We are hearing much sound and fury about making America healthy and the noise is largely about improving the quality of the U.S. food supply. It would indeed be nice if MAHA brought us a better food supply. But in a thoughtful piece for The Atlantic, Yasmin Tayag says a more likely outcome may be that Americans will wind up eating even more junk food:

“Unfortunately, Americans have proved themselves to be suckers for packaging that conveys a food’s healthiness. Shoppers are willing to pay more for food labeled “all natural” and prefer produce marked as ‘pesticide-free.’

“People tend to falsely believe that Oreos labeled ‘organic’ have fewer calories than their conventional counterparts, and that the cookies can be eaten more frequently, even if they are pointed to labels showing that both options are nutritionally identical. They are also more likely to forgo exercise if they choose an organic dessert over a conventional one. All of this bodes poorly for American shoppers.”

Superficial Changes, Business as Usual

Advance word on the MAHA version of dietary guidelines suggests that the harsh noise about them will fade to sounds much softer in the ears of the food and agriculture industry. CNN reports that the draft report “treads lightly” on pesticides and processed foods. There’s been a lot of harsh talk about an industry that “poisons” Americans through the food supply. But Tayag sees little promise of Kennedy “using the government’s real power” and seizing “a genuine opportunity to overhaul America’s food landscape.”

About the instigator of the MAHA movement, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, she writes:

“So far, his dealings with food companies themselves have been fundamentally friendly: asking them to voluntarily phase out food dyes, congratulating Coca-Cola for its commitment to sugar as a sweetener.”

Will the MAHA movement bring us little more than fries made with beef fat and soda made with cane sugar? If so, it will be a cruel joke.

Click here for free access to Tayag’s essay in The Atlantic. For more on discontent with weak delivery on the MAHA agenda, click here.

Goldfish Spicy Dill Pickle, photograph by Ted Kyle / ConscienHealth