DR MARC SIEGEL: RFK Jr and David Kessler are right to take on Big Food

Former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. whitethorn look similar improbable bedfellows — but not erstwhile you see that they stock a communal enemy: ultra-processed foods. Both person openly declared warfare connected these highly addictive, unhealthy products, which scope from 4,000 to 10,000 ingredients, making them hard to regulate.

Both judge that astatine the bosom of the tremendous wellness situation (people successful the U.S. get fractional of their calories from ultra-processed foods) is the 1958 instrumentality that allows nutrient manufacturers to determine what’s harmless for radical to devour — the "Generally Recognized arsenic Safe," oregon GRAS, designation — a self-fulfilling prophecy that allows nutrient makers to "innovate to conscionable user demand," seen by critics arsenic a surefire look for addiction backed by the Consumer Brands Association.

RFK Jr. says ultra-processed nutrient manufacturers person hijacked the GRAS "loophole" to usage questionable ingredients. This alleged self-regulation is the equivalent of a contention car institution deciding the due velocity bounds for a nationalist highway.

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There is expanding grounds that ultra-processed foods are linked to obesity, precocious humor pressure, diabetes, dementia, bosom illness and precancerous colon polyps. Kessler told maine this past week that helium would similar to spot these products studied further to amended specify their downstream "metabolic effects" connected large organs. The results of these studies would supply further ammunition to combat these unhealthy products.

What bash I mean by ultra-processed foods? These see cereals, snacks, sweetened beverages, cookies, frozen foods, sauces and blistery dogs — besides nutrient products made with artificial flavors, colors, preservatives and chemicals designed to amended texture and support life. They are often precocious successful added brackish and hyper-concentrated sugars, including high-fructose maize syrup.

Artificial colors and exotically engineered flavors gully you in, and sweetener addiction keeps you there. As Kessler outlined successful his book, "Diet, Drugs, and Dopamine," and arsenic Secretary Kennedy knows good arsenic a erstwhile opioid addict, ultra-processed foods tin enactment connected the encephalon successful ways akin to definite drugs. A dependency tin signifier due to the fact that of the dopamine effect triggered by these high-calorie foods and their enactment with opioid receptors.

 According to the World Health Organization (WHO), astir 1 cardinal radical worldwide are obese, and ultra-processed foods are a large portion of the problem.

This occupation isn’t confined to the United States. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), astir 1 cardinal radical worldwide are obese, and ultra-processed foods are a large portion of the problem.

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What is the answer? The archetypal measurement is Kessler’s petition to the FDA to reconsider the wellness risks of "refined processed carbohydrates" and revoke their GRAS status. The effort is gaining traction arsenic Kennedy considers taking enactment to adjacent the GRAS loophole.

Kessler told maine that if the petition gains traction, helium volition adjacent inquire for bipartisan hearings earlier Congress, wherever nutrient manufacturers tin be and attest astir their products nether a legislative spotlight.

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But what whitethorn assistance astir of each is the spotlight Kennedy and the MAHA question are placing connected whole-food alternatives — nutrient that look, smells and sensation similar food; nutrient that comes from the crushed and is grown, fished oregon hunted — not products engineered successful a laboratory arsenic portion of a profit-driven manufacturing process.

Since nutrient tin beryllium medicine, ideate however galore billions of dollars could beryllium saved successful wellness attraction costs with a slimmer, much captious colonisation that is little reliant connected chemically engineered foods — and connected a sick-care strategy to support it alive.

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