, not cherry pie."
-- Defining such terms as "low," "reduced," or "free"
carbohydrates, as well as providing guidance for the use of the term
"net" in relation to carbohydrate content of food, in light of
increasing consumer interest in low carbohydrate diets and in
response to petitions asking FDA to define these terms.
-- Focusing FDA's consumer education strategy on influencing
behavior and promoting healthy eating choices with the basic message
that "Calories Count." FDA will work with private and public sector
partners, including youth-oriented organizations, to give consumers
a better understanding of the food label and how to use it to make
healthier food choices.
-- Encouraging the restaurant industry to launch a national,
voluntary effort to include nutritional information for consumers at
the point of sale. Such information would help consumers make
healthier and lower-calorie choices outside the home, where
Americans now spend nearly half their total food budget. The report
recommends that FDA seek restaurants to participate in a pilot
program to study effective options for simple, voluntary,
standardized nutritional information at the point of sale in
restaurants.
-- Increasing FDA's focus on enforcing accurate serving size
declarations on food labels and advising manufacturers when the
agency identifies apparent errors in declared serving sizes. FDA is
issuing a letter to encourage the food industry to review its
nutrition information and ensure that the serving size declared is
appropriate for the food product in question.
-- Revising and reissuing FDA's 1996 draft Guidance for the
Clinical Evaluation of Weight-Control Drugs. This action item
reflects the fact that some obese and extremely obese individuals
are likely to need medical intervention to reduce weight and
mitigate associated diseases and other adverse health effects. FDA
would issue this revised guidance for public comment.
-- Strengthening the coordination of research into obesity and
the development of foods that are healthier and lower in calories
with other HHS agencies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and
other public and private sector partners. Specific target areas
include research related to information to facilitate consumers'
weight management decisions; the relationship between overweight and
obesity and food consumption patterns; incentives for product
reformulation; the potential for FDA-regulated products to
contribute unintentionally to weight gain; and the extension of
basic research findings to the regulatory environment.
The full report from the FDA's obesity working group is available
at
http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/obesity/. More information
about HHS' new anti-obesity campaign and NIH's obesity research
agenda is available at
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040309.html.
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