America’s New Chronic Disease: Make America Healthy Again

In 2023, the CDC publicized an alarming statistic showing that over 50 per cent of US children and adults’ caloric consumption came from ultraprocessed foods. The statistic cuts across age, geography, and most importantly, party lines. In a polarizing time, many Americans express frustration with a broken food and health system that has led to such a health crisis. This shared concern enabled the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement to thrive. While some ideals of MAHA appeal to all sides of the political spectrum in the US and highlight real issues embedded in the nation’s food and health culture, the movement ultimately contradicts itself—resulting in anti-science conspiracy theories and continued eroding trust across America.  

MAHA’s roadmap, released in February 2025, focuses on increasing vaccine transparency, removing artificial food dyes, defining ultraprocessed foods, and increasing chronic disease research. However, MAHA’s goals of higher regulation are contradicted by a US administration that pushes corporate deregulation. For example, while MAHA advocates against ultraprocessed food and urges Americans to consume healthier alternatives, USDA programs that already do this are actively being defunded and destroyed. Moreover, in the United States, ultraprocessed foods are typically cheaper and available in low-income areas and food deserts. However, the current administration continues to make cuts to SNAP (food stamps) benefits that leave Americans more reliant on cheaper ultraprocessed foods. These contradictions contribute to the further erosion of trust between American citizens and government agencies. In Spring 2025, only 33 per cent of Americans trusted the government. As MAHA’s goals continue to be contradicted by the current administration’s actions, trust and support towards MAHA have also begun to wane. 

This growing public skepticism is further amplified by the individuals leading the movement, whose close political ties and lack of medical expertise deepen concerns about MAHA’s true motives. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current US Health Secretary, appointed by President Donald Trump, is the current face of the MAHA movement. RFK Jr., along with Casey Means, the Surgeon General nominee of the United States and a self-proclaimed “metabolic health evangelist,” and her brother Calley Means, a previous close advisor to Secretary Kennedy and founder of health service company TrueMed, are all proprietors of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Along with health conspiracy influencers like Vani Hari, these MAHA leaders appear to exploit existing public distrust of the government and health industry to further their own self-interest.

Dr. Peter Lurie, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and former FDA associate commissioner, points to these leaders as having an “antipathy to expertise,” having “written off medicine as ineffective and dangerous.” They “treat as evidence the kind of things that mainstream scientists would reject,” despite science being a source of faith and pride in America historically. Lurie states that MAHA’s policies “ignore instances where medicine is effective, and base their agenda on longstanding concerns that Secretary Kennedy has.” Secretary Kennedy has cracked down on vaccines, spouted misinformation linking autism to Tylenol, and expressed concern about chemicals in the water supply turning children transgender, among other theories. Such theories further the American public’s distrust of the US government and degrade the credibility of the administration’s health policy and recommendations.  

While Kennedy might be a true believer, it’s clear other MAHA figures have something to gain from exploiting America’s distrust. For example, “Food Babe” Vani Hari capitalizes on growing consumer distrust, fearmongering with long scientific names rather than with actual information. She often questions science and makes money off directing consumers towards organic brands—often her own. Casey Means, the US Surgeon General nominee, runs a health technology company called Levels, which helps customers track their blood glucose levels using continuous glucose monitors. While Secretary Kennedy has long warned the public about using glucose monitors, highlighting his concerns for fear of the ability to surveil and control Americans, he now encourages Americans to wear them. Calley Means is a founder of TrueMed, which allows the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), a US-based tax-advantaged savings account for medical expenses, to buy “solutions” to medical issues. In May 2025, House Republicans passed their reconciliation tax bill, which, in addition to preserving tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and gutting Medicaid, contained several provisions that could expand HSA use significantly, including buying Truemed products. All these leaders have something to gain from an erosion of trust towards America’s health system, poking holes in MAHA’s credibility.

The Make America Healthy Again movement thrives on a frustration that transcends partisan boundaries: Americans are sick of being sick, and they’re losing faith in the very systems meant to protect them. Yet MAHA’s contradictory policies, anti-science rhetoric, and self-serving leadership only deepen this distrust. MAHA has become a symptom of the very crisis it claims to cure. As Dr. Lurie puts it, “The MAHA movement is rotten at its inception, and at its core is a rejection of science.” Dr. Lurie says that MAHA has two main issues: a rejection of science for all things natural, as well as an affinity for 1950s America, hence making America healthy “again.” Such nostalgia is based on a certain order of things, relating to race and gender: Built into MAHA is a set of ideas about the relations between men and women, and in particular, women spending more time in kitchens cooking non-ultra-processed foods, which are harder to make if you have a job. MAHA’s leaders are corrupt, ignoring modern science in favour of Secretary Kennedy’s conspiracy theories, all the while profiting from public distrust. 

During an era of eroding trust, where only one-fifth of Americans trust Washington to do what is right, movements like MAHA expose real systemic issues in America’s health system, and in doing so, amplify the very distrust they claim to fight. A true, healthy America starts with tackling the root causes of chronic disease—reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes, raising alcohol taxes, cutting sodium in packaged and restaurant foods, taxing sugary beverages, and restoring EPA emissions rules cut under Trump. It means promoting transparency through front-of-package labelling and expanding access to weight-loss medications and Medicaid support for those already living with chronic illness.

Edited by Maisie Minnick 

Featured image: “President Donald Trump delivers remarks announcing the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Commission” by The White House is licensed under Public Domain.