What MAHA's crusade against seed oils reveals about flaws in America's food system

You’re reading the first story in The MAHA Diagnosis, a STAT series that examines the major elements of the Make America Healthy Again movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

When guests at the Make America Healthy Again inaugural ball sat down for dinner last month at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C., they were greeted with menus featuring butternut squash salad, a choice between a prime filet and lobster dish and a vegetarian chickpea option, and three words sure to appeal to many involved with the movement: “No seed oils.”

Seed oils is a recently coined term that refers to the fats squeezed from the seeds of vegetables like corn and soybeans, then refined with heat and chemical solvents. It’s thanks in part to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the MAHA movement that concerns over their health effects are popping up on social media, on Joe Rogan’s podcast, and in Bay Area restaurants where customers request that the kitchen prepare their meals with the beef tallow they’ve brought in their backpacks. In January alone, the salad chain Sweetgreen launched a “seed oil-free” menu, and the fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake announced it would switch to immersing french fries in beef tallow, promising users on X, “If veg oil broke your heart, our tallow will make you fall in love again.” 

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