The vast majority of people support increasing regulation on highly processed food with artificial ingredients, regardless of their feelings on the Trump administration’s broader “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
More than 8 in 10 parents support the food component of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial MAHA agenda, according to a poll from the health policy organization KFF published on Wednesday.
MAHA, which was adopted as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign last year, is a multifaceted coalition in which factions emphasize food, environmental toxins, vaccines, or a combination of all three as the driver of chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
‘THE VIEW’ PILES ON CHERYL HINES OVER HUSBAND RFK JR.’S WORK WITH TRUMP
Kennedy’s positions on vaccines, including the supposed link between vaccines and autism, are highly divisive along partisan lines, but his food policy has strong support, particularly among parents.
Roughly 85% of parents, regardless of party affiliation, expressed strong or moderate support for increasing government regulation on dyes and chemical additives in food. That includes 90% of Republicans, 85% of Democrats, and 83% of independents.
Another 82% of parents from both parties support increasing regulations on highly processed foods, and another 80% support increasing regulations on added sugars.
Republicans have historically been highly critical of health-based regulations on diet. The GOP lambasted former first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, which included healthy eating recommendations, as well as former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s taxes on sugary sodas.
But the tide has turned. Of self-identified “Make America Great Again” Republicans, 85% support regulations on sugar, 87% on highly processed food, and 92% on artificial additives.
The cornerstone of Kennedy’s food policy so far has been encouraging industry to alter their product formulas voluntarily to remove petroleum-based food dyes, which increasing evidence suggests contribute to neurological conditions, such as ADHD, in children with genetic predispositions.
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary made a sweeping announcement this spring about phasing out petroleum-based food dyes, and since then, a number of major food corporations have made the switch.
Kennedy, alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, will have the opportunity to bring even more MAHA food goals to fruition through the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the policy document that governs the standards for federally funded nutrition initiatives, including the school lunch program and food stamps.
VANCE DISMISSES ‘PEARL CLUTCHING’ RESPONSE TO YOUNG REPUBLICANS MESSAGES IN WAKE OF JAY JONES TEXT
Makary and special White House health adviser Calley Means have indicated that the Dietary Guidelines, which are revised every five years, will pay particular attention to ultraprocessed foods.
Rollins stated in September that the guidelines would be released sometime in October.
