The Make America Healthy Again movement, led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has made tackling chronic illness a priority. In an essay for Times Opinion, the contributing writer Julia Belluz and the nutrition and metabolism scientist Kevin Hall argue that chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes in the United States are driven less by individual choices and more by the food environment. This is something that Hall’s own research has shown over the years. The two caution that policies centered on personal responsibility or small industry adjustments, such as replacing food dyes or changing soda sweeteners, will barely make a difference. Hall left his position at the National Institutes of Health this year after saying his work was censored. He and Belluz contend that for the Trump administration to reduce chronic disease in a meaningful way, it must pursue real reforms in the food system over promoting wellness fads and products popular in the MAHA-sphere. For example, taxes targeting unhealthy foods should be used to make healthy, unprocessed foods much easier to get, they write. “Obesity and diabetes are not the result of weak willpower and poor choices,” they write. “We shouldn’t expect investing in more of the same hacks will have different results.”
Here’s what we’re focusing on today:
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