It’s been a wild ride on the MAHA train these last few months. Several companies have pledged to remove chemicals and additives from their food including:
- Kraft Heinz: The company intends to remove all artificial food dyes from its U.S. products and new products by the end of 2027. They have already taken steps like removing artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors from Kraft Mac & Cheese in 2016.
- General Mills: They committed to removing artificial dyes from their U.S. cereals and all foods served in K-12 schools by summer 2026, with a complete removal from their entire portfolio by the end of 2027.
- Nestlé USA: Nestlé plans to eliminate artificial colors from its portfolio by mid-2026 and states that over 90% of its products already do not contain them.
- J.M. Smucker Company: The company will remove artificial colors from consumer food products by the end of 2027, with faster action for K-12 school products.
- The Hershey Company: Hershey plans to phase out artificial dyes by the end of 2027.
- Conagra Brands: The parent company of brands like Duncan Hines will stop using artificial dyes for products sold to K-12 schools by the 2026-2027 school year and remove them completely by the end of 2027.
- PepsiCo: PepsiCo is working to reduce artificial colors and plans to remove them from snack brands like Lay’s and Tostitos by the end of this year.
- In-N-Out Burger: The fast-food chain is replacing artificial colors with natural ingredients in several menu items and working on healthier alternatives.
That is an impressive list and it is so amazing to see the kind of movement that is possible when our government actually puts some effort behind helping to clean up our toxic food environment. I applaud RFK and the work he’s been able to do but I want to take a minute and to make sure aren’t taking our eye off the ball here.
With most things, the Pareto Principle applies that says that you will get 80% of your results from 20% of your work and while taking toxic chemicals out of food is important, I really think it’s squarely in part that’s only going to get you 20% of your results. What is making us the fatter in my opinion isn’t the chemicals and additives, it’s the sugar, grains and seed oils.
I want to be clear here, I love what the MAHA movement is doing and encourage RFK to keep up the great work but when you decide for yourself what you are going to eat or serve your family, you shouldn’t be looking for the foods that have the least amount of artificial dyes, you should be eating whole foods with plenty of animal fats like meat, eggs, and whole vegetables.
As someone who has monitored my diet and weight closely for the last decade, I can tell you the healthiest ultra-processed food is worse for you than a steak and a couple eggs. The more I have focused on animal protein and a few vegetables and maybe some full fat dairy, the more my health improved and my weight dropped.
Again, all kudos to MAHA but you are going to get 80% of your health gains and weight loss from eating real food and not worrying about whatever chemicals and dyes are getting removed from all the ultra-processed foods.
What do you think? I’d love to hear from you, especially of you disagree with me. Just leave a comment below!
