Talo Organic is the latest manifestation of consumers seeking \u201cbetter for you\u201d ingredients, spurring countless restaurants, snacks, grooming products, and even toilet paper. But the trend has gained new momentum with the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, led by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has stated that Americans are being \u201cunknowingly poisoned\u201d by seed oils (a claim not shared by health organizations such as the American Heart Association), that \u201csugar is poison\u201d (no, poison is poison), that fluoride in drinking water is \u201can industrial waste\u201d (it has also protected the oral health of Americans for decades), and that artificial food dyes are \u201cpoisonous compounds\u201d (take that, M&Ms!).<\/p>\n
Much like the term wellness, MAHA is an ambiguous shorthand without strict borders or definition, encompassing a wide range of trends and concerns, all in the hope of addressing high rates of chronic disease. Rather than declaring they\u2019re a part of MAHA, people will often say that RFK Jr. legitimizes their long-held beliefs and values\u2014but the telltale signs are as evident as the circles on a cupping patient: avoiding seed oils, synthetic food dyes, and ultra-processed foods; checking food toxicity apps; and expressing frustration over \u201cBig Pharma\u201d and \u201cBig Food.\u201d <\/p>\n
This latest interest in what we put in and on our bodies has translated into big bucks for some companies. The surge in demand for certified seed oil\u2013free products, for example, resulted in year-over-year sales growth of 216 percent from 2024 to 2025, according to SPINS Product Intelligence, while sales of raw milk increased by nearly 18 percent in 2024, per the market research firm Circana. This is feeding what we\u2019re calling a \u201cMAHAconomy\u201d\u2014MAHA-friendly products and services from emerging and established businesses that aim to profit off the MAHA agenda. <\/p>\n
Granted, it\u2019s impossible to put a value on this MAHAconomy because many of the movement\u2019s trends either already existed or are so new that they haven\u2019t yet been analyzed. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say whether [RFK Jr.] bringing seed oils into mainstream conversation actually accelerated our growth, or if we\u2019re just seeing the momentum of an already growing, consumer-driven health movement,\u201d says Jonathan Rubin, CEO and founder of the Seed Oil Free Alliance, a certification organization that has approved over 200 products, from hummus to potato chips. But even if the exact numbers are fuzzy, it\u2019s clear that MAHA is impacting government policy and the consumer product space, with entrepreneurs and conglomerates vying for a piece of the organic pie.<\/p>\n
Elly Truesdell, founder of New Fare Partners, a venture capital fund centered on healthier foods and beverages, says trends like avoiding seed oils are indeed having a real industry effect, with \u201ca ton of companies seizing on\u201d anti\u2013seed oil anxiety (see: Sweetgreen). Brands that already use avocado or coconut oil\u2014i.e., seed oil alternatives\u2014are also attracting consumers, \u201cand it\u2019s absolutely translating to growth and sales,\u201d says Truesdell. Honig, who says 90 percent of his customers cite seed oil avoidance (or being \u201ctallow-based,\u201d a fashionable way to say \u201cbeef fat appreciator\u201d) as their reason for choosing Talo Organic, agrees: \u201cIt has exploded.\u201d<\/p>\n
As health becomes more and more like fashion, every season ushers in some new ingredient or fad, along with new versions of science-washing that make it increasingly hard to separate the wheat from the gluten-free chaff. But will these trends have a lasting impact, or will they sour faster than raw milk? <\/p>\n
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A Counter Culture Made Anew<\/p>\n
IF BONE BROTH and kombucha once swayed the conscientious shopper, now raw milk and emulsifier-free salad dressings fill up shopping carts and social media feeds. This \u201cnatural\u201d food obsession isn\u2019t actually new\u2014it has roots in the countercultural natural food movement of the 1970s. Spurred by the publication of books like Rachel Carson\u2019s Silent Spring, which documented the potential environmental and human harms of pesticides, the movement brought greater awareness to synthetic chemicals and, overall, to what we eat and how it\u2019s farmed. <\/p>\n
Some Americans rallied against industrialized agriculture, a backlash against the overprocessing of, well, everything. \u201cNatural,\u201d local, and organic became fashionable for a certain sect, many of whom were associated with the hippie movement. That thread weaved through the \u201990s, when brands like Tom\u2019s of Maine and Amy\u2019s Kitchen took off, and experienced another surge in 2014 when people like food blogger Vani Hari led the charge against Starbucks and Subway menus. A decade later, we\u2019re here again. <\/p>\n
Farmer Mark McAfee was early to the scene. In 1999, he arrived in Venice Beach with 150 half-gallons of raw milk, expecting just modest interest. Instead, he was welcomed by over a hundred locals yelling, clapping, and shouting \u201cthank you\u201d as they stuffed $20 bills into his car. He sold out on the spot.<\/p>\n
Today, McAfee is the CEO and founder of the world\u2019s largest organic raw dairy brand, Raw Farm, which supplies more than 500 stores\u2014with sales of over $30 million and growing as the company expands into raw cheese, butter, and kefir. (The farm also happens to be linked to one of the largest salmonella outbreaks from raw milk in recent history; scientists and the CDC caution against consuming unpasteurized dairy). RFK Jr., who once claimed that raw milk \u200b\u200b\u201cadvances human health,\u201d is one of his longtime customers. According to McAfee, who also leads the Raw Milk Institute, the health secretary asked the farmer to develop a new set of raw milk standards and guidance for the FDA. He did, in December 2024, but has yet to hear back. (\u201cIt\u2019s much easier to slash budgets and fire 20,000 [employees] at the FDA, CDC, and NIH than it is to constructively put together a budget and create new things like standards for raw milk,\u201d he grumbles.) <\/p>\n
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Overall, McAfee sees regulatory hesitance regarding raw milk more sinisterly, claiming that the \u201cculture of the FDA is all about drugs\u2026and do not ever mention food as a healing thing.\u201d In this sense, MAHA has gathered an unlikely coalition of crunchy moms and raw-meat podcast bros who distrust (or simply dislike) the government. McAfee witnessed a paradigm shift after the COVID-19 pandemic, when Purell-weary Americans Googled how to strengthen their immune systems and, as he sees it, were awakened to the heavily debated idea that \u201cfood is medicine,\u201d thereby trusting influencers and farmers over the FDA and pharmaceuticals. <\/p>\n
This is a group that often coalesced around dissatisfaction\u2014repulsion over the snack aisle, anger over pizza-laden school lunches, and disappointment with the regulatory forces they think should better safeguard what ends up on our dinner plate. Dissatisfaction is a potent fuel for movements, and this one is as focused on what it wants (farm-fresh produce, psychedelics, bacteria-packed dairy) as it is on what it doesn\u2019t (artificial ingredients, corn syrup, birth control). <\/p>\n
These are no longer fringe sentiments reserved for the hardcore wellness influencer\u2014companies increasingly see widespread opportunities. The skin care brand Primally Pure, which sells facial sunscreen made with grass-fed tallow and \u201cancestral practices,\u201d boasts billboards in prime Los Angeles locales\u2014alongside ads for Marvel movies\u2014that read the sun isn\u2019t poison, but your sunscreen is. (Some sunscreens may contain potentially endocrine-disrupting chemicals, but they are generally considered to be safe.) Dough Drop Pizza, an \u201cunderground\u201d L.A.-based pizza delivery service that has a four-month, 3,000-person wait list, sells $35 pizza pies that are completely free of seed oils, sugars, enriched flour, and commercial yeast.<\/p>\n
One difference today, however, is that this is not just a consumer-driven initiative, pushed by petition-signing moms and wellness influencers. Some of the highest government officials and consultants are leading the way. Now, says Leah McGrath, RDN, a corporate dietitian for the supermarket chain Ingles Markets, \u201cyou have the political motivation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The MAHAconomy<\/p>\n
THE HEALTH TECH and food industries are benefiting the most so far from the MAHA business boom. In April, RFK Jr. endorsed Yuka, a mobile app that scans food and personal care products for their purported health impact\u2014based on nutritional value, additives, and organic ingredients\u2014propelling it to number two on the list of health and fitness apps on the U.S. Apple App Store. Founded in 2017, Yuka was already gaining traction with people who wanted to know whether their deodorant, as their TikTok feeds claim, is indeed trying to kill them. In 2020, the app had 15 million users. Now it\u2019s soared past 70 million, with 1 million of them paying subscribers for its premium version. <\/p>\n
Some within RFK Jr.\u2019s circle are even seeing their businesses tied to MAHA, and they\u2019re reaping the benefits. A month after the Yuka endorsement, RFK Jr. announced that his department will launch a campaign to encourage every single American to wear a health tracker to \u201ctake responsibility\u201d for their health. Surgeon general nominee Casey Means, MD, is the cofounder and chief medical officer of the metabolic health company Levels, which gives people without diabetes the ability to track their blood sugar in real time via a wearable continuous glucose monitor. Founded in 2019, Levels now has more than 80,000 paid members (subscriptions start at $199 a month). Dr. Means\u2019s brother, Calley, who advises RFK Jr., has also garnered attention for his company, Truemed, which allows people to use their health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts for things like gym memberships, wearables, supplements, and saunas. <\/p>\n
Mark Hyman, MD, another close friend of RFK Jr., is a Levels advisor and the founder of Function Health, a start-up offering a $499 yearly membership that includes access to over 160 blood and urine tests (you can also purchase supplements for an extra fee). In May, Dr. Hyman joined six other health tech leaders for a meeting with RFK Jr., who championed apps and other tools that, in his view, \u201cempower Americans to take control of their health.\u201d As of December 2024, more than 100,000 people had signed up for Function\u2019s service, per a New York Times article, and the company is reportedly valued at $2 billion. <\/a> <\/p>\n Matt Ryan, MH Illustration<\/p>\n Food, however, remains the biggest MAHA growth contender. This is a consumer base that increasingly prefers natural, simpler ingredients. The push for more whole foods has gained traction, appealing to people\u2019s nostalgia for a romanticized, \u201csafer\u201d food era that never really was. It\u2019s also, frankly, a rebellion against the \u201calts\u201d: The bland almond milk and faux-meat burgers that once had Silicon Valley in an investment tizzy have fizzled out for a number of reasons, including high prices, disappointing taste, and consumers\u2019 preference for less-processed foods, including protein. <\/p>\n The protein craze<\/a> drove growth in meat, fish, and poultry by 13 percent in 2024, compared with 5.8 percent in 2023, according to Nutrition Business Journal. <\/a>Some of the fixation has taken exotic forms, such as the newly energized appreciation for organ meats. (Steak? How normie.) On Instagram, Primally Pure\u2019s founder, Bethany McDaniel\u2014who has hosted Dr. Means on her podcast<\/a>, Grounded Wellness\u2014shared<\/a> her organ meat smoothie recipe, which includes, naturally, beef liver, raw milk, raw egg yolks, frozen berries, and a handful of mint leaves \u201cfor covering up the livery taste.\u201d<\/p>\n Likewise, full-fledged dairy is back to being an industry darling, and organic all the more so. Organic dairy and egg sales grew 7.7percent in 2024, while poor plant-based alt milk consumption fell for the third consecutive year. Milk is so back that we now have super milk: Fairlife, a milk made with 50 percent more protein and 50 percent less sugar, has seen sales jump by nearly 30 percent in the last year.<\/a><\/p>\n MAHA is already enjoying some big industry victories, and a bit of countercultural edginess. Food manufacturers like Kraft Heinz, Nestl\u00e9 USA, General Mills, PepsiCo, and J.M. Smucker have already agreed to phase out artificial coloring and\/or flavoring, handing a win to RFK Jr.\u2019s pet project. Retailers are establishing more MAHA-approved divisions, Target has added a \u201cno artificial colors\u201d search filter, and brands are reformulating their products and packaging to reflect their \u201cfree from\u201d evolution. We are headed to a future, says McGrath, in which a grocery store shelf is like \u201ca miniature version of a NASCAR [race car], with labels all over food products.\u201d<\/p>\n Except eliminating dyes isn\u2019t a simple process (a complete phaseout might not occur until the end of the current administration), nor does it necessarily help the bottom line. Will the people who are concerned about food dyes still be willing to buy sugary cereals and snacks\u2014like sand-hued Twinkies\u2014or are companies potentially alienating their core consumers, who love the familiar tastes and colors? In 2016, General Mills swapped the artificial colors in its Trix cereal for natural dyes, like turmeric and radish juice, only to bring back the artificial version a year later after customers, raised on Crayola-colored cereals, complained that the new \u201cnatural\u201d color was dull and tasted different. So, once we\u2019ve reduced all snacks to the greige rainbow and the MAHA figureheads no longer have White House security clearances, will these trends still move product? <\/p>\n \u201cBrands have to be very careful to figure out who their audience is,\u201d cautions McGrath, noting that there\u2019s a significant cost to making these pronouncements and changes. Among manufacturers, \u201cthere\u2019s a big middle who are like, \u2018Let\u2019s see how this plays out.\u2019\u200a\u201d<\/p>\n DEMAND DOESN\u2019T ALWAYS translate into profit, and many of these MAHA trends are as costly as home-cooked dinners are time-consuming. McAfee says that his raw milk is \u201cmuch more expensive\u201d to produce, while McGrath notes that seed oils often cost less and don\u2019t go rancid as quickly. Honig adds that pure beef tallow can cost five times as much as soybean or canola oil, while some organic produce is double the cost of nonorganic. When New Fare Partners\u2019 Truesdell invests in a brand, she needs to ensure that \u201cit works with a Whole Foods customer, but also a Target, Walmart, and Costco shopper.\u201d As you can imagine, few of these products cross over into mass retail.<\/p>\n Efficacy is another sticking point. \u201cClean,\u201d a sector of the personal care market that experienced a surge in shelf space circa 2017, has recently seen a sales decline as consumers were potentially paying higher prices for less stable products. Some \u201cnatural\u201d products may make claims about their effectiveness that are not supported by clinical evidence. Consumers might buy it once, but if a product fails to perform, they may revert to their old shopping habits. Fool me once, natural deodorant, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on stinky me.<\/p>\n While analysts contemplate shifting consumer demands, some health experts wonder whether Americans might eventually realize that many MAHA initiatives are unlikely to have a significant impact on public health. Nutrition, for example, depends far more on a person\u2019s overall eating habits than on their artificial dye intake. The average person\u2019s exposure to pesticide residue, meanwhile, is infinitesimal: A 150-pound man would have to eat about 8,065 nectarines in one day before experiencing any potential ill effects from pesticides. And whether Coca-Cola uses high-fructose corn syrup or cane sugar (\u201cYou\u2019ll see. It\u2019s just better!\u201d President Trump promised of the latter on Truth Social) may not matter all that much: They have a pretty similar effect on blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n Three-quarters of consumers might say they look for foods that are minimally processed, but what ends up in the fridge, often due to taste, affordability, and convenience, is another matter. The U.S. processed food market is projected to grow from $204 billion in 2025 to over $395 billion by 2034, with ultra-processed foods expected to grow fastest, according to a market report. People with the means to buy organic or an expensive gadget not covered by insurance are likely already eating a relatively nutritious diet and leading a healthy lifestyle. It\u2019s precisely those who could use help in boosting their nutrition who encounter barriers to accessing many of these pricey products and whose health will see little, if any, impact from revamped Skittles. <\/p>\n Truly changing the U.S. food environment and Americans\u2019 eating habits is a far more complex goal, necessitating ambitious, multifaceted policies that aim to eliminate food deserts, provide access to registered dietitians, and strengthen programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of noise being made about small things like food additives that are not really getting at the major nutrition problems facing society,\u201d says Kevin Klatt, PhD, a registered dietitian and research scientist at the University of California, Berkeley. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen no real policies put into place that even remotely address everything from what we produce to how it ends up on our plates.\u201d <\/p>\n As those policies are debated, we\u2019ll likely see more niche brands and products, if only because the U.S. consumer wellness market is currently valued at over $500 billion, per McKinsey & Company<\/a>, and 84 percent of U.S. consumers consider wellness a priority in their lives. Americans of a certain income and mindset will continue to express their sentiments and frustrations through their purchases. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have this huge health wave behind us,\u201d says Honig, the Talo Organic founder, who has plans to expand to multiple cities. \u201cWe have people in every city across America begging us, \u2018I need you to come to our town.\u2019\u200a\u201d And while he doesn\u2019t officially identify with MAHA (\u201cI don\u2019t really give a crap about the politics\u201d), Honig certainly appreciates what the MAHA movement is doing\u2014\u201cbringing sunlight to the issues,\u201d as he puts it\u2014and that undoubtedly sustains a steady business. \u201cWe\u2019re going to try and raise a second round of funding,\u201d he says. Perhaps he should bring a pitch deck to the next MAHA Commission meeting. <\/p>\n This story originally appeared in the September\/October 2025 issue of Men’s Health.<\/p>\n![\"maha\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/hlh090125feamahaconomy-002-68c09ad42b556.jpg\" "\\"maha\\"")
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<\/p>\nA Lasting Boom (or Bust)?<\/p>\n![\"84%](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/84-68c1b836d65ec.png\" "\\"84%")
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