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RFK Jr. Takes His Eat-Real-Food Campaign to Hospital Trays
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is asking hospitals to use his revamped food pyramid to redo their food menus offered to patients, regulators announced on Monday.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a memo to hospitals asking them to limit ultra-processed food options for patients, though there’s no formal definition for exactly what that means.
Instead the agency wants hospitals to transition to serving whole grains, eliminate sugary drinks and ensure meals have less than 10 grams of added sugar. “The food is bland, it’s poorly prepared, it’s lacking nutrients of the nature you actually need for a full recovery,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said at an event in Florida Monday.
“The food is bland, it’s poorly prepared, it’s lacking nutrients of the nature you actually need for a full recovery,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said at an event in Florida Monday.
Sample menu swaps in the memo included offering oatmeal with berries instead of cereal, plain yogurt instead of flavored, sweetened yogurt and freshly prepared lean protein instead of deli meats. It also recommends swapping no-sugar-added juice or low-sugar gelatin for patients recovering from surgery.
White House Pushes Senate to Move Quickly on Casey Means Nomination
The White House is calling on the Senate to confirm Dr. Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general “without further delay,” even as President Donald Trump signaled uncertainty about her path forward. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday that he didn’t know how Means was faring in the nomination process more than a month after her Senate confirmation hearing. “We have a lot of great candidates,” he added.
In a statement late Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended Means’ qualifications and said Trump continues to support her nomination. “Dr. Casey Means has spent her entire career as an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and researcher bringing attention to America’s chronic disease epidemic and how our healthcare system is failing the American people,” Leavitt said. “The President stands by her and the Senate should move to quickly [confirm] Dr. Means as our next surgeon general without further delay.”
The White House is calling on the Senate to confirm Dr. Casey Means as U.S. surgeon general “without further delay,” even as President Donald Trump signaled uncertainty about her path forward.
Coalition Sues Trump EPA Over Illegal Repeal of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards
Environmental Defense Fund reported:
A coalition of public health, environmental, and community advocates filed a lawsuit March 30 challenging the Trump administration’s repeal of standards that limit brain-damaging mercury, lead, and other hazardous air pollution from coal-fired power plants. Since EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) took effect in 2015, they’ve driven down dangerous mercury pollution from power plants by more than 90%.
The standards have also delivered significant public health benefits, lowering the risk of cancer, heart and lung disease, and premature death.
The following is a statement from the coalition challenging the repeal in court: “The repeal of these protections will mean more asthma attacks, emergency room visits, and premature deaths. This administration is not just rolling back rules, it is eliminating the monitoring infrastructure needed to know what is coming out of these smokestacks in the first place. It is allowing coal plants to spew out more neurotoxic mercury into our air and food supply, while simultaneously keeping the communities most at risk in the dark about how serious that threat is. This is a betrayal of the EPA’s core mission.”
The repeal of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards follows a two-year exemption from the protections that the Trump administration granted to many coal plants, even though, according to the EPA’s own record, 93% of US coal capacity had already met or were on track to meet those standards.
C.D.C. Pauses Testing for Rabies and Pox Viruses
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has temporarily paused testing for rabies and pox viruses, the family of viruses that includes smallpox and mpox, according to an update to the agency’s website on Monday. The C.D.C. offers testing for dozens of pathogens to assist state and local public health laboratories that are not equipped to conduct them. The organization began evaluating its tests in late 2024 as part of an agencywide review.
But widespread layoffs, hiring freezes and resignations have shrunk the number of qualified scientists who can assist state labs. The C.D.C.’s rabies and pox virus teams have lost many of their members. By July, the rabies team will be down to just one person with the clinical expertise to advise state and local officials, and the pox virus team will have none.
The teams already have too few members to offer after-hours advice for states as the agency has long done, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who asked to remain anonymous because of fear of retaliation.
Whoop Raises $575 Million at $10.1 Billion Valuation Despite FDA Rift
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Wearable devices company Whoop has raised $575 million in a new financing at a $10.1 billion valuation to expand the use of technology that has attracted celebrity users and U.S. regulatory scrutiny over its blood-pressure feature.
Whoop’s wristband is paired with a smartphone app and can assess metrics like sleep quality and exercise recovery. This venture round follows a more than $900 million financing in October for ŌURA, whose Oura Ring provides insights into sleep, fitness and other metrics.
Health wristbands, rings and other wearable devices are a multibillion market and have the support of Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has encouraged Americans to use them to take control over their health.
