Latest news with #SecKennedy
Boston Globe
08-07-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
RFK Jr. promoted a food company he says will make Americans healthy. Their meals are ultraprocessed.
Last week I toured — Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) But an Associated Press review of Mom's Meals menu, including the ingredients and nutrition labels, shows that the company's offerings are the type of heat-and-eat, ultraprocessed foods that Kennedy routinely criticizes for making people sick. Advertisement The meals contain chemical additives that would render them impossible to recreate at home in your kitchen, said Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and food policy expert, who reviewed the menu for The AP. Many menu items are high in sodium, and some are high in sugar or saturated fats, she said. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It is perfectly possible to make meals like this with real foods and no ultra-processing additives but every one of the meals I looked at is loaded with such additives,' Nestle said. 'What's so sad is that they don't have to be this way. Other companies are able to produce much better products, but of course they cost more.' Mom's Meals do not have the artificial, petroleum dyes that Kennedy has pressured companies to remove from products, she noted. Advertisement Mom's Meals' products 'do not include ingredients that are commonly found in ultra-processed foods' such as synthetic food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, certain sweeteners or synthetic preservatives that are banned in Europe, Teresa Roof, a company spokeswoman, said in an email. She did not address the company's use of additives in the foods that make them ultraprocessed. The meals are a 'healthy alternative' to what many people would find in their grocery stores, said Andrew Nixon, U.S. Health and Human Services spokesman, in response to questions about Mom's Meals. Mom's Meals is one of several companies across the U.S. that deliver 'medically tailored' at-home meals. The meal programs are covered by Medicaid for some enrollees, including people who are sick with cancer or diabetes, as well as some older Americans who are enrolled in certain Medicare health insurance plans. Patients recently discharged from the hospital can also have the meals delivered, according to the company's website. It's unclear how much federal taxpayers spend on providing meals through Medicaid and Medicare every year. An Defining ultraprocessed foods can be tricky. Most U.S. foods are processed, whether it's by freezing, grinding, fermentation, pasteurization or other means. Foods created through industrial processes and with ingredients such as additives, colors and preservatives that you couldn't duplicate in a home kitchen are considered the most processed. Advertisement Kennedy has said healthier U.S. diets are key to his vision to 'Make America Healthy Again.' His call for Americans to increase whole foods in their diets has helped Kennedy build his unique coalition of Trump loyalists and suburban moms who have branded themselves as 'MAHA.' In a recent social media post where he criticized the vast amount of ultraprocessed foods in American diets, Kennedy urged Americans to make healthier choices. 'This country has lost the most basic of all freedoms — the freedom that comes from being healthy," Kennedy said.
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Kristi Noem's hospitalisation linked to her visit with RFK Jr to a controversial biohazard lab for Ebola, SARS-CoV-2?
Kristi Noem hospitalised Live Events — SecKennedy (@SecKennedy) Who is Kristi Noem? (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was taken to the hospital on Tuesday after experiencing an allergic reaction, her spokeswoman said. 'She is alert and recovering,' said the statement from department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin, who said the hospital treatment was out of an 'abundance of caution.'She has been among the more high-profile members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, traveling extensively and maintaining a robust social media to a report in The Daily Beast, Noem was hospitalized for an allergic reaction one day after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared a photo of them both visiting a biosafety lab that was temporarily shut down over safety concerns.'With @Sec_Noem and @SenRandPaul inspecting the biological hazard labs at Fort Detrick ,' the Health and Human Services Secretary posted, sharing an image of himself with Noem and GOP Sen. Rand Paul at the Integrated Research Facility in Frederick, Maryland. On Tuesday, Noem was rushed to the hospital via ambulance for an "allergic reaction", DHS' Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast in a statement.'She was transported to the hospital out of an abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering,' McLaughlin said. What promoted Kristi Noem's allergic reaction is yet to be determined and there's no evidence to suggest that the incident was anything more than a bizarre coincidence. Noem is yet to comment on her condition Tuesday, Health Secretary posted a picture with Kristi Noem and Senator Rand Paul when they inspected the biological hazard labs at Fort Detrick. The MAHA Institute, a think tank supporting Kennedy's 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda, posted on X earlier that Noem, Paul, and Kennedy had toured the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases biosecurity lab at Fort Detrick on Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick conducts research on viruses responsible for severe diseases like Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 , as stated on its website. Its core mission includes helping to prevent major public health crises caused by emerging or reemerging infectious diseases and potential biological weapon 53, heads a sprawling department with roughly 260,000 employees handling immigration enforcement, airport security, disaster response and other matters. She has been among the more high-profile members of President Donald Trump's cabinet, traveling extensively and maintaining a robust social media is often the public face of his mass deportation effort, frequently goes out on immigration enforcement operations and has appeared in commercials encouraging immigrants in the country illegally to voluntarily leave the U.S. Before being tapped to head Homeland Security, Noem was a two-term governor of South Dakota, a former member of Congress and a staunch Trump has said she specifically asked Trump for the Homeland Security portfolio because she knew it dealt with Trump's top this year Noem's purse was stolen on Easter Sunday while she was out to dinner with her family. The purse reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash, her keys, driver's license, passport and Homeland Security badge.(With inputs from AP)
Buzz Feed
07-04-2025
- Health
- Buzz Feed
RFK Jr. Is Now Kinda-Sorta Pushing The MMR Vaccine After A Second Child Dies From Measles
A second unvaccinated child died over the weekend in the ongoing Texas measles outbreak, prompting Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to bravely offer tepid support for the vaccine on social media. 'The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine,' Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, wrote at the end of a post memorializing Daisy, an 8-year-old girl who died from what the Texas Department of State Health Services described as measles pulmonary failure. The girl had no underlying conditions and was not vaccinated. 'I came to Gaines County, Texas, today to comfort the Hildebrand family after the loss of their 8-year-old daughter Daisy. I got to know the family of 6-year-old Kayley Fehr after she passed away in February,' Kennedy wrote on social media over the weekend. I came to Gaines County, Texas, today to comfort the Hildebrand family after the loss of their 8-year-old daughter Daisy. I got to know the family of 6-year-old Kayley Fehr after she passed away in February. I also developed bonds with and deep affection for other members of… — Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) April 6, 2025 @SecKennedy / Via Twitter: @SecKennedy Several paragraphs later, he said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was working to ensure pharmacies and state-run clinics have the MMR vaccine, adding, 'The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.' @SecKennedy The 6-year-old was the first U.S. measles death since 2015. Measles is suspected to have played a role in the death of an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico a week later. Following those deaths, Kennedy trumpeted cod liver oil as a treatment for the highly contagious disease, apparently because it contains high amounts of vitamin A. The vitamin can be used to treat measles in a medical setting but is not recommended by experts as an at-home treatment. 'Good nutrition remains a best defense against most chronic and infectious illnesses,' Kennedy wrote in an op-ed for Fox News addressing the outbreak. 'Vitamins A, C, and D, and foods rich in vitamins B12, C, and E should be part of a balanced diet.' Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images He also bragged in a Fox News interview about the government's efforts 'delivering vitamin A' to west Texas. Children there are now being treated for vitamin A toxicity. Kennedy last week laid off 10,000 workers at the nation's top health department. According to The Associated Press, the entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered, with additional hits virtually eliminating programs focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and occupational safety and health. At the Food and Drug Administration, the entire office that drafts regulations on e-cigarettes and other tobacco products was fired, in addition to other staffers who regulate drugs, food and medical devices. 'The FDA as we've known it is finished,' former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said, 'with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.'
Boston Globe
01-03-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
After dismissing outbreak as ‘not unusual,' RFK Jr. says ending measles in Texas is ‘top priority'
The following day, Kennedy described the situation as 'not unusual.' He also appeared to misspeak at the Wednesday Cabinet meeting, claiming that two people had died from the virus. A federal agency spokesman later clarified that the CDC has confirmed only one death. My heart goes out to the families impacted by the current measles outbreak in TX. I recognize the serious impact of this outbreak on families, children, and healthcare workers. Here at • Supported Texas Department of Health through technical assistance and… — Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) In the post, Kennedy details the Department of Health and Human Services' efforts, including providing 2,000 doses of the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine, lab support for tracking the virus, and updating CDC guidelines to include vitamin A for measles management. Advertisement He also notes daily communication with public health officials and providing resources in Low German, the dialect spoken by the Mennonite community where the cases are concentrated. Gaines County, with Kennedy also has a long history of vaccine skepticism, but wrote in the post, 'We will continue to fund Texas' immunization program.' As of Friday, at least 146 people in Texas have contracted the disease, with twenty hospitalized. Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report. Rita Chandler can be reached at
