“The vast majority of what we do woudl be eliminated if people fix their diet,” says cardiologist Kim Allan Williams Sr.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC), with a new concise clinical guidance document, has thrown its support behind putting nutrition labels on the front of food packaging to help consumers make better, heart-healthy choices and, in turn, drive down the burden of chronic diseases like CVD.
The idea is that front-of-package labeling will contain data in an easy-to-understand format about the content of specific nutrients-like saturated fat, added sugar, and sodium-that should be limited. In some countries that have adopted this approach, the labels use a graphical “traffic light” system with three or five colors to simplify interpretation.
The authors of the ACC document, published online last week in JACC, say the goal is to highlight a select number of critical nutrients, typically three to five, on the front of food packages, based on evidence indicating that simpler designs are more impactful. These labels would be complementary to,and not in place of,the more detailed nutrition facts found elsewhere on packages.
In January, the US Food and Drug Management proposed adding front-of-package nutrition information to food labels, reflecting the percentages of saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar, even though the rule has not yet been finalized following a public comment period that ran through July 15.
Those three nutrients create an “epidemic amount of coronary heart disease and heart failure, and cardiovascular diseases in general, in this country,” Kim Allan Williams Sr, MD (University of Louisville, KY), chair of the writing commitee of the new ACC guidance and a past president of the college, told TCTMD. “The vast majority of what we do would be eliminated if people fix their diet.”
Poor diet has been linked to various chronic diseases, with a disproportionate burden felt by individuals from racial/ethnic minority groups and those with low socioeconomic status.
A healthy dietary pattern low in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, added sugars, and ultraprocessed foods, conversely, has been associated with lower risks of obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. Morbidity and mortality are both lower when people consume diets rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fiber, and unsaturated fats.
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