who to know
Meet MAHA's food industry power players
Christine Kao/STAT
The Make America Healthy Again movement has a lot of the food industry on edge. As ultra-processed foods become a major government priority, titans like PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, and Nestle are on the defensive. But there's a smaller contingent of companies with food products that align with this vision of a healthy diet — and they stand to benefit.
This rising class of power players is intertwined, sharing health-conscious reputations and also personal and professional ties with some of the MAHA movement's most prominent leaders. Read the latest in STAT's "Who to Know" series from Sarah Todd on the companies riding the MAHA wave, and how experts in food politics view them. (Quiz: Can you guess which corporate salad company on the list just added air-fried French fries to the menu? Seed-oil free, of course.)
kids these days
(Don't) Get Ready With Me
If you're online at all, and especially if you're on Tiktok, you've likely seen a Get Ready With Me video. Usually teens and adults, but sometimes young kids, will post these vertical videos walking the viewer through their purported daily skin care routine. Now, a study published in Pediatrics has analyzed the content of videos like this that are by and for kids, reaching a firm conclusion: "They offer little to no benefit for the pediatric populations they are targeting."
After reviewing 100 different videos from kids ages 7 to 18 on the social media platform, researchers found that morning regimens typically featured about 6 products, costing an average of $168 for an estimated month's supply. The combination of so many products with many active ingredients could irritate young people's skin, exposing them to both allergies and sun damage. (A self-identified "Sephora kid" said in one video that I watched: "Apparently this stuff has retinol in it. Have to use a lot!") Only a quarter of the creators included sunscreen in their routine — largely agreed to be the most important skin care product anyone could use.
This is admittedly a small study, but it takes a peek into a much wider phenomenon. For the New Yorker last summer, Jia Tolentino performed a version of this experiment herself, then went to a Brooklyn Sephora to see the tween chaos live in action. As usual, it's an engrossing read.
first opinion
What does 'gold standard' really mean?
Last month, President Trump issued an executive order titled "Restoring Gold Standard Science," which claims that the document's aim is to safeguard scientific rigor, prevent misconduct, and restore public trust in government-funded science. Two authors of a new First Opinion are calling B.S.
"Beneath this golden gloss lies a return to strategies that threaten to weaken federal science, dismiss scientific findings, and open the door to political manipulation of evidence-based policy," write scientists Jacob M. Carter and Gretchen T. Goldman. The tactic isn't a new one, they argue, but rather goes back to maneuvers pioneered by tobacco companies in the 1990s. Read more on the risks they see in the order.
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