Your renal guide to the new food label.
D URING THE November 1995 National Kidney Foundation (NKF) meeting in San Diego, California, Chhaya Patel, MA, RD, then Chairman of the Patient and Public Education Committee, asked me to work with the Committee in developing a brochure or fact sheet that would assist the person with renal disease in making informed choices that were within their diet and specific for their individual needs by using the “new” 1994 Nutrition Facts food label. Subsequent communication with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) professionals showed this to be a “gap” that needed to be addressed. Several formats were developed, and the following Patient Education Fact Sheet was approved: first by the Executive Committee of the Council on Renal Nutrition and then by the NKF Scientific Advisory Committee. The following resource is available through the National Kidney Foundation and appears in the Material Resource catalog. Please call l-800-622-9010 for a copy of the catalog. It is hoped that the fact sheet will also serve as a teaching tool for the professional in breaking down the Nutrition Facts food label into bite-size pieces.