A September 9 hearing before the US House Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services displayed partisan wrangling over the effort to make American children healthier. Titled “Better Meals, Fewer Pills: Making Our Children Healthy Again,” the hearing often deteriorated into a conflict between Republican members attempting to focus on the benefits of whole food diets in nutrition programs versus Democrats ranting about vaccines and cuts to the SNAP assistance program. As legislators talked at cross purposes, expert testimony focused on the core issue: Whole, nutritious foods improve children’s health and reduce the need for pharmaceutical interventions.
The hearing featured two government experts in nutrition and food who gave statements addressing the causes of chronic disease in American children. Both emphasized the profound problem of children eating unhealthy processed foods instead of nutrient-rich whole foods.
Dr. Fink chronicled several policy initiatives under President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, including support for maternal and infant health “with the goal of exclusive breastfeeding or providing breastmilk for at least the first six months” and the provision of quality infant formulas through Operation Stork Speed. To reverse the chronic disease epidemic plaguing US children, Fr. Fink testified about a whole-of-government effort to improve access to whole foods:
“To counter these trends, HHS is prioritizing access to whole, nutritious food in schools and communities, updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to reflect gold-standard science, improving federal nutrition programs for low-income families in partnership with the Department of Agriculture. HHS is also investing in comprehensive nutrition education, ensuring that physicians and health professionals understand how food impacts health while equipping families with practical tools for healthy eating. At the same time, HHS is restoring physical activity as a central part of childhood development… These strategies, taken together, may offer an alternative to medications for many children.”
Also testifying was nutrition expert Dr. Eve Stoody, Director of the Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division (NGAD) of USDA’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. As NGAD Director, she is tasked with improving the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans and The Thrifty Food Plan to improve eating recommendations and health outcomes. Dr. Stoody testified that studies show that children eat more unhealthy foods as they become teens, aggravating health outcomes:
“Poor diet quality is being driven by what children and adolescents are currently eating too much of (e.g., non-nutritive foods and beverages) and by what they are not eating enough of (e.g., nutrient-dense versions of foods and beverages from the food groups).
“While intakes of refined grains, added sugars, and highly processed foods are high, intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and dairy are low… In fact, on any given day about half of our youth do not consume a vegetable or fruit. Intake of protein foods—including meats, poultry, eggs, seafood, legumes, nuts, seeds, and tofu—varies. Of note, 78% of adolescent females ages 14 through 18 do not consume enough protein foods.
“The displacement of nutritious foods by non-nutritive foods has created a nutrient-deficient yet calorie-rich food environment. Poor diets of children have contributed to the current childhood chronic disease crisis.”
Both doctors recommended improvements to food quality and education for America’s children, primarily through the SNAP benefits system, and to help low-income families in particular. Few could disagree with these recommendations, so Democrat committee members instead grandstanded with proclamations against vaccine recommendations by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or with irrelevant diatribes against cuts to SNAP programs.
This was not a hearing about vaccine efficacy (though what Americans were told about the safety and efficacy of mRNA vaccines should certainly be investigated thoroughly). All Republicans support improving the quality of SNAP food offerings, yet Democratic members appeared focused on continuing to provide unhealthy, ultra-processed products rather than engaging in bipartisan efforts to enhance nutrition quality. Despite the title of the hearing (Better Meals), Democrats sought to distract from a conservative-led initiative to reverse chronic disease using healthy, whole foods.
This tiresome tactic was anticipated by Wisconsin Republican committee member Glenn Grothman, who commenced the hearing with a powerful call to action to increase access to “nutrient-dense foods instead of ultra-processed foods such as soda, candy, and chips, the makers of which lavish campaign contributions on politicians.” Congressman Grothman cited the MAHA Commission Report’s recommendations for “radical transparency,” then called for bipartisan action to increase healthier food supplies for the nation’s children:
“I’m glad the Trump administration, through HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, are working hard to bring attention to and solve this crisis…. President Trump, we believe, was given a mandate to improve the health of American children. I mean, people want a change.
“Our children’s health is not and should not be partisan. Both sides must stand up to the health problems we have in this country and stand up to the processed food industry.”
If Democratic posturing is designed to create juicy soundbites for future election campaigns, the focus on dubious vaccines at a hearing about sourcing more whole foods for children may backfire. Similarly, Democratic fury that unhealthy, ultra-processed foods have suffered cuts under the SNAP benefits scheme rings hollow in a hearing seeking consensus for healthier offerings in that same program.