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FDA delivers workshop on nutrition regulation and science

The FDA hosted a nutrition regulatory science workshop exploring ultra-processed foods and emerging technologies, aiming to spotlight the relationship between nutrition, science, and evidence-based policies.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in partnership with the National Institute of Health (NIH), met between 17 and 18 December 2024 to discuss nutrition laws and the role of science in informing US legislation.

The NIH-FDA Nutrition Regulatory Science Workshop aimed to explore how nutrition science can generate evidence and data to inform food-related policy and regulatory decision-making. It also strived to build additional collaboration between the NIH and the FDA to support research and tackle gaps in nutrition knowledge.

In its statement announcing the workshop, the FDA said it would focus on addressing priority nutrition research gaps. The joint workshop covered various food sector areas, including ultra-processed foods (UPFs), impact analysis and implementation science relating to regulatory actions, and new technological advances that progress nutrition regulatory science.

Progressing food and health laws

The US continues to face high rates of morbidity and mortality from diet-related diseases. In May 2024, researchers exploring the relationship between food policy and health said that in the US, approximately one million people die annually from diet-related chronic diseases.

Rather than slowing down, the prolonged impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are seeing this figure rise. In 2022, research found that almost 127 million Americans aged 20 and over have a type of cardiovascular disease (CVD), amounting to 37.5% of the US population.

Research and guidance by the World Health Organization (WHO) have found that a poor diet is the leading cause of US mortality and is directly associated with malnutrition and chronic diseases, including CVD, type 2 diabetes (T2D), obesity, and some cancers.

The FDA has stated the importance of improving nutrition to change the tide of diet-related chronic disease. Sodium reduction targets, clear food labelling, healthier diets for young children, and tackling toxic elements in food are all focus areas.

In the 2024 policy brief article entitled US food policy to address diet-related chronic disease, researchers found several policy insights relating to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), food insecurity, UPFs, and unsustainable food systems, and relating to food is medicine for CVD and T2D.

Based on their findings, the researchers stated several policy considerations relating to these insights, including SSB taxation, healthy food subsidies for fruit and vegetables, incentivising healthy and environmentally sustainable climate-smart foods, and incentivising food as medicine interventions.

Overcoming “critical research gaps”

The FDA states that while it uses evidence-based approaches to help advance nutrition and support healthier dietary patterns in the US, critical research gaps and limited awareness of research resources related to nutrition regulatory science remain. It acknowledges that the NIH has invested in various nutrition-related initiatives, research resources, and infrastructure that could drive FDA efforts and provide public health support.

“Research supported by NIH and conducted by NIH scientists has informed FDA nutrition and food labelling policies on trans fat, added sugars, sodium, and other topics,” an FDA spokesperson told Ingredients Network.

The FDA and NIH joint workshop aimed to progress the understanding of how the US legal and scientific landscapes can plug these gaps and respond to their effects. “This workshop will highlight key research questions, evidence gaps, and priorities that could inform future food-related policy and regulatory decisions,” the FDA spokesperson said.

The FDA and NIH workshop had three core objectives. Firstly, it sought to identify critical research gaps and research resources linked to nutrition regulatory science. It also strived to understand how NIH can further support and conduct science that can produce evidence and data to inform food-related policies and regulatory decision-making.

In addition, the workshop aimed to highlight how to conduct nutrition science in a way that can inform food-related policy and regulatory decision-making and provide specific examples of how NIH and FDA would work together to support research that addresses priority research gaps.

Bringing together key voices

The virtual workshop was aimed at a target audience of researchers, public health and healthcare groups, advocates, industry, and the wider public. The workshop included various scientific presentations and moderated panel discussions.

“The US FDA has a long history of working with the NIH on nutrition research and other scientific topics,” said FDA’s spokesperson. Recent examples of workshops the two agencies have hosted include exploring multigenerational nutrition influences on health and disease, the science surrounding the safe use of bioactive ingredients in infant formula and bridging the biological and communication sciences on nutrients and environmental contaminants in foods to support child development.

“Working with our federal partners, including those at NIH, we are part of a whole-of-government approach to help reduce the burden of diet-related chronic disease,” the FDA spokesperson added.