The Standard American Diet (ironically, known by its acronym, SAD) is arguably the single biggest threat to our future as a society.

Many of the major crises we face – disease, economic collapse, environmental destruction – trace back to one thing: our food.

Poor diet is now the single biggest killer on the planet, which forced me to ask a terrifying question: What the hell happened to our food – and who is responsible for the system that produces it?

As a doctor, my oath is to relieve suffering and illness and to do no harm. But as a functional medicine physician, my training goes beyond just treating symptoms – it’s about finding and fixing the root causes of disease.

And time after time, with many patients who walked through my door, I saw the same disturbing pattern: Their illnesses started with their forks.

So I started following the trail – from seed to soil, from field to fork, from food to landfill. And what I uncovered was so disturbing, I knew I couldn’t stay silent.

What I concluded is that a powerful web of forces appears to be working mercilessly to keep us sick, suffering, and trapped in a system engineered for profit, not health

Almost every aisle in the grocery store, every school lunch tray, every hospital meal, has been hijacked – loaded with ultra-processed junk, sugar, starch, chemicals, and additives that are literally killing us.

Dr Mark Hyman said his training goes beyond just treating symptoms: ‘It’s about finding and fixing the root causes of disease’

Almost every aisle in the grocery store, every school lunch tray, every hospital meal, has been hijacked, said Dr Hyman

Yet the American companies that fill our food with dyes, fillers, and chemicals linked to cancer, hyperactivity, and metabolic dysfunction appear to have no problem removing those same ingredients when selling their products in Europe, the United Kingdom and even China.

Let that sink in.

Much of the food your children eat every day – cereal, snacks, soda, and even so-called healthy convenience foods – contains ingredients that wouldn’t even be legal in other countries. And in some cases, using these ingredients could result in jail time.

Consider Fanta Orange soda – in the United Kingdom, it contains real orange juice, no artificial dyes and far less sugar.

In the United States? Fanta has been a chemical cocktail of high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors, and petroleum-based dyes like red dye no. 40 and yellow dye no. 6 – ingredients that are restricted abroad because of their links to hyperactivity in children and potential carcinogenic effects.

Coca-Cola, the company that makes Fanta, maintains that the synthetic colors are ‘thoroughly tested and recognized as safe by credible… global food safety authorities.’ 

But it’s not just those products. Despite insisting it would remove all artificial ingredients by 2018, Kellogg’s cereals like Froot Loops are, in the US, still packed with synthetic dyes (red dye no. 40, blue dye no. 1, yellow dye no. 6) and the preservative BHT, a chemical banned in Japan and the European Union due to safety concerns.

In Europe, however, Kellogg’s uses natural alternatives and removes BHT entirely.

Consider Fanta Orange soda, said Dr Hyman – in the United Kingdom, it contains real orange juice, no artificial dyes, and far less sugar

The food your children eat every day contains ingredients that wouldn’t even be legal in other countries, said Dr Hyman

Kellogg’s insists its products are safe for consumption, saying all ingredients meet the federal standards set by the USFDA 

But if American companies are already making cleaner, safer versions of their products for other nations, why are we still eating the chemical-laden versions here?

The good news? Consumers are waking up, and influencers with massive platforms are amplifying the issue.

In October 2024, food activist Vani Hari (the Food Babe) launched a petition against Kellogg’s, calling out its refusal to clean up its ingredients in the United States despite doing so overseas.

The campaign gained massive traction, forcing Kellogg’s to respond publicly.

A spokesperson said the company was continuing its commitment ‘to transition Kellogg’s-branded cereals and snacks to natural colors and flavors.’

They added: ‘Ultimately, we will not sacrifice the great taste and quality consumers expect from their favorite Kellogg’s products.’ 

Hari’s viral videos exposing synthetic food dyes and chemicals in American cereals juxtaposed against other developed nations’ cleaner versions of the same products have been shared millions of times, with everyday consumers flooding comment sections, demanding change.

In October 2024, food activist Vani Hari (the Food Babe) launched a petition against Kellogg’s, calling out its refusal to clean up its ingredients in the United States despite doing so overseas

Robert Kennedy’s MAHA agenda seeks to align US food safety standards with stricter European regulations within four years

Meanwhile, the grassroots group Moms for MAHA (Moms Against Harmful Additives) has gained momentum, rallying parents to push for food safety reforms and urging school districts to ban artificially dyed and processed foods.

A recent viral parody video, distributed by the White House, featured moms, Congress members, and even Robert Kennedy Jr. humorously struggling to pronounce complex food ingredient names – highlighting the prevalence of questionable additives in everyday products.

While comically mocking US food companies for using potentially dangerous ingredients here but not abroad, the video sparked outrage online, with millions sharing their disgust at what they saw as Big Food’s exploitation.

This initiative is part of Kennedy’s broader MAHA agenda, which seeks to align US food safety standards with stricter European regulations within four years.

The agenda has garnered support from President Trump and aims to eliminate artificial dyes and reassess the GRAS (generally recognized as safe) standard that allows many additives into the food supply without rigorous oversight.

The pressure is mounting. The public is demanding better.

The question now is: Will they clean up their act, or will consumers (or legislation) force their hand?

Adapted from Food Fix Uncensored by Mark Hyman, MD. Copyright © 2024 by Hyman Enterprises, LLC. Used with permission of Little, Brown Spark, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. New York, NY. All rights reserved.