![]() SUMMERS: So is there a consensus among nutrition and health experts that this is going to help?ĪUBREY: I think there are mixed opinions. So having something, like, healthy that can be on the front of the pack can help consumers make those quick decisions. SUSAN MAYNE: Most consumers will make decisions in a few seconds on whether they're going to purchase a product or not. She's the director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA. Where the agency has landed on this is that a healthy icon could help empower people with helpful information. SUMMERS: So given how tricky and fraught this all can be, how is the Food and Drug Administration approaching this?ĪUBREY: Well, the FDA is really a regulatory agency, and their approach is to kind of go by the science and to listen to, as they like to say, all their stakeholders, which does include the food industry - the companies that market the foods we eat. You know, a lot of health care providers and public health experts say it's really important at this time to both recognize and validate these concerns people have, while, at the same time, helping people understand that our diet - what we eat - does play a significant role of preventing or promoting chronic disease. But all of this just strikes me, Allison, as incredibly complicated.ĪUBREY: Yeah. SUMMERS: Yeah, and those are all really important concerns. I'd say it's also a moment when, culturally, it's become a bit trickier to talk about food and diet, given the pushback on diet culture, on body shaming, and the real guilt and shame people can feel linked to body image. This was a big focus at last week's White House food conference, and the labeling initiative is really part of the administration's new strategy announced at the conference. And this has given that diet-related diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, are a top cause of death. SUMMERS: OK, so why is this happening now?ĪUBREY: You know, the change comes at a time when the Biden administration has prioritized a goal of improving Americans' diets. You know, health-conscious people may be listening to this and saying it's about time. So we put a new healthy icon on foods such as avocados, nuts, seeds, fatty fish like salmon, olive oil. It's widely recognized that some fats are good for us. So, you know, things that passed as healthy or qualified for a healthy claim back in 1994 - like white bread or highly sweetened yogurt or sugary cereals - simply because they were low in fat would no longer be able to have a healthy claim on the packaging.Īnd I'd say the FDA's guidance on this is, you know, overdue. The aim really is to have packaging reflect the current nutrition science, which has really evolved a lot over the last 25 years. The FDA is updating its working definition of healthy as it pertains to food labels, and they're developing a new healthy icon or symbol for food packages. SUMMERS: So, Allison, tell us about these proposed changes.ĪUBREY: Well, there's really two things happening here. Hi there.ĪLLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Hey, Juana - good to be here. NPR's Allison Aubrey joins us now to talk about how the idea of healthy has changed. That was at the height of the fat-free diet boom. The last time the agency defined healthy was back in 1994. What makes a food healthy? It is a complex question, but the Food and Drug Administration aims to help answer it with a new food package labeling system. ![]()
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