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By Emma Marsden
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Robert F. Kennedy's central mission as Donald Trump's newly appointed health secretary is to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) by preventatively targeting obesity and unhealthy eating habits, and one of his key objectives is to tackle Americans being hooked on processed food.
A map shows places that Kennedy may tackle first due to high levels of obesity in those states, as reported by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). States shaded in dark orange and red indicate higher levels of obesity prevalence.
Researchers have repeatedly linked ultra-processed food to obesity and other health issues. Kennedy is calling for hundreds of food additives and chemicals to be banned and to remove ultra-processed foods from school lunches across the U.S. as part of a goal to reduce the incidence of diet-related chronic diseases, as reported by Reuters.
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Kennedy has said the department at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that is in charge of nutrition labels on food has "to go," Reuters reported. "They're not doing their job. They're not protecting our kids."
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In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Friday, an FDA official said: "In the U.S., any chemical used in, or with food, must be safe for that use. Safety is defined as a reasonable certainty of no harm under its intended conditions of use.
"Congress, state legislatures and stakeholders have made clear that food chemical safety is a priority the FDA needs to address. The FDA agrees, and the agency is committed to leading the way on food chemical safety. Enhancing our approach to food chemical safety is a focus area under our new reorganized Human Foods Program (HFP).
"Under the new HFP, we are leveraging our scientific expertise and developing a more nimble and systematic approach to evaluating chemicals in the food supply.
"This enhanced approach for post-market assessments is being developed and implemented by a new distinct office dedicated to post-market assessments of chemicals already in the food supply and is intended to guide our post-market assessment work going forward and includes a transparent process for identifying and prioritizing food chemicals currently on the market for safety reviews.
"When comparing estimates of authorized chemicals between the U.S. and the EU, it's crucial to dig deeper and understand the context behind the numbers – different regulatory definitions and different methodologies can influence the results. Without clarity, comparisons can be misleading.
"Regardless of some chemical specific differences, it's important to know that both the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the HFP generally apply the same fundamental scientific approach to safety assessment when evaluating the safety of chemicals in food.
"This approach begins with identification of potential hazards followed by a quantitative assessment of the expected effects of the exposure based on dose response information from quality studies.
"That said, FDA review of chemicals is guided by its authority, and under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), the law governing food additives, ingredients that meet the criteria for Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) do not require the FDA's pre-market review and approval as a food additive.
"The FDA is working to review the safety of certain chemicals, including Red Dye No. 3, which we are reviewing under the Delaney Clause of the FD&C Act. The Delaney Clause prohibits any food additive found to cause cancer in humans or animals. The FDA intends to make a determination on Red Dye No. 3 soon.
"Further, the workload in the food chemical space has increased and become more complex as there is a proliferation of new scientific data and methods. For example, the frequency and amount at which chemicals and ingredients are used in food have changed over time, so it is important for the FDA to have updated exposure and safety data, including from industry, to support the FDA's reassessment work."
"It's starting in the right place," Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, told Fox News, referencing Kennedy's specific focus on ultra-processed food.
"The F in FDA is supposed to be food, but we have a sick care system, not a health care system. And by the time you get to those medicines you take, or you're seeing me for obesity or high blood pressure or sleep apnea or diabetes, it's because you were loaded up with those ultra-processed foods.
"Seventy-three percent of all the food on our supermarket shelves is ultra-processed- salt, sugar, high fructose corn syrup, chemicals that are unregulated by the FDA."
The map shows states that Kennedy may target first as part of his initiative, due to the high levels of obesity prevalence in these areas, as reported by the CDC. It shows the proportion of adults with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 based on self-reported weight and height.
Overall, the Midwest (36.0%) and South (34.7%) had the highest prevalence of obesity, followed by the West (29.1%) and the Northeast (28.6%).
Three states (Arkansas, Mississippi and West Virginia) had an obesity prevalence of 40% or greater, with West Virginia being the highest at 42.1%. This was followed by Mississippi (40.1%), Arkansas (40%), Louisiana (39.9%), Alabama (39.2%), Oklahoma (38.7%), Indiana and Iowa (both 37.8%), and Tennessee (37.6%).
Twenty states had an obesity prevalence between 35% and less than 40%, 17 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands had an obesity prevalence between 30% and less than 35%, and seven states had an obesity prevalence between 25% and less than 30%.
The places with the lowest obesity prevalence were D.C. and Colorado, with numbers between 20% and less than 25%.
In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, Kennedy outlined his plans for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including devoting half of research budgets from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) toward preventive, alternative and holistic approaches to health.
In the current system, researchers seemingly don't have enough incentives to study generic drugs and root-cause therapies that look at things like diet.
Kennedy's plans would require nutrition classes and functional medicine in federally funded medical schools.
The HHS is one of the largest departments in the government, with a budget of over $3 trillion. Newsweek contacted the HHS on Friday via email outside of normal working hours for comment.
'Common Problems'
In Kennedy's speech endorsing president-elect Trump, as stated in the op-ed, he said: "We need to love our kids more than we hate each other. That means coming together to address common problems, and few are more urgent than the chronic-disease crisis.
"Americans are becoming sicker, beset by illnesses that our medical system isn't addressing effectively. These trends harm us, our economy and our global standing.
"Among American teens, close to 30% are prediabetic. More than 18% of young adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. More than 40% of adults 22 to 44 are obese, according to a 2023 study. In 2020, 77% of young adults didn't qualify for the military based on their health scores, forcing the military to lower its standards."
Trump previously stated at a rally that: "Robert F. Kennedy cares more about human beings and health and the environment than anybody," before saying: "I'm gonna let him go wild on health, I'm gonna let him go wild on the food, I'm gonna let him go wild on the medicines," as reported by Fox News.
Update 11/18/24, 10:44 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the FDA.
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