To celebrate Exponent's 50th Anniversary, we created a book featuring our most notable projects from the last decade. Below is an example of our work in the Food & Beverage Industry.
Vitamin X: Calculating how best to represent Daily Values on the revised Nutrition Facts Panel.
Food labels in the United States currently feature the Nutrition Facts panel, which displays Daily Values (DVs) based on outdated Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs). The FDA planned to update DVs based on the newer Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs), but controversy surrounded the best method for calculating new DVs from the DRIs.
Fortified foods are a source of several important micronutrients, so changes in the DVs could alter the levels of fortification nutrients manufacturers add to foods. Using the assumption that manufacturers maintain the current percentage of the DVs for fortification nutrients, Exponent modeled intake of eight micronutrients. Using two potential methods for calculating DVs, our team identified potentially lower adequacy of intake of nutrients of concern for children and women of childbearing age under one scenario. Results from Exponent's model helped inform decisions by the FDA to revise the DVs.
300,000 comments supplemented by several consumer studies made publicly available and new scientific recommendations, particularly for added sugars, led to the new final rule which became effective on July 26, 2016. Compliance dates are July 26, 2018 for large manufacturers and July 26, 2019, for small manufacturers.
What's new in the current Nutrition Facts label. In May 2016, the FDA announced the new Nutrition Facts label for packaged foods to reflect new scientific information, including the link between diet and chronic diseases such as obesity and heart disease, making it easier for consumers to make better informed food choices.
The DRI selected as the basis for updated DVs on the Nutrition Facts Panel could affect nutrient intake adequacy as demonstrated by Exponent modeling. The same level of fortification of select micronutrients based on the current percentage of the DV per serving was assumed in the models. In Model 1, the DV corresponds to the population-weighted Estimated Average Requirement (EAR); in Model 2, to the population coverage Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA).
Exponent Inc. published this content on 15 February 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 February 2018 17:10:10 UTC.
Original documenthttps://www.exponent.com/newsevents/announcements/2018/02/vitamin-x
Public permalinkhttp://www.publicnow.com/view/5C6493F3FF7F5C24C9B24B836D6A18F67FC5A7A3
Exponent, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, is a science and engineering consulting firm. The Company serves clients in chemicals, construction, consumer products, energy, food, beverage and nutrition, government, life sciences, insurance, manufacturing, technology, industrial equipment, transportation, and other sectors. It provides engineering and scientific consulting services to clients around the world. Its service offerings are provided on a project- by-project basis. The Company has two segments: Engineering and Other Scientific, and Environmental and Health. The Engineering and Other Scientific segment is a service group providing technical consulting in different practices, primarily in engineering. The Environmental and Health segment provides services in the area of environmental, epidemiology and health risk analysis. This segment provides a range of consulting services relating to environmental hazards and risks and the impact on both human health and the environment.
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