Princeton, N.J.—In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed updates to the Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods and bottled beverages and opened a public comment period that closed on August 1. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), submitted comments.

In her comments, Lavizzo-Mourey said that RWJF “strongly supports many of the proposed changes to the Nutrition Facts panel and serving size information,” calling the proposed revisions—such as a line for added sugars, revised serving sizes, and format revisions that feature calories more prominently—“both timely and helpful to consumers as they endeavor to choose a healthy diet.”

Lavizzo-Mourey also suggested additional steps FDA could take to make the label even stronger, such as a daily value for added sugars, a daily value number and percentage for calories, and producing a complementary, evidence-based, Front-of-Package labeling system.

“With more than two-thirds of adults and more than one-third of children and adolescents ages 6 to 19 considered overweight or obese,” wrote Lavizzo-Mourey,  “updated and consumer-friendly nutrition facts labels and serving sizes are an important step in creating an overall Culture of Health that helps all Americans be proactive in making food choices that lead to a healthy lifestyle.”