No More Hidden Sugar: FDA Proposes New Label Rule
Sixty-five grams of added sugar. That's how much you'll find in a 20-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola.
But can you picture 65 grams? It's about 16 teaspoons worth of the sweet stuff.
The Food and Drug Administration wants to make it easier for Americans to track how much added sugars we're getting in the foods and beverages we choose.
So, in addition to a proposed requirement to list amounts of added sugars on the Nutrition Facts panels, the FDA is now proposing that companies declare a daily percent value, too.
What this means is that, instead of just listing the 65 grams of added sugar in that Coke, soda companies would be required to list that it represents 130 percent of the recommended daily intake. In other words, that one bottle contains more added sugar than you should be eating in an entire day.
The percent value would be based on the recommendation that added sugars should not exceed 10 percent of total calories. In a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, that works out to a daily maximum of about 12 teaspoons.
Left: The current Nutrition Facts panel on foods. Right: The label changes that the FDA proposed in 2014 would list added sugars. Now the FDA wants the label to list the percent daily value, too.
Added sugars include all the sweeteners that food companies put into their products. That limit does not include sugar from fruits and other foods that are naturally sweet.
In announcing the new proposal, the FDA says it has a responsibility to give Americans the information they need to make informed decisions.
"For the past decade, consumers have been advised to reduce their intake of added sugars, and the proposed percent daily value for added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label is intended to help consumers follow that advice," wrote Susan Mayne, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, in a release announcing the proposal.
When sugar is added to foods and beverages to sweeten them up, it adds lots of calories without providing nutrients.
And as we've reported, over the last several year, evidence has been mounting that consuming too much sugar can increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
The FDA proposal expands on changes recommended in 2014, when the FDA laid out a template for a new overhauled Nutrition Fact panel.
The FDA will take public comment on the new proposal for 75 days, and the agency says it "will consider comments on the original and this supplemental proposed rule before issuing a final rule."
It's likely the agency will hear from food companies. The Sugar Association has already weighed in, questioning whether the move to limit added sugars to no more than 10 percent of daily calories is backed by adequate science.
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Transcript
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
We all know that we should be cutting back on sugar, but it's hard to do - not just in terms of willpower, but knowing how much sugar our foods actually contain. The Food and Drug Administration has proposed a change to the way sugar is labeled. As NPR's Allison Aubrey reports, the new nutrition facts label would make it easier for people to track their sugar intake.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: It's pretty hot this time of year in the nation's capital, and when I met David Brownback, who was visiting from Stonington, Ill., he was looking for something to quench his thirst. He's not a big fan of water, so his daily beverages of choice....
DAVID BROWNBACK: Pepsi or Sprite. Usually I get one first when I get up. I just like the taste of it.
AUBREY: And he says he drinks a lot of them every day.
BROWNBACK: At least six or seven of them.
AUBREY: Six or seven sodas.
BROWNBACK: Correct.
AUBREY: Have you heard the advice to cut back on sugar?
BROWNBACK: Every day.
AUBREY: What do you make of that?
BROWNBACK: I really don't care right now. Usually when I want one, I'm going to get one.
AUBREY: Like David, many Americans don't pay much attention to how much sugar they consume. But if you are someone who look at nutrition labels, you might, well, be confused. Here's Jim O'Hara. He's director of Health Promotion Policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
O'HARA: The current nutrient text label is very confusing when it comes to sugar. A consumer looks at it and sees grams, and most consumers don't know what that means.
AUBREY: For instance, a 20-ounce bottle of soda is listed as having 65 grams of sugar. But it's hard to picture how much that it is. It's also hard to know whether that 65 grams is more or less than we should be aiming for in a day. We'll get to that in a moment. But to address this, the Food and Drug Administration has proposed a change to the food label. In addition to requiring companies to list grams of added sugar on food and beverage labels, they would also need to declare what percentage it is of the recommended daily limit.
O'HARA: The proposed label will tell them that that 65 grams is 130 percent of the added sugar they should consume each day.
AUBREY: In other words, it's more than what they're supposed to be taking in.
O'HARA: Way more than what they should have.
AUBREY: That daily limit is based on the premise that we should be getting no more than 10 percent of our total calories from added sugars. These include all the sweeteners that food companies put into their products. That limit does not include sugar from fruits and other foods, which are naturally sweet. In announcing the new proposal today, the FDA says it has a responsibility to give Americans the information they need to make informed decisions. And the agency pointed to a growing body of evidence, linking excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened foods and beverages to a higher risk of disease. David Ludwig, of Boston Children's Hospital, says multiple studies have now shown that if you overwhelm the body with added sugars found in sweetened drinks and foods, there can be serious consequences.
DAVID LUDWIG: Every time we consume a sugary drink, blood sugar rises rapidly and that places stress on the insulin-producing cells in the body. And that stress could push those cells over the edge and ultimately lead to Type 2 diabetes.
AUBREY: The FDA says it's seeking public comment on the new sugar label for the next 75 days, and it's likely the agency will hear from food companies. The Sugar Association has already weighed in, questioning whether the move to limit added sugars to no more than 10 percent of our daily calories is backed by adequate science. Allison Aubrey, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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