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In a Senate hearing<\/a> that focused more on vaccines and the safety of the abortion drug mifepristone than the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA) oversight of what Americans eat, President Trump\u2019s nominee for FDA Commissioner said Robert F. Kennedy, Jr<\/a>., the Health and Human Services secretary, had started a grassroots movement around healthy foods.<\/p>\n \u201cChildhood obesity is not a willpower problem, and the rise of early onset Alzheimer\u2019s is not a genetic cause,\u201d Marty Makary said in his opening statement. \u201cWe should be and we will be addressing food as it impacts our health.\u201d<\/p>\n Makary is an accomplished surgeon and public policy researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine. He\u2019s also been an outspoken critic of the medical establishment\u2019s emphasis on disease treatment over prevention for years. Before the presidential election, he emerged as a close Kennedy ally and supporter of his Make America Healthy Again campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n When asked by Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) about the FDA\u2019s controversial list of food additives that are subject to almost no regulation because they\u2019re deemed Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS), Dr. Markary said he\u2019s concerned about chemicals added to food that create inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and alter the gut microbiome<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a body of research now that suggests concern with some of these ingredients. We have to look at those ingredients, and you have my commitment to do so if confirmed as FDA commissioner,\u201d he said. Tuberville also asked him to speed up the timeline on phasing out the use of Red Dye No. 3, which the Biden administration banned at the very last minute<\/a>, and about seed oils, which Kennedy frequently rails against. Most nutritionists say<\/a> there is no evidence that they cause harm.<\/p>\n \u201cSeed oils are a good example of where we could benefit from a consolidation of the scientific research,\u201d Dr. Makary said, \u201cand I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any one ingredient in the food supply that\u2019s making our nation\u2019s children sick.\u201d He added that he\u2019d like to work on a pilot program to make school lunches healthier, although the FDA does not run the school lunch program, the USDA does.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n