⚡️ NIMITZ HEALTH NEWS FLASH ⚡️ 

“Better Meals, Fewer Pills: Making Our Children Healthy Again”

House Committee on Oversight Health Care and Financial Services Subcommittee

September 9th, 2025 (recording linked here)

WITNESS & TESTIMONY

• Dr. Dorothy Fink, M.D.: Acting Assistant Secretary for Health and Head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• Dr. Eve Stoody, Ph.D.: Director, Nutrition Guidance and Analysis Division, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, U.S. Department of Agriculture

HEARING HIGHLIGHTS

MEMBER OPENING STATEMENTS

• Chair Grothman (R-WI) argued that children faced worsening mental and physical health, citing high ineligibility for military service, increased behavioral diagnoses among Medicaid-enrolled children, and a surge in child psychiatrists without clear benefit. He contended that kids were over-medicalized while consuming ultra-processed foods, contributing to an obesity epidemic alongside a 24-pound national weight gain since 1960. He praised the Trump administration, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, and highlighted the May 22 “Make America Healthy Again” report’s call for prevention and farmer-centered health. He urged bipartisan action to confront the processed-food industry and introduced the federal witnesses.

• Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) asserted that HHS and USDA had worsened children’s health by cutting SNAP and Medicaid and by undermining trust in vaccines. He warned that policy changes would strip coverage from millions and shutter hospitals, harming access to care, and he criticized RFK’s rhetoric on vaccines while noting even President Trump’s support for vaccination. He detailed his own efforts on youth vaping, heavy metals in baby food, and student mental health access. He concluded that Congress must hold HHS and USDA accountable to truly improve children’s health.

WITNESS OPENING STATEMENTS

• Dr. Fink framed childhood chronic disease as preventable and potentially reversible through evidence-based nutrition, physical activity, and lifestyle interventions. She cited troubling trends—including prediabetes in roughly one-third of adolescents, rising obesity, earlier puberty in girls, and declining testosterone and sperm counts in boys—and linked them to diet and environmental exposures. She outlined HHS initiatives such as promoting breastfeeding, ensuring safe formula access (Operation Stork Speed), updating the Dietary Guidelines, expanding nutrition education, restoring the Presidential Fitness Test, and pairing any SSRI use with careful monitoring and non-pharmacologic supports. She concluded that under President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, HHS committed to “Make America Healthy Again” by reducing medication dependence and improving children’s long-term health.

• Dr. Stoody testified that U.S. children averaged a Healthy Eating Index score of 54/100, with diets high in added sugars and refined grains—driven by desserts, sugary drinks, and salty snacks—and low in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, dairy, and adequate protein for many girls. She noted that about one-third of youth had overweight or obesity and a similar share had prediabetes, with youth obtaining roughly 62% of calories from ultra-processed foods and half not consuming a fruit or vegetable on a given day. She described USDA/HHS actions including developing a uniform definition of ultra-processed foods, issuing SNAP waivers to restrict soda and candy purchases, purchasing fresh produce and seafood for nutrition programs, and co-developing the next Dietary Guidelines. She emphasized collaboration across federal, state, and community partners to support healthier choices and outcomes for families.

QUESTION AND ANSWER SUMMARY

• Chair Grothman asked Dr. Fink to compare today’s youth obesity with past decades and probed whether excess calories—not scarcity—drove the crisis; he then pressed both witnesses on restricting sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods in SNAP. Dr. Fink said youth obesity had at least quadrupled since the 1970s and argued HHS aimed to shift care from “sick care” to prevention through nutrition and activity. Dr. Stoody said USDA had approved 12 state waivers to limit SNAP purchases of soda and candy and emphasized multi-sector action; Dr. Fink endorsed federal involvement alongside family education to help reverse prediabetes through whole foods.

• Ranking Member Krishnamoorthi challenged HHS leadership by tying RFK Jr. to Epstein/Maxwell and pivoted to LGBTQ youth mental health, asserting HHS ended a specialized 988 line amid rising need; he also linked tariff-driven produce price spikes and SNAP cuts to reduced access to healthy food. Dr. Fink declined to discuss Epstein, affirmed vaccine benefits generally, and reiterated HHS’s focus on metabolic disease and SNAP waivers limiting junk food; Dr. Stoody said she lacked price specifics and deferred tariff questions to USDA’s Economic Research Service.

• Rep. Sessions (R-TX) asked for concrete definitions and examples of “ultra-processed foods” and how nutrition guidance reaches pregnant women and children. Dr. Stoody explained NOVA-style classification, noted debate over items like yogurt or bagged salads, and described dissemination via the Dietary Guidelines, WIC education, and broader campaigns, adding the conversation itself was elevating childhood nutrition salience.

• Rep. Randall (D-WA) underscored food insecurity and asked about health effects of poor nutrition and the impact of SNAP/TEFAP cuts and school-meal access. Dr. Stoody said poor diets correlated with worse school performance, one-third adolescent prediabetes, and lifelong health risks; Dr. Fink affirmed nutrition’s centrality but focused on reforming programs and updating Dietary Guidelines, drawing criticism for not directly conceding harm from funding cuts.

• Rep. McGuire (R-VA) highlighted MAHA data on obesity, prediabetes, and depression, asked about sedentary lifestyles, and cited the executive order reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test; he also asked about harms from ultra-processed diets and rural access solutions. Dr. Fink linked inactivity and diet to metabolic and brain effects and supported school fitness testing; Dr. Stoody said over-consumption of ultra-processed foods related to higher weight and risk factors and flagged new Farm-to-School grants to channel local foods to kids.

• Rep. Bell (D-MO) pressed Dr. Fink to affirm vaccines as science-based and lifesaving and tied misinformation to measles resurgence. Dr. Fink stated she vaccinates patients and said communities need gold-standard evidence to make rational decisions.

• Rep. Gill (R-TX) questioned USDA’s use of “health equity” as a “central lens” in the 2025 Dietary Guidelines process and alleged conflicts of interest (e.g., a DGAC member linked to Beyond Meat). Dr. Stoody said the prior administration set that charge, called equity one lens among many, and noted conflicts are reviewed by ethics counsel, without opining on specific cases.

• Rep. Simon (D-CA) criticized RFK Jr.’s leadership, referenced a letter calling for his resignation, and asked why USDA cut local food programs supporting school meals and food banks. Dr. Stoody said she was appearing in a nutrition-expert capacity and would take the question back for a formal response.

• Rep. Subramanyam (D-VA) warned that relocating USDA would drain expertise, citing prior ERS/NIFA moves, and asked whether employees had been surveyed and if retaliation risks existed; he also cataloged USDA’s child-nutrition roles. Dr. Stoody confirmed an open comment process and encouragement to provide feedback, listed programs (school meals, WIC), and declined to speculate on staffing impacts.

• Rep. Crockett (D-TX) tied tariffs, farm bankruptcies, and program cuts to rising hunger and disease and confronted Dr. Fink with her prior pro-vaccine presentation, asking whether she or the Secretary was right. Dr. Fink began to emphasize “gold-standard evidence” and metabolic disease priorities; Crockett concluded the administration’s actions undermined public health.

• Rep. Bell clarified that “health equity” includes all poor children regardless of race and entered materials critical of RFK Jr.’s leadership. He urged following data consistently across issues.

• Chair Grothman cited rising youth pharmaceutical use and asked if HHS/FDA were studying impacts and how to reverse over-medication. Dr. Fink said many children were medicated rather than treated upstream; she advocated “fewer pills, better meals,” root-cause approaches, and embedding nutrition education in medical training.

  Chair Grothman asked how Fink reversed diabetes/obesity in practice. Dr. Fink described individualized counseling on diet timing/content, post-meal glucose checks, walks after meals to blunt glycemic spikes, and using medication when needed while prioritizing lifestyle change for durable control.

• Rep. Bell welcomed bipartisan focus on obesity (crediting both Let’s Move and current efforts) and urged rejecting conspiracies, following science, and applying data consistently across public-health decisions.

• Chair Grothman concluded by praising RFK Jr. for confronting pharmaceutical and junk-food interests, reiterated concerns about military ineligibility and SNAP growth, and closed the hearing by encouraging continued disruption of the public-health status quo and thanking the witnesses.