Fixing Food: A New Start for FDA

One of the lessons from our recent national election is that we are a nation of individuals, not demographics. We change over time and with the circumstances. That’s not only true of our political philosophies, but true of health as well. This has tremendous implications for public health and highlights why health and safety regulatory agencies aren’t succeeding as much as they should. I talked about this issue specifically as it relates to FDA in my book shown above, Fixing Food.

FDA’s Outdated Approach to Food Regulation

FDA’s Human Foods Program began 120 years ago, when we more or less assumed that a policy or recommendation made by experts was appropriate for all. The sciences behind nutrition and food safety were in their infancy. Today, use of up-to-date science is what troubles FDA, not their cumbersome management structure.

Start with nutrition since it’s by far the biggest issue with food. It’s not going to be solved by universal advice. A recent study found that even identical twins shared about the same bacteria in their gut (37%) as unrelated people do (35%). Given the same foods, the twins had different reactions in their blood sugar, insulin levels, and triglycerides. That means that their genes were not the primary explanation for reactions; in fact, it was their environments, health conditions, epigenetics, sex, and microbiomes. What this means is that the one-size-fits-all nutrition advice associated with food labels, MyPlate, and the Dietary Guidelines is outdated.

Read the full piece on my Substack here.