Report Says Congress Needs Better Science Analysis

The new Nutrition Labeling and Education Act does a lot more than require better labels. Framers of the act envisioned labeling so clear and informative that consumers could use it to help plan their total diets, not just learn isolated facts about a particular food. By creating such labels, food researchers say, scientists would get the chance to improve the country's eating habits. "Look at the name of the act," says Food and Drug Administration division of nutrition head John Vanderveen. "It's nutrition labeling and education. That means we need to tackle nutrition education research. "How can labeling help people eat better? We've talked about that, but nobody knows who's going to pose the real questions there and how they're going to get good answers." Sanford A. Miller, dean of the graduate school of biomedical sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, adds: "Research on ...