MAHA Fueled Changes are Not Improving Americans' Health

The US Department of Health and Human Services released the Make our Children Healthy Again assessment, known as the MAHA report. The goal of the report is to assess and identify drivers behind the rise in chronic diseases among American children and to provide a basis for policy and system reform. It frames children's health as a crisis in the US, despite high health care spending. Mollie Van Lieu is the Vice President of Nutrition and Health with the International fresh produce Association, and she says that there is a push towards a natural diet, which emphasizes whole, unprocessed foods that are close to their original state as possible, focusing on nutrient-dense ingredients for optimal health. But with this push, she has some concerns.

“There's been a lot of uplifting of restaurants converting to deep frying and beef tallow. There's been a lot of promotion of naturally dyed sodas, or transitioning from corn syrup to pure sugar and soda. But when you overlay that with the reality that the two greatest diet related chronic diseases facing our country are diabetes and heart disease, none of those products contribute positively to that. So essentially, you're promoting products that do not improve the health of a majority of Americans."

Which is worrisome when it's coming from a top federal agency, according to Van Lieu