Conspirituality Podcast #288 Summary: Conspirituality Live with Dr. Jessica Knurick
Date: December 18, 2025
Host: Derek Beres w/ guest Dr. Jessica Knurick (Registered Dietitian, PhD in Nutrition Science)

Episode Overview

In a unique live recording at the Euneumonia Summit in Palm Beach, host Derek Beres sits down with Dr. Jessica Knurick to dissect the dangers of wellness misinformation, the weaponization of public health distrust, and how the so-called "Maha movement" (Make America Healthy Again) manipulates data and public discontent. With decades of combined experience in journalism, academic research, and science communication, Beres and Knurick deliver a candid, insightful discussion on the intersection of cultic wellness, conspiracy, and the urgent need for evidence-based public health reform.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Challenge of Science Communication Online

• Definition Confusion: Many people cannot distinguish between a “nutritionist” and a “registered dietitian.” States have few protections over who can call themselves a nutritionist, leading to widespread misinformation.
  • Dr. Knurick (06:29): "It's a tricky thing because there are...legitimate certifications, like a CMS, that they're nutritionists...But you can be just my next door neighbor who watched a YouTube video...and call themselves a nutritionist."
• Expertise Under Attack: The wellness world often rejects expertise, especially post-COVID, playing into anti-intellectual sentiments.
  • Dr. Knurick (09:55): "Even people who are like anti medical establishment...if they have some sort of medical emergency, they are, I guarantee you, going to want an expert to step in."
• Academia’s Social Media Gap: Historically, academic and medical experts avoided social platforms, which allowed wellness influencers to dominate narratives.

2. Entering the Social Media Fray

• Dr. Knurick returned to public health communication via social media during her pregnancy after encountering rampant misinformation directed at expectant mothers.
  • Dr. Knurick (13:13): "When you're pregnant...you start getting targeted with all of this incredible misinformation...Even me, with my background, started being like, 'Oh my gosh, is that actually detrimental to my baby?'"

3. Maha/Wellness Misinformation and Public Policy

• Wellness influencer-led movements like “Maha” distort scientific findings and erode public trust—often conflating science and policy for political aims.
  • Dr. Knurick (17:54): "They...conflate science with policy all the time...what it intentionally does is it erodes trust and expertise in science so that it makes it really easy for the Trump administration to come in and cut the NIH funding by 50% next year."
• Influencers frequently use fear-based tactics tied to profit motives, stoking health anxieties unnecessarily for personal gain.
  • Dr. Knurick (16:25): "My DMs are filled every single day with people terrified to eat...The amount of health anxiety...is probably the biggest thing for me."

4. Social Determinants of Health: The Real Issue

• The biggest population health drivers are non-individual and rooted in systemic inequalities—poverty, food deserts, education, and healthcare access.
  • Dr. Knurick (21:34): "For the last four decades we have good data that that's the vast majority of the factor that impacts health the most...non-medical factors directly impact health, like poverty, like education access, like healthcare access."
• Wellness influencers rarely address these determinants, focusing instead on marketable, individual interventions.

5. Making Public Health Engaging and Accessible

• Public health’s victories go unnoticed; communication requires meeting people where they are—mainly on social media.
  • Dr. Knurick (26:11): "We need more people kind of doing what I do on social media...and talk about the wins we have, like with the WIC program."
• Positive Note: Maha has at least made people aware of public agencies though often by misrepresenting them.

6. Maha Policy Contradictions and Grievances

• Many Maha talking points are valid (e.g., closing regulatory loopholes), but the movement's proposed solutions contradict their stated values—often advocating for deregulation while calling for more oversight.
  • Dr. Knurick (30:52): "RFK Jr. has talked about closing the [FDA] GRAS loophole...but then they're cutting FDA funding and firing scientists...You can't do both things."
• Both hosts stress the need for logical consistency in supplement and pharmaceutical regulation.
  • Dr. Knurick (36:09): "I want very strong regulation on our pharmaceutical medications and I want very strong regulation on our supplements...they won [against FDA regulation] due to lobbying."

7. The Food Dye Distraction

• Wellness influencers' focus on “petroleum-based food dyes” is largely distraction from more serious issues.
  • Dr. Knurick (38:33): "There's not actual good evidence for what you're saying...It's just not even close to the top of the biggest issues in our country."

8. Maha’s Alignment with Deregulatory Politics

• The movement enables deeper cuts to public health by eroding institutional trust, acting as a tool for deregulatory policies like Project 2025.
  • Dr. Knurick (56:45): "Maha really likes to say that they're apolitical...but the reality is the Maha movement exists for the Trump administration...Their goal is to cut bureaucracies, which is government agencies."

9. Policy Solutions and Hopes

• Concrete steps for improving public health: Expand healthcare and food access, incentivize healthy food choices (e.g., Colorado's Double Up Bucks), support local agriculture, and tailor messaging for broader audiences.
  • Dr. Knurick (44:24): "[Policy needs] to have policies where everyone can at least meet their basic needs...That's what public health is trying to do."
  • Dr. Knurick (44:24): "Policies that expand healthcare access...expand food access...investing in small farms and local food systems...regulate food marketing."

10. The Exhaustion of Debunking and Personal Boundaries

• Both speakers discuss how energy-intensive it is to push back against deep-pocketed wellness figures and misinformation.
  • Dr. Knurick (63:13): "I'm not the best person to answer this because I literally am very tired...I have very good boundaries on social media...I don't engage with my comment section after about an hour."
  • Derek Beres (64:53): "It's exhilarating, but it is also exhausting...sometimes it feels like climbing a mountain you can't get to the top of."

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Science Communication:

  • "I can reach thousands of people, whereas I'm reaching 200 in my classroom." — Dr. Knurick (11:22)
  • "We need more people...doing what I do on social media." — Dr. Knurick (26:11)

• On Wellness Grifters & Health Anxiety:

  • "People are terrified to eat and scared...the amount of health anxiety...is just unnecessary." — Dr. Knurick (16:25)

• On Public Health and Policy:

  • "The only aspect of government that's actually looking out for us." — Dr. Knurick on public health agencies (18:32)
  • "We have to, from a policy perspective, make sure everyone can at least meet their basic needs...people just need to have their basic needs met." — Dr. Knurick (44:24)

• On Maha’s True Purpose:

  • "The Maha movement exists for the Trump administration... Their goal is to cut bureaucracies, which is government agencies." — Dr. Knurick (56:45)

• Audience Q&A on Running for Office:

  • "I just think that would be...Not at this time in my life. Certainly not...I think that I'm just more effective right now as a communicator than I would be like as a freshman congressperson." — Dr. Knurick (53:21)

• On Staying Sane in the Disinformation Wars:

  • "I have very good boundaries on social media...I just kind of, like, let it go." — Dr. Knurick (63:35)
  • "We are lucky to make a livable income...But most of our efforts are on Conspirituality...No supplement companies ever." — Derek Beres (67:19)

Essential Timestamps

• [06:29] - Dr. Knurick on the difference between “nutritionist” and “dietitian”
• [09:55] - Expert distrust and science communication challenges
• [13:13] - Dr. Knurick’s return to social media due to pregnancy misinformation
• [17:54] - Maha's eroding of scientific trust and policy implications
• [21:34] - Social determinants of health as primary health drivers
• [26:11] - On making public health communication more effective
• [30:52] - RFK Jr. and closing the FDA’s GRAS loophole; contradictions
• [36:09] - Supplement regulation and the lobbying that stopped it
• [38:33] - Food dye discourse is a distraction
• [44:24] - Policy solutions: healthcare, food, and social determinants
• [53:21] - Dr. Knurick on whether she’d run for office
• [63:13] - Burnout and boundaries in science communication

Tone and Takeaways

The conversation is candid, analytical, and urgent—peppered with humor and mutual respect. Both speakers stress logic, nuance, and practical reform over fear-based rhetoric. The tone is public-spirited, skeptical, and resolutely pro-science: “Stay skeptical.”

For Further Reference

• Dr. Jessica Knurick’s Instagram and Substack (links in episode notes)
• Conspirituality Podcast Patreon for ad-free episodes
• New York Times video on Maha radicalization (see episode notes)