Former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may seem like unlikely bedfellows – but not when you consider that they share a common enemy: ultra-processed food. Both have openly declared war on these highly addictive, unhealthy products, which range from 4,000 to 10,000 ingredients, making them difficult to regulate.
Both believe that at the heart of the massive health crisis (people in the US get half their calories from ultra-processed foods) lies in the 1958 law that allows food manufacturers to decide what is safe for people to eat – the “Generally Recognized as Safe” designation, or GRAS – a self-fulfilling prophecy that allows food manufacturers to “innovate to meet consumer demand,” seen by critics as a surefire recipe for addiction, backed by the Consumer Brands Association.
RFK Jr. says ultra-processed food makers have hijacked GRAS’s ‘loophole’ to use questionable ingredients. This so-called self-regulation is the equivalent of a race car company determining the appropriate speed limit for a public road.
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There is mounting evidence that ultra-processed foods are linked to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia, heart disease and precancerous colon polyps. Kessler told me this past week that he would like to see these products studied further to better define their downstream “metabolic effects” on major organs. The results of these studies would provide further ammunition to combat these unhealthy products.
What do I mean by ultra-processed food? These include breakfast cereals, snack foods, sweetened beverages, cookies, frozen foods, sauces and hot dogs – also food products made with artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and chemicals designed to improve texture and shelf life. They often contain a lot of added salt and hyper-concentrated sugars, including high fructose corn syrup.
Artificial colors and exotically designed flavors draw you in, and sugar addiction keeps you there. As Kessler outlined in his book Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine, and as Secretary Kennedy knows well as a former opioid addict, ultra-processed foods can act on the brain in ways similar to certain medications. A dependence can develop due to the dopamine response caused by these high-calorie foods and their interaction with opioid receptors.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1 billion people worldwide suffer from obesity, and ultra-processed foods are a large part of the problem.
This problem is not limited to the United States. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 1 billion people worldwide suffer from obesity, and ultra-processed foods are a large part of the problem.
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What’s the answer? The first step is Kessler’s petition to the FDA to reconsider the health risks of “refined processed carbohydrates” and revoke their GRAS status. The effort is gaining momentum as Kennedy considers taking action to close the GRAS loophole.
Kessler told me that if the petition gains traction, he will next call for bipartisan hearings before Congress, where food manufacturers can attend and testify about their products under the legislative spotlight.
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But what may be especially helpful is the spotlight that Kennedy and the MAHA movement are placing on whole food alternatives – foods that look, smell and taste like food; food that comes from the ground and is grown, fished or hunted – not products developed in a laboratory as part of a profit-driven production process.
Since food can be medicine, imagine how many billions of dollars in health care costs could be saved with a leaner, more vital population that is less dependent on chemically engineered food – and on a system of sick care to keep it alive.
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