The Food and Drug Administration proposed Tuesday to put a smaller nutrition label highlighting saturated fat, sodium and added sugar on the front of food packaging.

The FDA wants to focus on those three levels because of their relation to medical conditions Americans suffer due to bad nutrition.

“The U.S. faces an ever-growing epidemic of preventable diet-related chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Improving nutrition offers one of the greatest opportunities for reducing these and other chronic illnesses and premature death,” the FDA said on its website.

The front labels would say whether a product is low, medium or high in sodium, saturated fat or added sugar. Some labels, depending on the size of the packaging, would also include the calories of each serving and how much of the daily recommended percentage of sodium, saturated fat or added sugar a product contains.

For the FDA, 5% or less of the daily recommended percentage of one of the three nutrients is low, 6%-19% is med and 20% or more is high.

The FDA recommends limiting levels of all three nutrients to have a nutritious diet within its recommended daily intake of calories.

As a proposed rule, the front-of-label packaging is open for public comment starting Thursday, when it will be published in the Federal Register, through May 16. After that, the FDA will receive comments before publishing a finalized rule. If front-end labeling is adopted, manufacturers will have three years to put the new labels on their packages, according to CNN.

Some groups approve of the FDA proposal.

“For decades, the Nutrition Facts label has been an essential tool to educate people across the country about the nutritional content of their food and drinks, but high rates of diet-related illnesses continue to show that additional actions are needed to address the confusion and barriers consumers face in evaluating and identifying better options,” American Heart Association CEO Nancy Brown said, according to USA Today.

The Consumer Brands Association, an industry trade group, was less supportive.

“The FDA’s proposed rule for front-of-package nutrition labeling appears to be based upon opaque methodology and disregard of industry input and collaboration,” CBA Vice President for Public Policy Sarah Gallo told National Public Radio.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.