Kennedy launches new nutrition education medical school partnership: 'This is how we implement the MAHA agenda'

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday launched a new partnership with more than 50 medical schools across the country on teaching nutrition education.

“Together, with the Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, I’m pleased to announce a transformative breakthrough in medical education that will reshape the way that we train doctors in our country and deliver on President Trump’s promise to end the chronic disease epidemic in America,” Kennedy said at a press conference. 

“Fifty-three medical schools across 31 states are driving the national movement to champion nutrition education, reshape the future of medical training. Beginning this fall, these schools will require every medical student to complete 40 hours of comprehensive nutrition education or competency equivalent before graduating,” the secretary added.

“More than 30,000 physicians each year will now graduate equipped with nutrition education to help prevent, treat and reverse chronic disease,” he continued. “This is how we implement the MAHA agenda, this is how we ‘Make America Healthy Again.'”

According to a fact sheet on the HHS website, the competency program features 71 requirements for students to reach, including understanding “the principles of a balanced diet according to the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans,” which the White House unveiled in January.

Some parts of the new dietary guidelines have received praise from medical and dietary figures, but there have been questions about and criticism of Kennedy’s “upside-down” food pyramid.

The fact sheet also stated that $5 million is being put toward medical and health education programs that incorporate nutrition education in their instruction by HHS.

Kennedy has historically slammed additives in food and food that is ultra-processed and pledged to end what he has referred to as “war on saturated fats.” 

The HHS secretary and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have also headed up a movement to limit the buying of foods like soda and candy by recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Last spring, Kennedy also unveiled an initiative for the phasing-out of artificial, petroleum-based food dyes.