By F.D. Flam
More than a century later, the same debates are still raging, but the party lines are more complicated. Doctors have embraced lighter eating, influencers exist for every lifestyle choice under the sun, and US public-health departments are overseen by their own influencer, who touts the health virtues of beef fat and shows off his physique. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s role as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services has brought his often contrarian views in direct conversation with government policy — as encapsulated in the initiative known as Make America Healthy Again.
Kennedy’s opponents focus mostly on his anti-vaccine rhetoric, but food makes up a bigger part of the MAHA agenda, a part that isn’t always far removed from mainstream science. In a report on children’s health released in May, the MAHA Commission outlined a goal of reducing chronic disease and obesity, devoting the most substantial section to the prevalence of ultra-processed foods: fast food, convenience food, packaged food and junk food. The report stresses the health harms of industrially produced ingredients — oils, refined sugar, synthetic food dyes, and artificial sweeteners, flavors, emulsifiers and preservatives. The scientific mainstream also points to the harms of ultra-processed food and sugar but is less confident of the harms of additives.
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