FDA will define “healthy” based on up-to-date nutrition criteria, requiring it to be clearly displayed on food packages. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said he even considered putting in place a standard icon or symbol for the word “healthy” that’s featured on food items. | Kathy Young/AP Photo Trump’s FDA presses Obama-era nutrition policy The FDA pushes ahead on cutting salt in food as well as what food is considered ‘healthy.’

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb pledged Thursday to advance salt reduction goals across the food supply — a step that builds on the Obama administration’s healthy eating agenda but runs counter to President Donald Trump’s deregulatory push.

“There remains no single more effective public health action related to nutrition than the reduction of sodium in the diet,” Gottlieb said during a sweeping speech on the administration’s nutrition agenda at a Consumer Federation of America conference in Washington.


The Obama administration unveiled draft voluntary reduction targets in 2016, which were delayed by years in part because of intense industry opposition. At the time, FDA outlined goals to cut back on salt in nearly 150 food categories like frozen pizza, snack foods and canned olives.

Many food makers argue salt is a crucial ingredient for not just flavor, but also for food safety and shelf life. The food industry had broadly hoped the Trump administration would halt the Obama administration’s moves.

Some scientists have also questioned whether Americans need to cut back on salt intake, citing recent studies questioning the current health advice.

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But public health advocates have repeatedly urged FDA to do more to push for large-scale reductions of sodium across the industry, saying that doing so could save thousands of lives and stave off billions in health care costs. Eating too much sodium is associated with high blood pressure, as well as increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Americans are consuming an estimated 3,400 milligrams of sodium per day, even though the government currently recommends limiting consumption to 2,300 milligrams per day.

Salt makers immediately opposed the FDA's sodium initiative, stating that by moving forward on reductions the agency has "disregarded recent scientific evidence, as well as the direction of Congress and the White House."

"The FDA’s actions are some of the most intrusive actions ever taken on industry — essentially recommending recipe content for almost every food manufactured in the U.S.," said President Lori Roman of the Salt Institute, which represents salt companies, in a statement.

FDA has also not been shy about locking in other major pieces of the previous administration’s nutrition agenda —albeit after some delays. Those actions include a requirement to post calories on restaurant menus and a new update to the Nutrition Facts labels that grace billions of food packages.

The agency has plowed ahead in trying to get Americans to eat healthier as the obesity and diabetes epidemics continue to worsen.

"I feel strongly that FDA can do more to assist the American public with creating healthier diets for themselves and their families," Gottlieb said to the consumer group’s gathering, as he unveiled the agency’s new nutrition strategy.

The food industry has tried to push back on a number of FDA’s policies, but the agency’s sodium reduction effort a particularly thorny issue. After lobbying by food companies, the most recent appropriations bill included language that told FDA to not advance its work on sodium until the National Academy of Medicine had finished reviewing the latest sodium science. That effort will update what’s called Dietary Reference Intakes, known as DRIs, which are a crucial part of the scientific basis for federal nutrition advice and labeling. That review is supposed to be done January 2019.

On Thursday, Gottlieb said the FDA would update its short-term sodium targets in 2019, which signaled the agency would comply with the letter of the spending bill language, but act soon after. The targets are voluntary, but put considerable pressure on food companies to cut back on salt over time.

Gottlieb said he would also direct the agency to continue to discuss longer-term reduction efforts.

The fact that FDA is boldly stating it’s pressing forward with sodium reduction will come as a surprise to many industry leaders and even public health advocates who had feared the Trump administration would weaken the government's approach to nutrition.

FDA has already moved ahead on a rule mandating calorie counts be posted on menus at restaurants and grocery stores across the United States. After years of delay and angry protests, — especially from convenience stores and pizza chains — that requirement will take effect in May.

The agency has also decided to keep the Nutrition Facts update that former first lady Michelle Obama championed, though the deadline for complying has been delayed by 18 months. Large food companies will start having to using the new labels, which for the first time mandate the disclosure of added sugars and use a much bigger font for calories, in January 2020. Thousands of products — from Pepsi to Girl Scout cookies — are already using the updated format.

Gottlieb said the agency also planned to modernize health claims on labels that reflect the latest nutrition science and encourage food companies to offer innovative products.

FDA will define “healthy” based on up-to-date nutrition criteria, requiring it to be clearly displayed on food packages. Gottlieb said he even considered putting in place a standard icon or symbol for the word “healthy” that’s featured on food items.

Ingredients lists on food packages will be made more readable and understandable for consumers, Gottlieb said. Details about that change are unclear, but he used as an example that “vitamin B6” should be substituted for “pyridoxine” and “vitamin B12” should be used for “cyanocobalamin” — implying that consumers are more apt to select products with recognizably healthy ingredients such as vitamins.

Increasing access to healthy food and improving consumers’ understanding of good nutrition and its effect on health are key to fixing problems like chronic illness and all its related costs, he said.

“These are complex problems. But the complexity isn’t an excuse for letting them persist.”

Marion Nestle, a professor specializing in nutrition and food politics at New York University, lauded the tone of the speech, calling its focus on prevention “revolutionary,” but she hinted that she remained skeptical about how far FDA will go.

“Gottlieb’s words reflect modern public health thinking and it’s great that FDA is considering taking these actions,” Nestle said. “I’m interested to see what the FDA actually does.”

