The "Make America Healthy Again" movement led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other members of the Trump administration has long pinned the rise of chronic diseases on food chemicals and dyes. In an announcement last week laying out the federal government’s plan to eliminate synthetic dyes from the food supply, Kennedy set aim on another issue: sugar.
“Sugar is poison,” Kennedy said. “And Americans need to know that.”
The government has long been slow to significantly cut sugar consumption, largely due to industry pushback. But there are other levers that Kennedy and the rest of the cabinet could use to reduce consumption.
Jerold Mande, CEO of Nourish Science and former senior policy official at FDA and USDA, said Kennedy is right in acknowledging that Americans have shorter lifespans than many other wealthy countries and their lifespans are declining. More alarming, he said, is the rate of chronic diseases like obesity and prediabetes in children.
While there has long been political resistance to going after sugar and food dyes, Mande said the tide appears to be turning. He cited USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ acceptance of some of the MAHA ideals following Kennedy’s involvement in the Trump administration and campaign.
“Now he has an opportunity to do something about it,” Mande said. “We're waiting to see what that is. I can assure you, we're not going to get there through voluntary action.”
In response to Kennedy’s comments, the Sugar Association pointed out a recent article in the journal Nature that pushes back against overly restrictive limits on sugar. The article notes that limits as little as 5% or less of calories could be difficult and could lead to less consumption of nutritious food.
“Secretary Kennedy has promised gold standard scientific reviews to support healthy diets, which we are confident will again reaffirm that real sugar in moderation plays an important part in balanced diets and that demonizing added sugars alone is counterproductive,” said Courtney Gaine, CEO and president of the Sugar Association. “In fact, real sugar has been consumed for millenia, added sugars are some of the most studied ingredients in the food supply, and consumption in the United States is at its lowest in 40 years, while obesity continues its relentless rise."
Over the years, the government has taken some action to reduce sugar consumption or at least raise awareness about the amount of added sugar in foods.
Under the Biden administration, USDA updated school meal standards that limited added sugars to 10% of each week’s menu. This rule, supported by the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, will take effect starting July 2027.
Also under the previous administration, the FDA proposed a new front-of-pack labeling rule that would list information and proportions on added sugars. Other voluntary industry labeling initiatives like “Facts up Front” also include information on added sugars.
Speaking to members of the North American Agricultural Journalists this week, Shannon Campagna, a food lobbyist with Portfolio Strategies LLC, said the FOP labeling proposal with added sugar information will be an important policy lever to watch. She noted that Kennedy and others in the MAHA movement have also discussed reforming the Generally Recognized As Safe process for food ingredients. 
Shannon Campagna (X photo)Along with the GRAS reform efforts, Campagna said she wonders if the administration would attempt to roll back or create a standard for sugar and sodium content.
“I mean that would be pretty, pretty bold,” she said. “But those are the kind of things that keep me up at night.”
Last year FDA also finalized its definition of “healthy” foods. It was the first updated definition of what can be labeled as healthy since 1994, and imposed limits on added sugars. Under the new definition, dairy products have an added sugar limit of 5% daily value, which is more strict than the DGA recommendation.
Opportunities presented through Dietary Guidelines
Kennedy said Americans need the right research and information about sugar consumption. He suggested one way of achieving that is through the dietary guidelines.
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The guidelines shape many of the federal nutrition and feeding programs like school meals.
In December, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee released its scientific report. Now, HHS and USDA are tasked with writing the final guidelines.
The scientific report recommends maintaining current limits on added sugars. The limit was in the last iteration of the DGA, which set it at 10% of total daily calories. However, the advisory committee for the last guidelines suggested a limit of 6%, but HHS and USDA didn't go along.
Now that the guidelines are in the federal agencies' hands, it’s possible the final version could include tighter limits or recommendations on added sugar, said Alla Hill, senior science policy associate at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The agencies have opened the guidelines for public comment. But the door is open for slight variations between the advisory committee report and the final guidelines.
“I would hope that it would come with a science-based rationale to explain recommendations and hopefully they would be feasible to actually implement as well,” Hill said.
Jerold Mande (Tufts University photo)Mande said the government could take a more “aggressive stand” in the DGAs on sugar. He said there’s often industry influence and pushback against more dramatic shift in sugar recommendations. For example, he said nutrition research receives little federal funding; most studies are industry-backed.
Federal feeding programs including school meals are supposed to follow the guidelines.
“Particularly USDA, which is the big player here,” Mande said. “It can do much more than it does today to limit sugars in those programs, and the dietary guidelines … is a lever to make that happen.”
A voluntary approach
Encouraging industry to reduce added sugar through voluntary efforts could be another route for Kennedy, Mande said.
The announcement on food dyes largely relies on industry cooperation to reduce or eliminate the bulk of common dyes. In the past, the government has also set voluntary targets to cut sodium.
The FDA has proposed its second round of voluntary sodium reduction targets last year. It suggests sodium levels for 163 food categories that are commercially processed or prepared in restaurants with a three-year window for reaching the new targets.
While FDA has said results from the first round of targets showed “encouraging” news, CSPI researchers found that the magnitude of sodium reductions was less than the agency suggested.
In 2023, CSPI petitioned FDA on sugar policy suggestions. That petition called for creating added sugar reduction targets for packaged and restaurant foods and beverages across the food supply. Additionally, the group suggests FDA mandate added sugar disclosures at restaurants similar to what some establishments publish for calories.
CSPI also suggests focusing on food categories that contribute the most to added sugar intake such as sweetened beverages like soda, fruit drinks, desserts, breakfast cereals and candy.
Some industries have already taken steps to address sugar levels in their products. The International Dairy Foods Association, for example, launched an effort in 2023 to reduce added sugars in flavored milks at schools. So far, that initiative has led to a decrease in added sugar from 16.7 grams to less than 7.4 in an eight-ounce serving of flavored milk.
“We do hope that the administration looks at dairy as an essential, healthy part of a diet and that we’ve been doing extra work to ensure that kids and parents see us as healthy, and that includes the reductions in added sugars,” said Matt Herrick, executive vice president and chief impact officer at IDFA.
School meals are an important market for the dairy industry, particularly small and medium-size processors. One reason the industry has been proactive on these issues is to ensure there’s no disruption in the ability to sell dairy products to schools, Herrick said.
Mande said the food industry can produce foods with lower sugar, if they have the right incentives.
“I think it's the central challenge for RFK,” Mande said. “They're not going to do it voluntarily, unless they’re sure it's less painful than the other way. And so he has very powerful tools. The question is, will he use them?”
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