This was a year of great change in nutrition, physical activity, and wellness. RFK Jr. and his MAHA agenda came in with the new administration, “guns-a-blazing,” as our president might say. The result has been some very interesting cross-currents and attention-grabbing headlines. Here are five of the biggest stories we’ve been watching this year.

1. Dietary Guidelines in Limbo

No doubt, this is been the most captivating story of 2025 in nutrition. Every five years, the departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services collaborate to produce a new edition of Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Most of the typical work for this was done well before this administration was elected. A scientific advisory committee with many respected and brilliant nutrition and health scientists released its report last December.

Then RFK Jr. and his MAHA agenda arrived and declared that the science in that report was going straight to the trashcan. He had better ideas and planned to sum them up in four pages of plain English by August. Repeatedly, this simple document has been postponed. Now the word is that it will be out early next year.

We can hardly wait.

2. Preserving Muscle

When we turn our attention to physical activity, all eyes are on the question of how to preserve muscle function. This gained great salience because of the widespread use of GLP-1s and a great deal of buzz about the potential for muscle loss with their use. But it turns out that this is a story that is much broader than the use of GLP-1s. So people are very curious about the problem and how best to address it.

3. Ultra-Processed Foods

The bad boy of the food supply, without a doubt, is ultra-processed foods. Everyone seems to agree on this villain, even if they cannot decide how best to define it. It’s a bit like porn. People are confident they can recognize it on sight. So this year flooded us with headlines on the subject, most often lending more heat than light to the subject.

A refreshing source that did the opposite was a new book by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall – Food Intelligence. Aptly named.

4. Lifestyle Medicine in Transition

True believers in lifestyle medicine found themselves at a bit of a crossroads this year. The explosive growth of GLP-1 medicines made it hard for them to claim weight loss as the essential value that their discipline brings. But they know in their hearts that they have something essential to offer. So they tried various strategies to persuade the world that lifestyle medicine is essential even when people are using a GLP-1. Will the messaging work? We are watching and waiting.

5. Health Tech and Precision Wellness

Health technology has gotten an amazing level of attention this year as tool for precision wellness. Who needs obesity medicine when you can have continuous glucose monitors and artificial intelligence telling you how to eat and live your life healthfully? That’s the story told by health tech and wellness hypesters like Calley Means. His sister, Casey Means, is the nominee for Surgeon General who is all in on continuous glucose monitoring for precision wellness. But her nomination is presently stalled. It might be that, sooner or later, all this hype for health tech and precision wellness will stall as well.

Pine in the Snow, painting by Ivan Shishkin / WikiArt