MAHA’s Selective Skepticism

Summary

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Conspirituality Podcast — Episode: MAHA’s Selective Skepticism (January 17, 2026)

Hosts: Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker
Main Theme:
A sharp critique of the contemporary “MAHA” wellness-influencer movement’s impact on nutrition policy, specifically examining the latest (2026) U.S. Dietary Guidelines under RFK Jr.'s tenure at HHS, their ties to industry, disinformation, and the spread of dietary myths targeting public health efforts.

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Episode Overview

Derek Beres takes the lead in this episode, dissecting the latest U.S. Dietary Guidelines and the cultivated outrage and misinformation by New Age grifters and conspirituality influencers. The central argument: the so-called dietary revolution led by Kennedy’s appointees is largely smoke and mirrors—leaning on selective skepticism, misrepresented science, and outright nostalgia-baiting about decades-old policy.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The History and Politics of School Milk (01:00–04:30)

• USDA School Milk Policy:
  Discussion of how school milk standards (fat-free/low-fat only) were put in place post-2010 Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, and how the Trump administration in 2018 reintroduced higher-fat flavored milk, aided by USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue’s agribusiness ties.
• Industry Influence:
  Dairy industry groups strongly supported regulatory changes favoring their products.
  Quote: “Major dairy industry organizations strongly supported Purdue's move, which at the time... honestly, mostly went unnoticed.” (03:04 - Derek Barras)

2. RFK Jr.’s ‘Scientific’ Food Guidelines: More of the Same (03:57–05:15)

• Kennedy’s Leadership:
  The new “inverted food pyramid”—the so-called “Scientific Foundation for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans”—is heavily compromised, especially with dairy and beef prioritization.
• Expert Ties to Industry:
  Noted that several Kennedy dietary advisors have financial ties to beef, dairy, and pork industries.
  Quote: “Three of the nine members have received grants or done consulting work for the National Cattleman's Beef Association.” (05:34 - Derek Barras quoting NYT)

3. Examining the Nutritional Claims (06:29–08:26)

• Mythbusting Full-Fat Milk:
  Kennedy claims children need full-fat milk for unique nutrients, but these are legally restored (or exceeded) in U.S. low- and non-fat milks via fortification.
  Quote: “...skim and low fat milk are required by law to be fortified with vitamins A and D, which restores or exceeds the original content.” (06:56 - Derek Barras)
• Wellness Myths:
  Natural vs. fortified nutrients: differences are negligible in human trials.
• Conjugated linoleic acid & Omega-3s:
  Their amounts in milk are minimal; health effects are inconsistent or limited.

4. Media Performances and the Obsession with Image (08:56–09:29)

• Cringe-worthy Soundbites:
  Kennedy’s supporters celebrate Trump’s testosterone levels in interviews with right-wing media.
  Quote (re: Dr. Oz): “He's got the highest testosterone level that [Dr. Oz has] ever seen for an individual over 70 years old. I know the President will be happy that I repeat that.” (09:08-09:29 - Kennedy proxy)

5. What is Actually in the Dietary Guidelines? (09:57–11:47)

• Comparing Claims vs. Substance:
  Dr. Jessica Nurik (guest, cited at 09:57) confirms new guidelines largely echo past ones: whole grains, fruits/veg, variety of proteins, limits on saturated fat (<10%), sugars, and sodium remain intact.
  Quote: “Despite all the noise, many of the core recommendations in the new guidelines are not a dramatic departure from previous dietary guidance.” (10:06 - Jessica Nurik via Derek)

6. Manufactured Outrage: Fighting a Ghost (11:10–12:15)

• Meme Battles:
  MAHA influencers fixate on the “food pyramid,” which hasn’t actually guided policy since 2011, choosing to fight obsolete representations rather than address current, largely unchanged recommendations.
  Quote: “Kennedy and crew are battling a 34 year old skeleton.” (11:14 - Derek Barras)

7. Selective Skepticism & Misrepresentation of Scientific Evidence (12:35–13:36)

• Saturated Fat Spin:
  New guidelines wrongly claim RCTs do not support cutting saturated fat; the podcast cites large reviews contradicting this.
  Quote: “The guidelines claim that randomized clinical trials or RCTs don't support saturated fat reduction—Which is completely made up.” (12:49 - Derek Barras)

8. Seed Oil Slander and Ultra-Processed Panic (14:44–18:02)

• “Seed Oil Suck” Narrative:
  Kennedy and others claim linoleic acid is harmful, ignoring robust RCT evidence to the contrary.
  • New studies show vegetable oils are associated with lower cancer and cardiovascular mortality. (15:57-16:27)
• Ultra-Processed Foods:
  The guidelines conflate minimally processed with ultra-processed. They also ignore why people depend on processed foods.
  Quote: “Maha's fetish with the idea that all food should just be pulled from the soil or shot really clouds the issue.” (17:30 - Derek Barras)

9. Misleading Narratives about Protein (19:10–20:19)

• The “Protein War” that Wasn’t:
  Despite claims of a “war on protein,” Americans already dramatically exceed the recommended dietary allowance (RDA). U.S. animal protein consumption is world-leading.
• Environmental Blind Spot:
  The new guidelines focus exclusively on animal protein, avoiding any discussion of environmental costs.
  Quote: “America... consumes more animal protein per capita than every other country except for Iceland. Maybe we're going to take them over next.” (19:39-19:53 - Derek Barras)

10. Fundamental Flaws of MAHA and Wellness Grifters (20:37–22:06)

• Selective Skepticism in Action:
  The movement applies high standards only against disfavored evidence, while accepting weak support for its own claims.
• Not Science, Just Dogma:
  “The fundamental problem with these guidelines, and with MAHA overall, is their selective skepticism... Their recommendations appear science based, but as we're well aware, they actually reflect Kennedy's predetermined viewpoints.” (20:37 - Derek Barras)

11. Final Reflections: Bankruptcy of Values (22:06–22:53)

• Character Matters:
  Kennedy and Trump run government not by evidence, but by principles of activism and image curation—tragically, to the detriment of the nation’s health. Quote: “Tragically for us, the game that Kennedy is playing is going to bankrupt the health of this nation.” (22:46-22:51 - Derek Barras)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Dairy Industry Influence:
  “Three of the nine members have received grants or done consulting work for the National Cattleman's Beef Association.” (05:34 - Derek Barras quoting NYT)
• On Wellness Myths:
  “I know wellness influencers love to claim that fortifying products isn't as good as the natural version, but that's also predominantly...bullshit.” (07:04 - Derek Barras)
• On Manufactured Outrage:
  “Kennedy and crew are battling a 34 year old skeleton.” (11:14 - Derek Barras)
• On Selective Skepticism:
  “Their recommendations appear science-based, but as we're well aware, they actually reflect Kennedy's predetermined viewpoints.” (20:37 - Derek Barras)
• On Environmental Blindspots:
  “It's wild that they repeat natural at every turn when their prescribed actions are destroying nature at such a rapid pace.” (20:37 - Derek Barras)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:00 – The USDA milk controversy and industry influence
• 03:57 – RFK Jr.'s “Scientific” food guidelines and their origins
• 06:29 – Debunking claims about the nutritional superiority of full-fat milk
• 09:08 – Media performances and supporters' cringeworthy claims
• 10:06 – How new dietary guidelines are actually not that new
• 11:10 – Manufactured outrage targeting an obsolete food pyramid
• 12:35 – Discussion of selective skepticism and evidence cherry-picking
• 15:45 – Evidence about seed oils from major studies
• 17:15 – Ultra-processed foods and misleading definitions
• 19:30 – War on protein: a manufactured narrative
• 20:37 – The heart of the problem: selective skepticism revealed
• 22:46 – America’s health at stake; warnings for the future

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Tone and Delivery

Derek’s language is frank, at times caustic and profane (“fucking Paul Saladino and Dave Asprey's feed”), but always focused on exposing contradictions, financial conflicts, and scientific sleights of hand. The overall tone is skeptical, witty, and urgent—aimed at arming the listener with context, evidence, and comedic relief against what the hosts see as the cynical opportunism of modern wellness influencers and allied politicians.

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Summary

This episode is a thorough debunking of the new dietary guidelines' claim to scientific credibility. Derek points out the real continuity with previous recommendations beneath the manufactured media panic, detailing the industry ties, scientific distortions, and odd political grandstanding that color the conversation about nutrition in 2026. With a blend of sharp wit and detailed analysis, the episode gives listeners the context to see through the latest conspirituality-fueled “health” trends and to draw the line between actual science and opportunistic myth-peddling.

Transcript

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[Grandpa]

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[Grandpa]

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[Reggie]

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[Derek Barras]

Wow.

[Grandpa]

Way to go. So about that picture frame.

[Reggie]

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[Co-host or Fact Checker]

The White House held a press conference so that Donald Trump could overturn part of the Healthy Hunger Free.

[Derek Barras]

Kids act of 2010, which required the.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

USDA to update school meal nutrition standards. Starting in 2012, the USDA required schools.

[Derek Barras]

Participating in federal lunch programs to offer.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Only fat free or low fat milk. Full fat and 2% were banned.

[Derek Barras]

While this kind of seems random, there's context for why schools switch to low.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Or no fat options.

[Derek Barras]

There's saturated fat intake because fil full.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Fat milk contains more saturated fat, which guidelines recommend limiting for children.

[Derek Barras]

You have the rising childhood obesity rates, which prompted a focus on reducing calorie.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Density in school meals.

[Derek Barras]

And and so scientific recommendations called for.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Low fat or fat free dairy for children over age 2.

[Derek Barras]

Trump's entire circus that day didn't just.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Happen out of nowhere.

[Derek Barras]

And yes, there are moneyed interest involved.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

In both cases I'm about to discuss.

[Derek Barras]

So first, as of 2012, flavored milk.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Was allowed in schools using federal lunch programs, but it had to be fat free.

[Derek Barras]

Jump ahead to Trump's first administration. In 2018, his administration snuck 1% flavored.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Milk back in under USDA Secretary Sonny.

[Derek Barras]

Perdue, who was a bit of an RFK Jr. Prototype. He was very meat and dairy friendly, coming himself from a family that owned.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

A grain and fertilizer business.

[Derek Barras]

And he also founded Purdue Inc. Which is an agribusiness trading company that.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Deals with a wide range agricultural commodities. And then he was installed at the usda.

[Derek Barras]

Now, unsurprisingly, major dairy industry organizations strongly supported Purdue's move, which at the time.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Honestly, mostly went unnoticed.

[Derek Barras]

But it's 2026 and little about food.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Goes unnoticed in RFK Jr's HHS.

[Derek Barras]

And despite his constant claims of using.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Gold standard science conducted by uncompromised exper.

[Derek Barras]

His new inverted food pyramid, ironically called.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

The Scientific foundation for the Dietary Guidelines.

[Derek Barras]

For Americans, is very loose on science.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

And heavy on compromise, including with the dairy industry.

[Derek Barras]

Today I want to go over some.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Of the problems with the 90 page document that they produced.

[Derek Barras]

I'm Derek Barras and you're listening to A Conspirituality Brief Maha's Selective Skepticism as.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Always, you can find us on Instagram and threads conspiritualitypod. We are all individually on Blue sky.

[Derek Barras]

And you can access all of our episodes ad free, plus our Monday bonus.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Episodes on [e-mail] conspirituality. You can also grab our Monday bonus episodes via Apple subscriptions. I know Julian has been working hard all week on this Monday's bonus, so you're going to want to check that out.

[Derek Barras]

We are independent media creators.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

We spend a lot of time doing this work and if you can afford.

[Derek Barras]

To support us, we would greatly appreciate it.

[Guest or Expert]

During the same period that whole milk was regulated out of lunchroom, rates of childhood obesity and diabetes rose significantly. Removing whole milk did not improve health, it damaged it.

[Derek Barras]

What Talk about grasping Kennedy is the.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

King of spurious correlations, but this is.

[Derek Barras]

A stretch even for him. The title of a recent New York.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Times article puts everything into perspective, however.

[Derek Barras]

Quote several of Kennedy's dietary advisors have.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Ties to meat and dairy interests because of course they do. I'm not going to pretend this revelation is shocking. Kennedy fired everyone on a SIP the Vaccine Advisory Board, then installed a number of his anti vax affiliates. I mean, pretty much every Maha accusation is a confession.

[Derek Barras]

Here's what the New York Times found.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Regarding why beef and dairy is being heavily weighted in the new guidelines.

[Derek Barras]

However, quote three of the nine members.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Have received grants or done consulting work for the National Cattleman's Beef Association.

[Derek Barras]

One of those also received a research.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Grant from and serves as an advisor.

[Derek Barras]

To the National Pork at least three members, including two of the same ones.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Who have done work for red meat groups, have financial ties to dairy industry organizations such as the National Dairy Council.

[Derek Barras]

Another is a co creator of a.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

High protein meal replacement product.

[Derek Barras]

Obviously the experts did not write the guidelines, but produced reviews of scientific evidence.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

On which the guidelines were based on.

[Derek Barras]

So that's how you get an inverted pyramid with beef and full fat milk featured prominently in the upper left quadrant.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Where everyone's eyes first land.

[Derek Barras]

I'll circle back to beef and saturated fat.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

But let's just continue with milk for.

[Derek Barras]

A moment because during the press conference, Kennedy cited nutrients not available in low or no fat milk for the reason why kids need full fat.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

And this is mostly nonsense.

[Derek Barras]

Yes, nutrients are removed when removing fat from milk, but in the us, skim.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

And low fat milk are required by law to be fortified with vitamins A.

[Derek Barras]

And D, which restores or exceeds the original content.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

I know wellness influencers love to claim that fortifying products isn't as good as.

[Derek Barras]

The natural version, but that's also predominantly.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Bullshit and speaks more to their ignorance of chemistry.

[Derek Barras]

Yes, bioavailability is a thing depending on.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

How you int nutrients.

[Derek Barras]

The idea that natural vitamins A and D are more bioavailable has not been.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Shown to be clinically significant in human trials.

[Derek Barras]

So in this case, they have tested.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

It and they haven't found much of a difference.

[Derek Barras]

So major nutrients are not missing from.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Low or no fat options.

[Derek Barras]

And what is missing isn't consequential for health.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

And yeah, they've studied that as well.

[Derek Barras]

Plus, if you're eating a meal with other fats from meat, butter, nuts, and so on, the difference in bioavailability problem is negligible. Specifically, two of the major nutrient profiles.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

That are sometimes discussed in milk are conjugated linoleic acid and omega 3 fatty acids.

[Derek Barras]

With conjugated linoleic acid, it only accounts.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

For less than 5 milligrams per cup of whole milk.

[Derek Barras]

And potential benefits in humans is very.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Limited and inconsistent in clinical trials. And then you get to omega 3 fatty acids. They're also very limited in milk, regardless of the fat content.

[Derek Barras]

As for Trump's claim during the press conference that milk helps cognitive abilities, well.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Hey, maybe he needs to drink a whole lot more than put down the Diet Coke for a minute.

[Derek Barras]

The milk circus is the continuation of the new dietary guidelines, which Kennedy called Trump's food pyramid. And well, you know what? Fuck it, let him own that, because it's not the food pyramid that's upside.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Down, but America at this point.

[Derek Barras]

Here's a clip of Kennedy talking to.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's wife, for her podcast earlier this week, which also kind of shows you where everything originates and is heading.

[Guest or Expert]

He's got his incredible health. Dr. Oz looked at his his medical records and said he's got the highest testosterone level that he's ever seen for an individual over 70 years old. I know the President will be happy that I repeat that.

[Derek Barras]

My God, how just fucking embarrassing when the nightmare of this administration is over. Someone is going to compile and study.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

The amount of kowtowing and bootlicking that has gone in this second Trump administration.

[Derek Barras]

I honestly don't know how these people.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Look at themselves in the mirror, but.

[Derek Barras]

It does speak to how driven they.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Are to complete their own agendas. So let's discuss the dietary guidelines in a little more detail.

[Derek Barras]

Dr. Jessica Nurik, who was a guest on this podcast last month published a substack talking about the flipped pyramid that.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

I'll include in the show.

[Derek Barras]

Notes A number of dietitians, including Jessica, have pointed out something strange about these guidelines. The messaging about them is at times wildly different from what's actually in them, she writes, quote. Interestingly, despite all the noise, many of.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

The core recommendations in the new guidelines.

[Derek Barras]

Are not a dramatic departure from previous dietary guidance. They still promote nutrient dense foods, appropriate calorie intake and portion sizes. They still recommend prioritizing fruits and vegetables. They still recommend whole grains. They still recommend a variety of protein.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Sources from both animals and plants.

[Derek Barras]

They still recommend limiting added sugars and sodium. And they still recommend keeping saturated fat.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Below 10% of total calories.

[Derek Barras]

Which raises the obvious question if the substance is not radically different, why has the messaging been so extreme and misleading?

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

I made an Instagram video the day the guidelines were published pointing out that.

[Derek Barras]

Maha Needs a Ghost to fight for the past year, Maha influencers repeatedly talk about the food pyramid, which hasn't been recommended since 2011. Plus the guidelines are updated every five years by law. So in reality, Kennedy and crew are battling a 34 year old skeleton and it's a ripoff of Sweden's version of the food pyramid, which dates back to the 70s. The reason they would rather fight a memory is because what they're actually saying.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Is not, as Jessica points out, radically.

[Derek Barras]

Different from what's been recommended for years now, especially the 2020 guidelines which I.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Reviewed in my video.

[Derek Barras]

It has an entire section about how diet affects chronic disease.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

This is something Kennedy regularly says has.

[Derek Barras]

Never been discussed before, but you only need a computer to access the fact.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

That yes, it has and it's been publicly available.

[Derek Barras]

Kennedy relies on the fact that most.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

People don't pay attention to federal recommendations.

[Derek Barras]

For them to not realize he's mostly.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Regurgitating the advice of past administrations and.

[Derek Barras]

At least what he gets right, which is something Jessica also points out, but.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

He also gets a lot wrong.

[Derek Barras]

First, the mischaracterization of the evidence for.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Consuming more saturated fats. The guidelines claim that randomized clinical trials.

[Derek Barras]

Or RCTs don't support saturated fat reduction.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Which is completely made up.

[Derek Barras]

As with his anti vax activism, his.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Team cherry picks trials while excluding or dismissing major trials.

[Derek Barras]

They also include trials with methodological flaws, which is something that Kennedy seems to.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Have imported from his non profit Children's.

[Derek Barras]

Health Defense because they do that all the time. And I just want to note that.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

All the studies that I cite moving.

[Derek Barras]

Forward are in the show notes so.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

You can go check out the evidence.

[Derek Barras]

For yourself and you can also save them in case you find some wellness.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Influencers talking bullshit like Kennedy does and then you can share them. I don't know how well that helps, but I am always on the side of presenting good evidence to push back against their nonsense.

[Derek Barras]

The 2017American Heart Association Presidential Advisory concluded that lowering saturated fat intake and replacing it with polyunsaturated vegetable oil reduced cardiovascular disease by approximately 30%, similar to statin treatment effects. Then there's the 2020 Cochrane Systematic Review.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Which analyzed 15 RCTs involving 56,675 participants that found that reducing saturated fat decreased combined cardiovascular events.

[Derek Barras]

More recently, a 2025 Annals of Internal Medicine systematic review of 17 trials that included 66,337 participants found that for people at high cardiovascular risk, reducing saturated fat produced important absolute reductions in mortality and major cardiovascular events. Moving on, Kennedy's guidelines include inflammatory rhetoric against linoleic acid.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Pun intended if you caught that, because.

[Derek Barras]

This is this old seed oil suck argument and to accomplish it they portray linoleic acid as potentially harmful through oxidation, presenting the lipid peroxidation hypothesis as an established harm. Even though RCTs dog don't show adverse.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Clinical outcomes from dietary linoleic acid. No, that's a lot. Again, the studies are all in the show notes.

[Derek Barras]

That review found that lower plasma linoleic.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Acid is associated with a higher cardiovascular risk in observational studies.

[Derek Barras]

Yet the guidelines dismiss this as confounding.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Without bothering to justify their position.

[Derek Barras]

The most recent and comprehensive evidence supporting seed oils comes from a 2025 JAMA internal medicine study which analyzed three large cohorts with 24 years of follow up. This happened when I debated Dave Asprey.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

About seed oils at Eudaimonia Summit and.

[Derek Barras]

I've heard it before from wellness influencers.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

They say there's no long term data on seed oils. It's just absolute bullshit. There's a lot of long term data.

[Derek Barras]

So the JAMA study found that higher.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Intakes of specific plant based oils they looked at canola, soybean and olive oil.

[Derek Barras]

Were associated with lower total mortality every 10 gram a day increment in total plant based oil intake was associated with 11% lower cancer mortality and 6% lower cardiovascular disease mortality. Then we get to Maha's processed food.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Fetish, which is all over the new guidelines.

[Derek Barras]

According to Kennedy, every previous dietary guidelines just loved processed foods. Dr. Jessica Nurik addressed this as well in her substack she writes, quote, the 1992 pyramid did not promote ultra processed foods. It recommended grains, fruits, vegetables, animal and plant proteins and dairy. It emphasized variety and moderation and it explicitly placed fats and added sugars at the top with a clear use sparingly label.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Just like Kennedy regularly conflates obesity and.

[Derek Barras]

Overweight statistics, he regularly confuses processed foods.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

With ultra processed foods.

[Derek Barras]

Processing food can mean anything from cutting.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Vegetables and drying beans to baking bread and canning vegetables. Fermentation is definitionally a process. Pressing olives into oil creates a processed food.

[Derek Barras]

Maha's fetish with the idea that all food should just be pulled from the soil or shot really clouds the issue.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

With how most people get most of their nutrition. Ultra processing means combining extracted ingredients and adding cosmetic additives.

[Derek Barras]

No guidelines have ever advocated for them. They generally don't mention them at all. But this is Kennedy's sleight of hand. These are the first guidelines that tackle.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Them head on and honestly. Great.

[Derek Barras]

But the false dichotomies are rampant throughout the document. Their ultra processed food evidence is entirely observational with severe confounding risks. And some more heavily processed foods like fortified cereals actually improve nutrient intake. But since Kennedy and crew refused to actually grapple with the social determinants of health, they never discuss the reasons why.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

People might need to use their limited food budget on buying things like fortified foods.

[Derek Barras]

The new guidelines minimize the benefits of grains, which I covered more in depth.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

During last week's Monday bonus episode.

[Derek Barras]

I mentioned Kennedy's repeated citation of Japan's wonderful health profile and low obesity rate, which is true. But in reality they eat 50 to 66% of calories from grains and only 15% from protein. So if you want Japanese health profile, why are you advocating for the opposite.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Of what they eat?

[Derek Barras]

And this brings us to the last.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Absolutely bonkers claim of the new guidelines. Or at least of the messaging around the new guidelines. The so called war on protein. Seriously, you've probably seen it. A lot of late night talk show hosts have talk about it. You can find it on rule real food.gov or the guy, which is the guideline site.

[Derek Barras]

The White House posted a dark weird.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Photograph of Kennedy earlier this week claiming he's ending the war on protein in.

[Derek Barras]

America, which consumes more protein than almost any every other nation on Earth and consumes more animal protein per capita than.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Every other country except for Iceland.

[Derek Barras]

Maybe we're going to take them over.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Next, though we may. We'll make them American so we'll be number one there as well.

[Derek Barras]

Besides the fact that around 99% of.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Americans meet or exceed the RDA of.

[Derek Barras]

Protein already, high protein intake requires increased animal product consumption.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

In fact, eating real meat is a specific MAHA demand.

[Derek Barras]

Yet Kennedy, the supposed environmental steward, never mentions the environmental trade offs such a diet entails. Still, this mindset fits perfectly with the individualistic focus of health that wellness profiles.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Are so good at marketing.

[Derek Barras]

It's wild that they repeat natural at every turn when their prescribed actions are destroying nature at such a rapid pace. The fundamental problem with these guidelines, and with MAHA overall, is their selective skepticism. They apply rigorous standards to evidence that contradicts their preferred conclusions while accepting weaker evidence that supports them. Their recommendations appear science based, but as we're well aware, they actually reflect Kennedy's predetermined viewpoints. These new guidelines are written for wannabe biohackers who eat like children, not for.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Functional adults are actually concerned about their health.

[Derek Barras]

And let me just say, I actually know children who ate way better than.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

What I see on fucking Paul Saladino and Dave Asprey's feed.

[Derek Barras]

No matter how many times Kennedy repeats gold standard science, a truly evidence based approach would acknowledge uncertainty, honestly apply consistent evidentiary standards, prioritize RCTs with clinical endpoints, avoid inflammatory language about specific nutrients, consider implementation barriers, and actually address the social determinants of health and recognize limitations of.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

All evidence, not just evidence against preferred positions.

[Derek Barras]

You know all the things that actual experts already do. But Kennedy has never been concerned with evidence. He's trained as an activist lawyer and he's applying the same standards as he.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Has throughout his career. Just like his boss. Growing up in Jersey in the 80s, we all knew Trump was morally bankrupt. He was a fucking punchline.

[Derek Barras]

And this led him to bankrupting most.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Every business he touched.

[Derek Barras]

And somehow, through the forces of modern day America, Trump saw Kennedy and thought.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Yeah, game recognized game.

[Derek Barras]

Tragically for us, the game that Kennedy is playing is going to bankrupt the.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Health of this nation.

[Derek Barras]

And I'm sure as it happens and.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

Continues to happen, they're going to blame.

[Derek Barras]

All the ghosts and never hold up.

[Co-host or Fact Checker]

A mirror to themselves.

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