Americans Lean In To Meatier Diet, Despite Health Concerns It Raises
The protein craze promoted by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has more people adding red meat and poultry to their diets. Health experts say overloading on inflammation-inducing saturated fats and meat-based minerals can cause myriad problems. Plus, the nonbuzz about raw milk.
Protein-hungry shoppers are buying more meat with their health top of mind. Health experts, however, wish they鈥檇 think beyond the butcher counter. More than three-quarters of U.S. consumers saw meat and poultry as 鈥減art of a healthy, balanced diet鈥 last year, up from 64% in 2020, according to an annual survey from food industry groups FMI and the Meat Institute, released last month. Forty-five percent are 鈥渁ctively trying to prepare more meals containing meat or poultry,鈥 while another 31% are 鈥渄oing so off and on,鈥 the survey found. (Bellis, 4/11)
Mark McAfee, chief executive of Raw Farm, the country鈥檚 largest raw-milk producer, got an unexpected text last year from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proposing a conversation about raw milk once FDA Commissioner Marty Makary was confirmed. The meeting never happened. In the months that followed, McAfee said, his outreach to the health secretary went unanswered. Kennedy, who once took shots of raw milk at the White House alongside a wellness influencer, stopped publicly championing the product. (Siddiqui, 4/11)
The Environmental Protection Agency is sitting on dozens of approvals for uses of 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥 at the direction of Administrator Lee Zeldin, over fears that it could anger Make America Healthy Again activists, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media. (Spring and Weber, 4/13)
In the early 2020s, interest in GLP-1 weight loss drugs exploded. Now, as we move deeper into the decade, a new buzzword is taking over: peptides. And the demand for peptides continues to surge. 鈥淭he GLP-1s put it on the map, and then people were like, 鈥榃ell, what鈥檚 next?鈥欌 said Evan Miller, founder and CEO of Gameday Men鈥檚 Health, a concierge men鈥檚 health network that provides peptides and other care. (Howard, 4/13)
The party of business is now chock-full of voters who distrust food and pharmaceutical companies and want to regulate them. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one of them and the health secretary鈥檚 drive to spread that message in Washington is proving costly for industry. (Chu, 4/11)
Sure, Americans know Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz. But Marty Makary? Calley Means? (Gardner and Wiederkehr, 4/13)
