Enhanced Labeling to Promote Consumption of Nutrient Dense Foods and Healthier Diets

Background/Objectives: Efforts are underway worldwide to design and deploy food labeling systems that provide consumers with the information needed to shift dietary patterns toward nutrient dense, healthier foods. Despite a compelling need for progress, worrisome public health trends persist that are rooted in the popularity of unhealthy, heavily processed foods. Methods: The nutrition and health-related content on the packaging of nine common foods sold in the US and Europe is analyzed and compared. The current scope of nutrient-specific messaging is characterized, including messages highlighting health-related benefits stemming from the mix and levels of mostly macronutrients in food products. Results: An average of 6.9 unique nutrition-related messages appear on the packaging of nine US food products, while EU food products contain an average of 5.0. Messaging around the ingredients in food products accounts for the largest share, e.g., "100% whole grain", "Vegan", and "No artificial preservatives". The macronutrients of fat, fiber, cholesterol, salt, sugar, and protein are the focus of most messaging around health benefits. The degree of food processing and essential vitamin, mineral, and phytochemical micronutrients receive little or no attention, despite their importance in positive health outcomes. Conclusions: Current nutrition-related labeling fails to inform consumers of the enormous differences in the contribution of food products in meeting nutritional needs. Existing metrics and rating systems do not effectively account for the critical relationship between nutrient density and caloric content. Existing metrics and systems do not reflect the impacts of processing on food nutritional quality in ways that provide consumers meaningful information. New concepts, metrics, and label elements are described that could promote healthier dietary patterns. Clear and mandatory nutrition labeling could begin shifting market share toward healthier options, and this could trigger and guide changes in manufactured food recipes that make brand-name products healthier, benefiting all consumers.