I’m a big fan of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crusade to improve the nation’s health. I even have a “Make America Healthy Again” bumper sticker plastered on my car.
Let’s hope that both parties can come together to tackle the scourge of obesity, diabetes, and other disabling conditions related to bad diets. It’s a national scandal that America has some of the highest rates of these diseases and thus one of the lowest life expectancy rates of any advanced economy in the world.
But what won’t improve health is initiatives that come from the Left and the Right to ban certain foods and drinks. Remember the crusade in New York to ban certain sugary drinks and “Big Gulps”? It was a spectacular flop.
I must confess that I eat way more sugar and junk food than is good for me, but I don’t ever want the nutrition police telling me I can’t have that chocolate donut or a greasy hamburger. That’s why Kennedy’s crusade against seed oils, which have been a widely accepted part of the American diet for decades, is wrongheaded.
Kennedy charges that the public is being “unknowingly poisoned” by seed oils. It’s a strong charge. But the verdict is still out on this. Don’t forget the many examples of the health “experts” instructing us to eat this food but not that one, only to be proven wrong. Beef was thought to be bad for you, then good for you, then bad for you.
The latest health controversy is over whether to ban seed oils, which are are composed of unsaturated fats. But the American Heart Association recommends cooking with seed oils. Doing so, it says, is “smart for your heart.”
As pointed out by Christopher Gardner, a professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, the health police are “attributing the adverse health consequences [of ultra-processed food] to the seed oils, when, in fact, it’s the junk food as a whole. It’s the sugar, the salt, the added ingredients.”
McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s stopped using beef tallow in 1990 for dietary reasons. The result was a nearly 50% reduction in the saturated fats in their French fries. Now we’re told they should switch back. It’s hard to detect any scientific consensus here.
So why not let consumers be confronted with the evidence and choose themselves? Why should this be different than going to the grocery store and making your own selection of Coke or Diet Coke or Coke Zero — or fruit juice instead?
We could probably be healthier if we just ate fruits and nuts and no fats, sugar, or carbs. But the joy of eating would be lost. No thanks. I just want the frying oil that makes the French fries taste better.
As an economist, my worry is that a ban on seed oils could cause higher prices and food supply chain disruptions. Food manufacturers might have to reformulate and repackage thousands of food products, which would likely cost billions of dollars.
Those costs would be passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices. The White House might want to keep in mind that a major reason President Donald Trump won the election was his promise to bring “Bidenflation” to an end — especially high grocery prices. A ban would drive up food prices.
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A crackdown on the seed oils would also do harm to our farmers and workers in rural America. According to an economic analysis by Purdue University, this sector contributed $170 billion to gross domestic product in 2022.
Consumers, armed with reliable information on the nutritional profiles of different products, can make their own decisions about what to eat and drink. As bad as the country’s health outcomes often are, let’s not trust the government in Washington to keep us healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Stephen Moore is a former senior economic adviser to President Donald Trump. He is a co-founder of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.