Can RFK Jr make America’s diet healthy again?

Robert F Kennedy Jr has set his sights on altering how Americans eat and drink.

From the dyes in Fruit Loops cereal to seed oils in rooster nuggets, Kennedy – who’s President-elect Trump’s selection to guide the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) – has lengthy spoken out in opposition to components that he says damage Americans’ well being.

“We are betraying our children by letting [food] industries poison them,” Kennedy said at a rally in November, after he had ended his independent presidential bid and backed Donald Trump.

But if Kennedy hopes to target junk food, he will first have to shake up the country’s food regulations – and run up against Big Food.

“What he’s suggesting is taking on the food industry,” said former New York University nutrition professor Marion Nestle. “Will Trump back him up on that? I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The former environmental attorney – who still must face confirmation by the Senate – is considered by many to be a controversial pick, given his history of making baseless health claims, including that vaccines can cause autism and that wifi technology causes cancer.

Yet some of his ideas around reforming the FDA have found support from health experts, lawmakers and concerned consumers alike – including some Democrats.

Kennedy “will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA”, Colorado’s Democratic Governor Jared Polis wrote on social media this week, welcoming his nomination. After receiving public backlash for praising him, Polis qualified his endorsement, writing on social media that “science should stay THE cornerstone of our nation’s well being coverage”.

Leading up to the election, Kennedy – a former Democrat – offered several ideas for tackling chronic diseases under his slogan “Make America Healthy Again”.

He has frequently advocated for eliminating ultra-processed foods – products altered to include added fats, starches and sugars, like frozen pizzas, crisps and sugary breakfast cereals, that are linked to health problems like cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

He has taken goal primarily at college lunches, telling Fox News: “We have a generation of kids who are swimming around in a toxic soup right now.”

Part of Kennedy’s new mandate will include overseeing the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has over 18,000 employees.

The agency is in charge of ensuring the safety of pharmaceuticals and the US food supply, but has come under fire in recent years from some lawmakers and consumer groups, who have accused it of a lack of transparency and action on food safety.

The 70-year-old has pledged to take a sledgehammer to the agency, and fire employees he says are part of a “corrupt system”.

“There are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA … that have to go, that are not doing their job,” Kennedy instructed MSNBC this month.

He has additionally pushed for eliminating meals dyes, together with Red No. 3, and different components banned in different international locations.

The former Democrat has additionally singled out extra controversial well being points, together with fluoride in ingesting water, which he says ought to be banned altogether, and uncooked milk, which he believes has well being advantages regardless of the elevated danger of bacterial contamination.

He’s additionally come after seed oils, writing on social media that Americans are being “unknowingly poisoned” by merchandise like canola and sunflower oil which can be utilized in quick meals.

Several public well being specialists stand behind Kennedy’s purpose to sort out ultra-processed meals, which they are saying the US eats at a lot increased charges than many different international locations.

“It is just thrilling to hear somebody argue for doing something about chronic disease,” Ms Nestle mentioned.

Kennedy’s goal to eliminate sure meals components and dyes additionally may very well be helpful, mentioned Dr Peter Lurie, govt director for the Center for Science within the Public Interest, a non-profit group that advocates for meals security.

The former FDA official mentioned a number of meals dyes, together with Red No. 3 – which is banned in California – must also be blocked by the US authorities due to considerations about carcinogens.

The FDA has pushed again on Kennedy’s declare that the US permits hundreds of components which can be banned within the European Union. A spokesperson mentioned it was crucial “to dig deeper and understand the context behind the numbers” when evaluating laws within the US and EU, which use completely different methodologies.

But public well being specialists and former officers mentioned quite a lot of Kennedy’s objectives weren’t worthwhile – and in some instances, dangerous.

For occasion, ingesting uncooked milk that has not been pasteurized – a course of that helps kill micro organism – could make folks sick and even kill them, analysis has discovered.

“There’s no evidence of any nutritional benefit of any magnitude that we know that comes from non-pasteurizing of milk,” mentioned Dr Lurie.

Kennedy’s proposal to take away fluoride from ingesting water additionally may very well be problematic, as a result of fluoride, within the low ranges present in water, has been confirmed to enhance dental well being, mentioned Ms Garner.

Removing it from the water provide would even be out of his jurisdiction, as a result of fluoride ranges are managed by states.

And his declare that seed oils are serving to drive the weight problems epidemic just isn’t primarily based in science, both, Dr Lurie mentioned.

“We see no evidence for that. In fact, they seem like important products to the extent that they substitute for saturated fats” comparable to butter, he mentioned.

Food reforms, whereas lengthy a part of the general public well being dialog, might additionally merely be unrealistic each politically and bureaucratically, some specialists mentioned.

“It’s a good deal more complicated than he lets on,” mentioned Dr Lurie. “These are real challenges, and you will encounter industry opposition at every turn.”

For one, the FDA doesn’t have authority over the catch-all of “ultra-processed foods”, a number of former officers instructed the BBC.

Instead, they mentioned, the method is extra sophisticated. Both the US Department of Agriculture and the FDA regulate the meals business. The FDA doesn’t make the foundations – it carries out insurance policies handed by Congress and works to restrict unhealthy meals by imposing limits and labelling on sure vitamins, like sodium and saturated fats.

Kennedy’s feedback “make for great political rhetoric”, Ms Garner mentioned. “In my view, I don’t see how that could be feasible without drastic changes in other policy and infrastructure.”

He can even face business backlash for proposals to ban pesticides and genetically modified organisms generally utilized by American farmers, former FDA officers mentioned.

“The businesses will complain,” mentioned Rosalie Lijinsky, a former FDA official of 33 years.

The business is used to restricted oversight from each Democrats and Republicans – together with beneath Trump’s first time period – whereas lots of Kennedy’s objectives would contain much more rulemaking.

Several meals business teams met with lawmakers earlier than Kennedy’s appointment this month to foyer in opposition to him, Politico reported final month.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, mentioned this week that he deliberate to fulfill Kennedy earlier than his affirmation listening to and “spend a lot of time educating him about agriculture”.

Kennedy’s place additionally places him at odds with President-elect Trump, a longtime lover of quick meals who labored to roll again stricter well being necessities for varsity lunches throughout his first time period.

“You get some ideas that make a certain amount of sense, but they are exactly the kind to which this administration is hostile,” Dr Lurie mentioned.

In a press release to the BBC, the Food Industry Association, which represents meals retailers, producers and producers, like General Mills, mentioned it appeared ahead to working with Trump’s staff to “ensure food and drug policy continues to be grounded in science, to reduce regulatory complexity”.

The business complaints about Kennedy’s agenda don’t come as a shock, mentioned Jeff Hutt, a spokesperson for the Make America Healthy Again political motion committee, which is urging Republican lawmakers to verify Kennedy.

The purpose of the well being motion, Mr Hutt mentioned, is “prioritising the wellness of America over corporate profits”.

“Even if the idea of banning ultra-processed food is not possible politically, it’s a conversation that we need to have,” he mentioned.

Kennedy nonetheless might work inside present US regulatory frameworks to enhance America’s meals techniques, former officers mentioned.

Ms Nestle mentioned Kennedy might tackle ultra-processed meals by altering the US Dietary Guidelines, which set dietary requirements for the business and federal authorities programmes, together with faculty lunches and navy meals.

“They have an enormous impact on the food industry,” Ms Nestle mentioned. “That would make a big difference.”

The pointers are up to date each 5 years by the US Department of Agriculture and DHHS, which has beforehand mentioned there’s not sufficient proof in opposition to ultra-processed meals.

Still, officers and diet specialists raised considerations in regards to the means by which Kennedy has proposed to enact his agenda, together with firing the FDA’s nutritionists.

The transfer would have giant ramifications for meals security, mentioned Ms Lijinsky. “If you lose your top experts, you’re going to have problems,” she mentioned.

Ultimately, Ms Garner mentioned it’s tough to disentangle a few of Kennedy’s extra cheap food-improvement objectives with the false well being claims he has unfold.

“There’s an opportunity here,” Ms Garner mentioned.

“But I think there’s rightful concern based on other issues and how his approach to those issues might play in here.”