Bobby Jindal, a former principal adviser to the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services and governor of Louisiana, said Sunday on Newsmax that he agrees with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that the growth of chronic disease in the United States can be linked with the extreme consumption of ultraprocessed foods.
"Let's look at the rise of chronic diseases in America," Jindal said on Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda." "We have an epidemic. You see the rise in autism, obesity, and cardiovascular disease. It is 90% of our healthcare spending. It is eight of the 10 leading causes of death. Two million lives in America are lost every year due to these chronic diseases."
The left, meanwhile, "overreacted" to COVID, but are "underreacting to the epidemic of chronic disease," said Jindal.
"I applaud [Kennedy] for taking on additives in our foods," he said. "He zeroed in at this point on artificial food dyes, petroleum-based food dyes, and American consumers."
The nation's parents also deserve to know what is in their children's food, said Jindal.
"Think about this giant loophole in the FDA's laws right now," he said. "Food companies are supposed to report to the FDA when they put additives in our foods. But there's a giant loophole. Well, first of all, they don't have to do that. They've added over 1000 additives since 1997 without the FDA really analyzing or studying those additives."
Further, scientists are often "conflicted" because the companies making the additives hired them, said Jindal.
"They pay them as consultants, or they even use their own employees," he said. "Talk about a conflict of interest."
The former governor pointed out that in the United States, there are over 6,000 additives in the nation's food, while in European nations, there are just over 400.
"Why the disparity? Because they're serious about testing their additives," he said. "Go north to our neighbors up in Canada … when you buy a box of Froot Loops in Canada, they don't have those dyes. They have naturally occurring dyes. They have plant-based dyes, they have vegetable-based dyes."
This means that companies can make products without artificial additives but refuse to stop the additives in food sold in the United States, Jindal said.
"The FDA should audit over 1,000 of the additives that are in our foods," he added. "Secondly, Congress should pass a law saying companies should have to disclose to the FDA when they put these additives in our foods. And third, there should be a ban on these conflicts of interest. If we're going to have studies to see if these additives are safe, the scientists shouldn't be being paid by the companies that are trying to put these additives in the first place."
Meanwhile, more money is spent on health in the United States, but "we have worse healthcare outcomes," said Jindal.
"RFK is right," he added. "We've seen in our lifetimes, just growing up around us, we've seen the rise in anxiety. We've seen the rise in obesity.
"We've seen the rise in cardiovascular disease. We have some of the best doctors and health care providers in the world right here in America. And yet our outcomes aren't better than in other countries."
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