Food Politics

by Marion Nestle
Jul 27 2026

Industry-funded study of the week: Ashwagandha supplements

Here’s how I learned about this one:

KSM-66 ashwagandha may support cognition and sleep in children: Supplementation with KSM-66 ashwagandha root extract in gummy form for eight weeks is well tolerated and may enhance cognitive performance and sleep quality in children between the ages of 6 and 12, according to new research…. Read more

One look and I immediately wanted to know: Who paid for this?

To its credit, NutraIngredients said so right away:

Shri Kartikeya Pharma, India, which manufactures and supplies KSM-66 ashwagandha extract, provided financial support, the test product and a matching placebo for the study.

I dug up the original paper:

  • The study: Saxena A, Lopresti A, Sharif M, Elon N, Suri R and Langade DK (2026) A clinical assessment of the therapeutic effects of Ashwagandha root extract on cognitive performance, sleep, and fatigue in children aged 6–12 years. Front. Nutr. 13:1742138. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2026.1742138
  • Rationale: “Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera L.Dunal) is an adaptogenic herb known to reduce stress and enhance well-being in adults.”
  • Methods: randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, parallel-group trial in children with parent-reported concerns related to attention, concentration, or memory.
  • Results:supplementation significantly improved speed of information processing, and non-significantly improved delayed word recall, Stroop task accuracy, Corsi block span, choice reaction time accuracy, and parent-reported sleep quality.
  • Conclusion: “These findings suggest that an eight-week supplementation with ARE is well tolerated and may enhance cognitive performance and sleep quality in children.”
  • Funding: “The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication.This study was sponsored by Shri Kartikeya Pharma, India, which provided financial support, study intervention (Ashwagandha root extract), and a matching placebo for both study sites. The Sponsor had no role in data analysis, interpretation, or manuscript preparation.”
  • Conflict of interest: “The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.”

Comment

Most of the study results were non-significant; “may enhance” equally means “may not enhance.”  As always, I’m amused by the denial of conflicted interests, as if funding by the maker of the supplement was not sufficient as a conflict.  I think it is.

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Pub date is September 8. Pre-orders through UC Press get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

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Jul 24 2026

Sugar Coated: Now Available for Pre-Order (at a discount!)

I walked into Autumn Leaves Books in Ithaca last week to talk to them about my event there on September 12, and was surprised and delighted to see my forthcoming book with Lisa Sutherland—for the first time!

Its official publication date is September 8.

If you pre-order it through UC Press, you get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

Early Reviews

“An entertaining examination of an industry whose many customers have a sweet tooth.” — Kirkus Reviews

“No one has done more than Marion Nestle to expose the cynical machinations of Big Food, and her collaboration with Lisa Sutherland shows how breakfast cereal is the perfect symbol of that system.”—Mark Bittman, founder of Community Kitchen and Bittman’s

“The cereal box doesn’t just sell food—it manufactures belief. Marion Nestle and Lisa Sutherland reveal how ultra-processed products are marketed as healthy through a carefully engineered blend of regulation, psychology, and design.”—David A. Kessler, MD, New York Times best-selling author of Diet, Drugs and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight and former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration

“Cereal as never before! This book lays bare a fascinating and troubling world of sophisticated food engineering, manipulative marketing and packaging, and profit, and it has been so needed, for so long.”—Kelly D. Brownell, Dean Emeritus and Robert L. Flowers Professor Emeritus, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University

“Nestle and Sutherland bring us the world on a box: the world of nutrition and health claims relating to food products, daffy and ingenious and squirrelly and contentious as only food marketing and diet advice can be. They bring a wry eye to these antics—and will give us clearer eyes in supermarket aisles too.”—Corby Kummer, Executive Director of Food & Society at the Aspen Institute

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Jul 23 2026

Big Food vs. The People: lawsuits against public health measures

A Lighthouse-led international cooperative investigation has produced Big Food vs. The People, a detailed account of how food and beverage companies are filing lawsuits to block public health measures that might induce people to stop buying their products.

In public, the world’s biggest and richest food companies such as Coca Cola, PepsiCola, and Mondelez say they want to be part of the solution. But behind closed doors, they have taken governments to court to delay, dilute, and derail public health laws, which the companies say violate their rights.

These investigations found:

– 239 lawsuits were filed between 2010 and 2025 across Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, the US, the UK, and India against public health policies targeting food and beverages such as front of pack labelling, regulating advertising of junk food to children, soda taxes, and taxes on ultra processed foods.

– The cases add up to 595 years of litigation, representing a significant burden on the governments defending their health policies.

– Of the cases brought by private companies where the plaintiff was identifiable, more than 1 in 3 came from just nine parent groups, led by Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Mondelez.

The Guardian covered this story: ‘If all else fails, sue’: how ultra-processed food firms are using the courts to obstruct health rules.

That’s my quote in the title.

The world’s biggest UPF firms would “not fight so hard” if policies to curb intake of their products were ineffective, said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “The lawsuits tell us that public health measures reduce sales of unhealthful products”….The tactics mirrored those used by the tobacco industry for decades, Nestle said, adding: “Food companies are well trained. They follow the tobacco industry playbook to the letter. When all else fails, sue.”

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Jul 22 2026

A special thank you to readers for comments on “Setting the Record Straight: Calley Means

My post last week, Setting the record straight: Calley Means, generated many comments and correspondence, for which I am most grateful.

I especially want to thank writers who produced their own pieces on this incident.

Additions

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Jul 21 2026

Call for letters of support: Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act

[To subscribers: technical problems with WP Engine prevented this from being sent out yesterday, so I’m trying it again]

I received this request from Thomas Eagen, Senior Health Policy Advisor, Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee:

I am reaching out with big news: Senator Sanders bill, the Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act, is scheduled to be marked-up in the HELP Committee next Wednesday July 22! …,. this legislation would require strong front-of-package warning labels on junk food and restricts companies from using child-directed ads for these products. This includes sugar-sweetened beverages, products high in added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium, and ultra-processed food. The bill includes a statutory definition for ultra-processed foods that excludes products meeting the FDA definition of healthy.

The bill is here at this link.  It is:

(1) To require warning labels on sugar-sweetened foods and beverages, foods and beverages containing high-intensity sweeteners, ultra-processed foods, and foods high in nutrients of concern, such as added sugar, saturated fat, or sodium, (2) to restrict junk food advertising to children.

Childhood Diabetes Reduction Act: Major Sections

Section 101. Health Warning Labeling of Foods; Restriction on Certain Advertisements Directed at Children.

  • Determines that a food or beverage product is considered misbranded if it is a sugar-sweetened beverage, a product with any high-intensity sweetener, an ultra-processed food, or high-in added sugar, saturated fat, or sodium if the product does not include front-of-package labeling specified in the text. T
  • Directs the Secretary to promulgate regulations to apply the labeling requirements to online retailers.
  • Defines the terms high-intensity sweetener, sugar-sweetened beverage, and ultra-processed food.
  • Gives FDA authority to regulate food and beverage marketing or advertising for products required to include front-of-package labeling that is directed at children.

Section 102. National Institutes of Health Research on Nutrition Science.

  • Directs the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand, intensify, and coordinate programs to support nutrition science research and research on the health effects of ultra-processed food.
  • Directs the NIH Director to convene a meeting of stakeholders to discuss research efforts aimed at improving nutrition and reducing the incidence of diet-related chronic disease.

Section 103. Nutrition and Physical Activity Public Education Campaign.

  • Directs the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collaborate with national, State, Tribal, local partners, and nutrition and physical activity organizations to develop a public campaign to educate the public on how to read and understand the new labeling described in Section 2, the health risks associated with obesity, inactivity, and poor nutrition, ways to incorporate physical activity into daily living, ways to reduce risk of chronic illness, benefits of good nutrition, and strategies improve eating and drinking habits.

Section 202. Restriction on Advertisements for Junk Food Directed at Children; Required Disclosure of Any Health and Nutrient Warning Label in Advertisements.

  • Makes it unlawful for any person to market, advertise, produce, or distribute advertisement or marketing material for junk food that is child-directed advertising.

Requires the disclosure of any required front-of-package labeling described in Section 101 of this Act.

Section 203. Restoring the Federal Trade Commission’s Ability to Promulgate Rules on Children’s Advertising.

Removes the provision in the Federal Trade Commission Act that prevents the Federal Trade Commission from promulgating rules related to children’s advertising. [YES! And about time, too]

CALL FOR SUPPORT

Eagan writes: We would greatly appreciate if you were able to send a letter of support, post on social media, or express support in any other way. Please feel free to share this information with anyone else in your network who might be able to help as well. We need as much support as possible to combat the likely opposition from the food and beverage industry!

If you would like to lend your support, the easiest way to do it is this:

  • Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your senator’s office.
  • Tell the receptionist your name, that you are a constituent, the specific bill you support, and ask them to relay your support to the HELP Committee.
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Jul 17 2026

Weekend playing: food trade around the world

Someone sent me this new interactive site. from Our World in Data: How does food get traded around the world? 

It’s fun and useful.

Scroll down the page until you come to the impossibly complicated chart on global maize trade in 2023.  Ignore it.

Above it are places where you can type in the product you want to look at, and the country that imports or exports it.

I started by  switching the country to the United States.

 

 

Then I switched to yoghurt:

See what I mean?  Enjoy!

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Pub date is September 8. Pre-orders through UC Press get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

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Jul 16 2026

You think food prices are rising? They are!

If you, as I am, are shocked by the cost of groceries, we now have the data.  The Economist has been tracking food prices, in this case for a Fourth of July barbecue.

Its “unappetizing conclusion”—

Across the 25 cities in our sample, the basket now costs an average of $81, 12% more than a year ago, the fastest annual increase in a decade …. That far outpaced grocery-price inflation of less than 3%, reflecting the unusually sharp increases in several items in our barbecue basket…Over the past five years the basket has risen in price by over 40%, roughly twice as fast as median pay across the cities surveyed. The typical worker must now labour 16 minutes longer than in 2020 to afford the spread.

The smallest rises have been in pototoes, with potato crisps (chips), beer, pork sausage, and bread also not going up by much.

The sharpest rises are seen for steak, Coca-Cola (really?), and ground beef.

I wish The Economist would do this for a lot more foods.

Lettuce isn’t doing too badly.  Salads everyone?

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Pub date is September 8. Pre-orders through UC Press get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

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Jul 15 2026

What has MAHA accomplished to date?

Background (numbers refer to citations at the end)

The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) commission set an important goal, albeit one ironically similar to Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move” campaign: end childhood chronic disease.[1] Unfortunately, hallucinated references in the report suggested that at least some of it had been written by AI, thereby detracting from its scientific credibility.[2]

Trying to achieve this goal is surely difficult within the context of drastic staff reductions in the HHS and USDA agencies responsible for food policy, and of the deliberate undermining of public confidence in basic public health measures like water fluoridation and vaccination; these actions will harm child health, not improve it.

Also, policies of EPA (approving PFAS, encouraging coal-burning power plants), of USDA (eliminating farm-to-school programs [3], cutting school meal budgets), and of presidential executive orders (glyphosate[4]) directly oppose MAHA goals.

MAHA promises

In September 2025, the commission outlined its strategies.[5]  Here are its main promises about food, and my understanding of what has been done about them to date.  [Stat lists non-food ones as well.  I wrote about its report here]

  1. Issue the 2025-2030 dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs)[6] and new food guide.[7] Accomplished. I wrote about them here.  They have some strengths (eat real food; limit ultra-processed foods), but are undermined by errors, inconsistencies, and ideological interpretations of inconvenient science. More recent recommendations of the American Heart Association better reflect scientific consensus.[8]
  2. Eliminate petroleum-based food colors. Accomplished, but voluntarily. To date, 27 food companies have agreed to replace these dyes with those derived from plant sources.[9]  Voluntary could mean that the change won’t last; these foods will still be highly processed.
  3. Establish post market review of chemical additives in food. In progress, but no rulemaking or regulation as yet.
  4. Define ultra-processed foods (UPFs) for research and policy. In progress, but rumored to be held up.
  5. Develop a front-of-pack nutrition information logo. In progress, but rumored to be held up. RFK Jr has stated that the FDA is working on one with traffic light colors. We haven’t seen it yet.
  6. Close the GRAS (generally recognized as safe food additive) loophole. In progress, but no rulemaking as of yet. [10]   It is hard to know how the FDA will do this, given that it has lost 20% of its staff.[11]
  7. Improve nutrition and safety standards for Infant Formula. In progress.[12]  Operation Stork Speed is supposed to review nutrition standards and test for heavy metals, but says nothing about microbial safety, a huge issue right now.  The FEA is checking for heavy metals, and isn’t finding much.  A program to monitor foods in general for heavy metals has been announced.  Microbial safety?  I’m not hearing much about stronger regulation of infant formula.
  8. Promote breastfeeding. Nothing on this. 
  9. Improve quality of food served to veterans. In progress. Presumably, this will happen as a result of the dietary guidelines, but I’ve not seen rules.
  10. Serve healthy food in hospitals.  In progress. A letter was sent to hospitals saying that federal benefits would be withheld if they did not comply.[13] And HHS has just urged hospitals to take ‘Make Hospital Food Healthier’ pledge.  This is voluntary, and it is not clear whether or how tit will be enforced. Also, medical schools have been asked to increase hours devoted to nutrition instruction, and some have agreed. Again, this is voluntary.[14] 
  11. Set guidelines to limit the direct marketing of UPFs to children. Nothing on this.
  12. Promote whole, healthy foods across its 16 nutrition programs. In progress. Presumably, this will happen as a result of the dietary guidelines, but no rules yet.
  13. Encourage state SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) waivers.  Accomplished (maybe). The USDA has approved waivers for 23 states as of July 2026.[15]  These ban the use of federal SNAP dollars for sugar-sweetened beverages and, in some states, candy and other sweets. Will the waivers improve the diet and health of participants?  We don’t know yet.  But since July 2025, SNAP enrollments have dropped by 10% overall and by much greater percentages in some states; losses include more than 800,000 children in the 13 states that report these data.[16]  Advocates expect the waivers to make participation even more difficult.[17]  Furthermore, the state SNAP waivers are being litigated, and some have been blocked.  The waivers may not last.
  14. Provide MAHA Boxes to SNAP participants. I’ve heard nothing on this yet.
  15. Food Deregulation: Remove restrictions on whole milk sales in schools, allowing full-fat dairy options alongside reduced-fat alternatives. Accomplished.[18]  Will this make a difference to kids’ health?  I doubt it.
  16. Education campaign based on the updated dietary guidelines. Nothing on this yet.  NOTUS reports: “the White House killed an RFK Jr. ad campaign. He can blame Kristi Noem: Trump officials abruptly canceled the health campaign focused on processed food and diabetes over cost and image concerns.

Comment

This administration counts much of the work in progress as MAHA wins,[19] but the actual accomplishments seem limited.  The promises most likely to make a real difference to child health—regulation of ultra-processed foods and marketing to kids, better food in schools, a major education campaign—are either held up, ignored, or still waiting for rulemaking.

When I said something like this to Calley Means at the Aspen Ideas Festival (see yesterday’s post), he pointed out that MAHA has had only had a year and a half to get things done, whereas advocates like you, Marion, had been trying to do these things for decades and failed.  We did fail, but MAHA has (or had) the power. I hoped they would be able to use it .  Their inability to do is is disappointing, as is their taking credit for actions they haven’t yet taken.

References

[1] The MAHA Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment. May 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/WH-The-MAHA-Report-Assessment.pdf.

[2] Jacobs P.  Trump officials downplay fake citations in high-profile report on children’s health.  Science.  May 30, 2025.  doi: 10.1126/science.zmgabo5.

[3] Brown M.  USDA cancels $1B in local food purchasing for schools, food banks. Politico, March 10, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/10/usda-cancels-local-food-purchasing-for-schools-food-banks-00222796

[4]  The White House.  Promoting The National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply Of Elemental Phosphorus And Glyphosate-Based Herbicides.  Executive Orders, February 18, 2026. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/02/promoting-the-national-defense-by-ensuring-an-adequate-supply-of-elemental-phosphorus-and-glyphosate-based-herbicides/

[5] MAHA.  Strategy Report: Make Our Children Healthy Again. September 2025.   https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/The-MAHA-Strategy-WH.pdf

[6] HHS, USDA.  Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030.  chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://cdn.realfood.gov/DGA.pdf.

[7] USDA.  Real food wins.  https://realfood.gov/.

[8] Lichtenstein AH, Khera A, Anderson CAM, et al. 2026 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health: A scientific statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2026;153(18):e1285-e1295. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0000000000001435.

[9] FDA.  Tracking Food Industry Pledges to Remove Petroleum Based Food Dyes. June 16, 2026.  https://www.fda.gov/food/color-additives-information-consumers/tracking-food-industry-pledges-remove-petroleum-based-food-dyes.

[10] HHS.  HHS Secretary Kennedy Directs FDA to Explore Rulemaking to Eliminate Pathway for Companies to Self-Affirm Food Ingredients Are Safe.  March 10, 2025.  https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/revising-gras-pathway.html

[11] Akst J.  FDA hiring 2,200 people to staff up after last year’s DOGE cuts. BioSpace, June 24, 2026.  https://www.biospace.com/fda/fda-hiring-2-200-people-to-staff-up-after-last-years-doge-cuts

[12] HHS.  HHS, FDA Announce Operation Stork Speed to Expand Options for Safe, Reliable, and Nutritious Infant Formula for American Families.  March 18, 2025. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/operation-stork-speed.html.

[13] HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  Letter to Hospital/CAH Providers.  Hospital nutrition service obligations in light of updated federal nutrition guidelines.  March 30, 2026.  https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qssam-26-03-hospital-cah-original-release-2026-03-30.pdf.

[14] HHS.  Secretary Kennedy Announces Historic Development in Nutrition Accreditation Standards, New Medical School Pledges. June 8, 2026.  https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/secretary-kennedy-announces-historic-development-nutrition-accreditation-standards-new-medical-school-pledges.html

[15] USDA. SNAP food restriction waivers. Undated.  https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/waivers/foodrestriction

[16] Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. SNAP Tracker: People Are Losing Food Assistance as the Republican Megabill Is Implemented. June 22, 2026.  https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-tracker-people-are-losing-food-assistance-as-the-republican-megabill

[17] Food Research & Action Center.  SNAP food restriction waivers. Undated. https://frac.org/snap-restrictions

[18] USDA.  Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 – Implementation Requirements for the National School Lunch Program.  January 14, 2026.  https://www.fna.usda.gov/nslp/wmfhka-implementation

[19] HHS.  Celebrating Big Wins of the Trump Administration.  Undated.  https://www.hhs.gov/hhs-big-wins-maha/index.html

[20] Wallace-Wells D.  Has the MAHA Movement Given Up?New York Times, July 3, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/03/magazine/maha-movement-survival-rfk.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

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Pub date is September 8. Pre-orders through UC Press get a 30% discount. Use promo code UCPSAVE30.

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