WASHINGTON — “Sugar is poison, and Americans need to know,” said Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Secretary of Health and Human Services. Suggesting Americans should consume none, Kennedy attacked sugar during an April 22 news conference discussing plans for the phasing out of synthetic food dyes.

“It is poisoning us,” he said. “It’s giving us a diabetes crisis. When I was a kid, I always say this, a typical pediatrician would see one case of diabetes in his lifetime. Today, it’s one out of every three kids who walk through his office door. In our most recent study from NIH, 38% of American teens. It’s half our adult population. This is existential. We are spending as much on mitochondrial disorders like diabetes as we spend on our military budget. We can’t continue to exist like this. The problem is, industry is making money on keeping us sick.” 

Responding to Kennedy’s remarks, Courtney Gaine, PhD, president and chief executive officer of The Sugar Association, voiced confidence that sound, independent scientific research will reaffirm that sugar has an appropriate place in a healthy diet.

“Secretary Kennedy has promised gold standard scientific reviews to support healthy diets, which we are confident will again reaffirm that real sugar in moderation plays an important part in balanced diets and that demonizing added sugars alone is counterproductive,” Gaine said. “In fact, real sugar has been consumed for millennia, added sugars are some of the most studied ingredients in the food supply, and consumption in the United States is at its lowest in 40 years, while obesity continues its relentless rise.”

In the news conference, Kennedy conceded that sugar was unlikely to disappear from the US food supply. 

“I don’t think that we’re going to be able to eliminate sugar, but I think what we need to do probably is give Americans knowledge about how much sugar is in their products,” he said.

Ratcheting up his language, he cited author Mark Hyman, who has characterized sugar as highly addictive, and falsely claimed the HHS recommends children consume large amounts from birth.

“He (Hyman) talks about how dangerous sugar is, and how it’s as addictive as crack,” Kennedy said. “Our children are addicted to it from when they’re little kids. Our agency recommends, I think, a huge amount of sugar for kids from when they’re born. It is hurting them, and it’s addicting them, and it’s changing their taste buds so that they crave it. It’s disabling our population.”

Kennedy said the upcoming Dietary Guidelines for Americans will recommend how much sugar Americans should consume.

“Which is zero,” he said.

The Sugar Association responded by pointing to a study published Nov. 1, 2024, in the Science of Food. The study, which involved researchers from the Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Australia, found that the evidence linking specific added/free sugar intake levels to health outcomes was less definitive than often portrayed in public messaging.

“Very low added/free sugar intake recommendations, such as less than 5% of calories, may be overly restrictive and difficult to achieve while maintaining a varied, palatable diet,” the study said. “This could potentially lead to reduced intake of some nutritious foods that contain small amounts of added/free sugars, such as flavored yogurt or whole grain cereals.”

A more effective approach should focus on overall dietary quality, emphasizing whole foods and providing practical strategies for reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and low-nutrient, high-sugar foods, the study concluded.

Kennedy said the National Institutes of Health will target food additives for scientific studies to determine their safety in the food supply.

“So one by one we can start eliminating (ingredients) where we can,” he said.

He added, “For those ingredients that we can’t ban legally, we’re going to start informing Americans about what they’re eating. We’re going to try to work with Congress and the White House to make sure we have adequate labeling so mothers going into the grocery store know what is good for their children.”