A little over a year ago, General Mills, maker of Trix and Lucky Charms, promised to pull synthetic dyes from all its U.S. cereals and school foods by the summer of 2026, and from its whole retail line by the end of 2027. Kraft Heinz made the same pledge days earlier, while Nestlé USA, Conagra, and Tyson followed with similar commitments.
Nobody forced them. They read the room.
The room had changed because of one man: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has transformed how Americans think and talk about health policy. For years, Washington rightly worried about access to affordable care, especially in troubled federal programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Kennedy took on a bigger task: making Americans healthier.
This can’t be done without tackling our chronic disease crisis, especially among children. Backed by a presidential order to “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy and his colleagues have rolled out sweeping plans to do just that. Their approach rests on gold standard science, better economic incentives, and private-sector partnership.
We spend more than $5 trillion a year on health care, yet an epidemic of chronic disease still plagues us, including obesity, diabetes, and many autoimmune disorders. The CDC reports that roughly three out of four Americans have at least one chronic condition, and about half have two. We suffer some of the highest chronic disease rates in the developed world. That’s why, as the CDC also notes, about nine of every ten health-care dollars go to treating chronic disease.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member