The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, led by Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., aims to improve the health of all Americans.
The goal has been broken down into a few key areas, including nutrition and food safety.
In an on-camera interview with Fox News Digital, Jason Karp, CEO of HumanCo, a Texas-based health and wellness branding company, stressed the need for these changes.
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“I think there are a multitude of issues causing our chronic health epidemic,” he said. (See the video at the top of this article.)
“And I think it is literally an existential threat in terms of our ability to survive and bear the costs of this.”
Humans are the “sickest we’ve ever been” in history, especially in the U.S., according to Karp.
“Diabetes has never been higher. Heart disease has never been higher. Obesity has never been higher,” he said.
“Mental health disorders, including depression, suicidality, ADHD and autism, have never been higher.”
Karp added, “And yet we exercise more than we ever have. We know more scientifically than we ever have. We have more pharmaceuticals and medical devices and medical interventions and treatments than we ever had. And we’re spending more money per capita than we ever had.”
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Karp suggested that it’s “pretty logical that what we’re doing is not working,” in terms of caring for the health of Americans.
The CEO testified in front of a Senate panel in Sept. 2024 alongside Vani Hari, also known as “Food Babe” on social media; Karp discussed the need for ingredient transparency and the threat of ultraprocessed foods.
This included an argument about the presence of red dye and other synthetic additives in processed foods, compared to other countries that successfully use colors derived from fruits and vegetables.
While the FDA officially banned red dye No. 3 at the start of the year due to its potential link to cancer, Karp emphasized that getting rid of food dyes won’t solve the entire health crisis.
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“I believe it’s one small step, and I believe it is symptomatic of the larger issue, which is because of this loose and lax regulatory approach,” he said.
“These companies … have a safer, less toxic version [of their products] without all of these synthetic chemical ingredients in other countries – and these ingredients are either banned or they require strict regulatory labeling that is not allowed here.”
“There’s no argument against it other than it’s good for business,” he went on. “And I think it is high time that we all, as Americans, look at each other and realize it doesn’t matter how cheap the food can get.”
He added, “We should not be poisoning people, and this should not be a partisan issue.”
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Instead of producing and ingesting bio-engineered foods filled with synthetics, Karp pushed for promoting more whole foods as part of the MAHA agenda.
“We need to eat foods that are much closer to how God intended – from the earth, from the animals directly, and not completely reduced to non-foods,” he said.
“Just because [processed food] has a certain amount of protein and a certain amount of fiber, and a certain number of added vitamins and minerals, doesn’t make it healthy.”
Karp also advocated for the de-stigmatization of “natural God-made foods” that have been historically deemed bad for health.
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“Things like butter and eggs and responsibly raised red meat,” he said.
“All of these things that we’ve been eating for millennia are fine.”
“I think we need to de-stigmatize that and really start to make more of a conversation around the European way, the Mediterranean way – and understanding that if it’s something we’ve been eating for hundreds of years, it’s good.”
