\n<\/p>\n
Babies are not ordinarily a fixture of closed-door White House meetings.<\/p>\n
But when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, convened a group of women this month for a discussion on nutrition and other topics, a healthy-eating activist who calls herself \u201cthe Food Babe\u201d was stunned to see President Trump\u2019s press secretary with her eight-month-old on her lap.<\/p>\n
While several female cabinet secretaries looked on, the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, lamented that baby formula seems healthier in Europe than in the United States, where a recent study found that many varieties are laden with added sugars<\/a>. Last week, Mr. Kennedy met with formula makers and announced a push<\/a> to expand options for \u201csafe, reliable and nutritious infant formula.\u201d<\/p>\n The activist, Vani Hari, was thrilled. \u201cIt was such an amazing opportunity to see some solidification of the MAHA agenda across the different cabinets,\u201d she said, using the initials for Mr. Kennedy\u2019s \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement. She called the event \u201ca dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The gathering of \u201cMAHA Moms,\u201d as Mr. Kennedy calls the corps of influencers and activists who follow him, was one of a series of choreographed events held in recent weeks by Mr. Kennedy, who occupies a highly unusual place in Washington. The scion of a famous Democratic family, his embrace of Mr. Trump, his tendency to spin wild theories<\/a> out of kernels of truth and his promotion of what critics say is quack medicine have made him one of the most polarizing figures in the cabinet, even as he has developed a loyal following of his own.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Yet even some critics of Mr. Kennedy applaud his focus on obesity and healthy eating. He makes powerful industries and civil servants uncomfortable, holding forth from his newly powerful perch as head of the Department of Health and Human Services on an eclectic menu of topics \u2014 offering up alternative remedy ideas one day while blasting industrial food companies the next.<\/p>\n Now companies and the government must contend with what might be called the Kennedy factor. So far, there has been little public pushback.<\/p>\n The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted information about vitamin A on its website after Mr. Kennedy promoted it as a measles treatment, to the consternation of public health officials who want him to advocate forcefully for vaccination.<\/p>\n A fast-food chain announced it had \u201cRFK-d\u201d its French fries by ditching seed oil for beef tallow, a type of rendered beef fat<\/a> that is similar to lard, despite cardiologists who say it poses risks to the heart.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Infant formula makers, who came under scrutiny amid a shortage in 2022<\/a>, said simply that they look forward to working with Mr. Kennedy. And after Mr. Kennedy instructed food executives<\/a> to rid the food supply of artificial dyes, he followed up with a video message on social media: \u201cThey understand that they have a new sheriff in town.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Kennedy declined an interview request.<\/p>\n It is far too soon to know whether Mr. Kennedy will make a real impact or whether these early steps are more posturing than substance. The Trump administration is taking actions that would seem to undermine his goals, such as disbanding<\/a> an expert committee studying how to spare infants from a deadly bacteria<\/a> that contributed to the decision in 2022 to temporarily shut down<\/a> an Abbott Nutrition infant formula plant.<\/p>\n Mr. Kennedy could run into resistance from Congress. His disdain for the refined oils made from certain plants \u2014 seed oils like canola, soy and corn<\/a> \u2014 and the ultra-processed foods that contain them has alarmed Republicans including Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, whose farmer constituents receive subsidies from the government to grow the plants that produce the oils.<\/p>\n Mr. Kennedy opposes the subsidies. Mr. Grassley publicly instructed him<\/a> to \u201cleave agricultural practice regulations to the proper agencies,\u201d including the Agriculture Department. Mr. Kennedy said he agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s talk; I want to see what the action is,\u201d Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s ambitions to remake the food supply. \u201cAnd if the only action is getting colors out of the food supply, that\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Public health experts still have serious concerns about Mr. Kennedy, whose skepticism of vaccines has colored his response to a Texas measles outbreak<\/a>. Biomedical researchers say that if he really wanted to make America healthy, he would block Elon Musk\u2019s Department of Governmental Efficiency from targeting the nation\u2019s scientific enterprise by reducing jobs and cutting grants.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he has to take the blame for it; he\u2019s destroying science in America,\u201d said Dr. Walter C. Willett, a pioneer in nutrition research at Harvard\u2019s School of Public Health.<\/p>\n Yet so long as he is not talking about vaccines, Mr. Kennedy\u2019s ideas are winning cautious support in some surprising places. Dr. Willett said he agrees with Mr. Kennedy that the National Institutes of Health should rebalance its research portfolio to spend more studying ways to prevent disease. Dr. Nestle praised him for taking on the food industry.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen President Trump announced on Twitter that he was appointing R.F.K. Jr., he used the words industrial food complex,\u201d she said. \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe that. It sounded just like me, and R.F.K. sounds just like me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Kennedy was identified as one of the top spreaders of misinformation by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which listed him as one of the<\/a> \u201cdisinformation dozen.\u201d His Instagram account was suspended in 2021, and reinstated in 2023<\/a> when he began his presidential bid.<\/p>\n Now, as the health department leader, Mr. Kennedy has a much bigger platform from which he can shape American attitudes and beliefs.<\/p>\n Some of his assertions, public health experts say, have been just plain wrong. Mr. Kennedy, for instance, told Sean Hannity of Fox News that immunity to the measles vaccine wanes over time and thus \u201colder people are essentially unvaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n That contradicts the C.D.C. website, which says<\/a> measles, mumps, rubella vaccines \u201cusually protect people for life\u201d against measles and rubella, but mumps immunity may decrease over time. Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, agreed, saying, \u201cThe data continue to support that measles vaccine protects the vast majority of people lifelong.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Last week, Mr. Kennedy proposed banning cell phones in schools, an idea with bipartisan backing. But in addition to citing children\u2019s mental health, he made another, unsubstantiated claim: that cell phones \u201cproduce electromagnetic radiation\u201d that can cause cancer.<\/p>\n So far, Mr. Kennedy also appears to be largely ignoring government experts. He has not had any in-person or virtual briefings on measles from infectious disease experts at the C.D.C., according to two people familiar with the response to the Texas outbreak. Instead, he receives written reports from the agency.<\/p>\n An administration official said Mr. Kennedy meets daily with \u201ccareer leadership\u201d at H.H.S., the C.D.C.\u2019s parent agency, to discuss matters including measles.<\/p>\n Health officials in Texas say Mr. Kennedy\u2019s messages have been confusing. Dr. Katharine Wells, the director of public health in the city of Lubbock, said she is having trouble persuading parents to vaccinate their children because they think \u201cvitamin A is protective, like the vaccine.\u201d<\/p>\n But Kennedy allies were thrilled when the C.D.C. added a mention of vitamin A in its measles advisory on its website. Del Bigtree, Mr. Kennedy\u2019s former communications director, lauded the move on a recent podcast. \u201cMy God,\u201d he said, \u201cdo you see what a small step for mankind we just made?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Kennedy is getting quiet advice from at least one person in the public health mainstream, Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, a professor at the University of Southern California who spent years with the C.D.C., including work on disease prevention in South Africa. Dr. Klausner, a neighbor of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s in Los Angeles, said he is working to identify new members of the C.D.C.\u2019s vaccine advisory committee, a panel Mr. Kennedy says is rife with conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n He said Mr. Kennedy has given him just one criteria: \u201cHe wants highly credentialed, unbiased people who can look at the science objectively.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his promise of \u201cradical transparency,\u201d Mr. Kennedy is offering Americans a highly curated version of himself. Like Mr. Trump, he speaks to the public largely through social media and Fox News.<\/p>\n In a sense, Mr. Kennedy is offering a new twist on Mr. Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d slogan; he wants United States customers to be able to buy Froot Loops, the colored sugary cereal, with the same ingredients \u2014 dyes made from colored blueberries and carrots, instead of chemicals \u2014 used in Canada, and French fries to be cooked like they are in Europe.<\/p>\n Mr. Kennedy\u2019s crusade against seed oils has caught the eye of executives at Steak \u2019n Shake, which says it will now cook its fries in Mr. Kennedy\u2019s preferred frying agent, beef tallow \u2014 even though nutrition experts say there is no evidence that tallow, a saturated fat akin to butter, is healthier than seed oils.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHe says he\u2019s following the science,\u201d Dr. Willett said. \u201cIf you look at the scientific evidence, that doesn\u2019t take you to the conclusion that beef tallow is better than seed oils.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n An Indianapolis-based restaurant chain, Steak \u2019n Shake announced the switch this month on social media<\/a> with a picture of a ball cap in Mr. Trump\u2019s signature MAGA red that declared, \u201cMake Frying Oil Tallow Again.\u201d Mr. Kennedy, who otherwise appears to be no fan of French fries<\/a>, traveled to a Florida Steak \u2019n Shake with Mr. Hannity, of Fox, and picked away at a basket of them for the cameras.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re very grateful to them for R.F.K.-ing their French fries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ms. Hari, the healthy-eating activist, called the Steak n\u2019 Shake announcement \u201can interesting example of how we can make incremental changes to the food system to make it better than it was.\u201d She said she intends to push Mr. Kennedy to make fast-food chains post all of their ingredients online.<\/p>\n Mr. Kennedy\u2019s inner circle seems to be divided into two camps: those like Mr. Bigtree, who are drawn to him because of his stance on vaccination, and those like Ms. Hari and Calley Means, an author and health care entrepreneur, whose focus is nutrition and chronic disease. Mr. Means recently joined the White House as a special government employee to help carry out Mr. Kennedy\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Kennedy has also inspired a MAHA movement in the states. On Monday, the governor of West Virginia signed legislation banning certain food dyes from school lunches.<\/p>\n Last week, Mr. Means was in Arizona, along with other Kennedy allies, to speak in favor of a \u201cMake Arizona Healthy Again\u201d bill that would ban certain chemicals from school lunch programs and prohibit candy, soda, chips and other junk foods from being purchased with the federal nutrition dollars formerly known as \u201cfood stamps.\u201d<\/p>\n Helene Leeds, who with her daughter founded Step It Up, a weight loss program, also testified, and was identified as a \u201cMAHA Mom\u201d by the MAHA Alliance, a group that backs Mr. Kennedy\u2019s agenda. The moniker gave her pause.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s new for me to be called that,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, absolutely, I stand for health in everything that I do.\u201d She added: \u201cI also look at myself as a MAHA leader.\u201d<\/p>\n After the MAHA Moms meeting, the White House posted video of Mr. Kennedy and some of his guests on social media stumbling over how to pronounce food ingredients like riboflavin. Mr. Kennedy posted photos<\/a> with a message to the women: \u201cYou got me where I am today, and I will not let you down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n