GMA puts weight behind obesity fight

The world's largest association of food, beverage and consumer product companies, the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), yesterday highlighted three new initiatives to support national efforts to combat obesity.

The new initiatives will mainly focus on the hot topics of responsible, clear and accurate labeling and advertising of foodstuffs and beverages to both adults and children.

"Obesity has no single cause, and it will have no single solution,"​ said GMA director of scientific and nutrition policy Alison Kretser at the yesterday's meeting of the US Food and Drug Administration's Obesity Working Group in Bethesda, Maryland. "This is an effort in which all stakeholders must be involved. GMA is committed to working with the FDA and others to help find the right solutions for the complex issue of obesity."​

In her comments to the FDA, Kretser stressed that innovation in developing new nutritious foods and beverages would be critical in helping consumers reach their health goals. She added that in order to help consumers make the best choices for their own needs, food companies must be able to communicate the benefits of their products to consumers through labeling, advertising and consumer outreach efforts.

Key initiatives are to be spearheaded by the GMA to improve nutrition information focus on food label nutrient content claims, consumer research about food labels and advertising self-regulation.

These initiatives include plans to submit a citizen's petition in early 2004 to FDA to define what constitutes a 'low-carb' food, and to establish clear guidelines for the use of this nutrient content claim.

The GMA also revealed that it plans to commission consumer research to determine how consumers use the food label for calorie information, how to more effectively communicate the amount of calories in single serving packages and how consumers use reduced-calorie foods as part of their total diet.

Lastly, it is to issue a formal request that the Children's Advertising Review Unit (CARU) publish a white paper explaining its principles, guidelines and decisions applicable to food advertising in order to raise public awareness of its work and mission, and that the National Advertising Review Council expand its monitoring of food and beverage advertising through the National Advertising Division and CARU.

Comenting on the initiatives GMA president and CEO C. Manly Molpus said: "GMA recognizes that the food industry plays an important role in peoples' lives. We firmly believe that the food and beverage industry can make a meaningful contribution to the multitude of efforts to help Americans find ways to eat a nutritionally-balanced diet, to engage in regular physical activity and to balance what they eat with what they do."​

Researchers reported this week that the obesity problem in the US may be even worse than previously thought with the number of severely clinically obese category adults currently growing faster than any other group, quadrupling between 1986 and 2000.

Positive initiatives such as these are therefore a step in the right direction and cannot come too soon. It is not yet clear however if they can make a significant difference to the problem already at crisis stage. Many commentators say that the industry could in fact do much more to support public health.