MAHA Myths: Why Nutrition Alone Won’t Save You

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Make America Healthy Again? Hyman’s Half-Truths Exposed

Mark Hyman loves a soundbite. One of his favorites is:

“If doctors were trained in nutrition, we could prevent 90% of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.”

It sounds inspiring. Unfortunately, it isn’t true.

Nutrition Is Powerful — But It’s Not Magic

I’m certified in culinary medicine, and I live the Mediterranean diet. Good nutrition matters. It lowers risk. It supports treatment. However, it cannot replace medicine for people with established disease.

The DASH trial (Sacks et al., NEJM 2001) proved that eating more fruits and vegetables while cutting sodium lowers blood pressure by the same amount as one blood pressure pill. That’s great news for prevention. But for those with heart disease, diabetes, or kidney problems, nutrition alone can’t cure the condition.

Before the year 1800, even if you survived childhood, your life expectancy was still in your 30s or 40s (Roser et al., Our World in Data). People then ate “organically,” free from dyes and microplastics. They also died young. Modern life expectancy came from clean water, vaccines, and medicine, not kale.

Samoa and Tahiti: Diet Didn’t Save Them

Samoa in 2019 had a diet Instagram influencers dream about — fresh fish, fruit, and root vegetables. Then measles hit.

Two infants had died in 2017 because nurses mixed the MMR vaccine incorrectly. The government suspended vaccinations for nearly a year, and coverage dropped to about 31%. Into that trust gap stepped anti-vaccine activists, including RFK Jr., spreading misinformation.

By late 2019, Samoa had over 5,700 cases and 83 deaths — most in children under five — in a population of just 200,000. Schools closed. Public gatherings stopped. Unvaccinated homes had to hang red flags so mobile teams could find them. Only when vaccination resumed did the outbreak end (WHO, 2019).

Tahiti’s story was similar. Beautiful diet. Fresh food. Yet measles still spread. The only thing that stopped it was vaccination, not nutrition.

What Hyman Really Sells

Mark Hyman is trained in family medicine. He co-directed Canyon Ranch’s health program, then founded the Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine — a role he no longer holds.

His version of “functional medicine” isn’t recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Chiropractors, dentists, and nurses can buy a certification and call themselves “doctor.” In California, only MDs and DOs can legally use the title “physician,” but in many states, the public gets fooled.

Hyman now uses his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign to give his brand of pseudoscience legitimacy. My Crestor costs $2.36 for three months, and my doctor gets nothing for prescribing it. His supplements? Around $100 for the same time, straight into his pocket.

Real Data Beats Hype

The Lyon Diet Heart Study (de Lorgeril et al., Circulation 1999) found that a Mediterranean diet reduced the risk of another heart attack by 72% in people who already had heart disease. But those patients were still taking statins, aspirin, and blood pressure meds. Diet complemented medicine; it didn’t replace it.

The JUPITER trial (Ridker et al., NEJM 2008) showed that statins cut cardiovascular events by 44% in people with normal LDL but high CRP. No supplement stack or smoothie matches that.

Why This Is Personal

My dad had a heart attack at 55. Doctors told him not to expect another 20 years.

Five years later, statins came out. He took them faithfully, along with his blood pressure medicine. He lived to 98 — independent, writing a memoir, and outliving his doctors. He ate reasonably well, but he always had a candy bowl nearby and drank plenty of coffee. Science kept him alive, not “perfect” eating.

The Bottom Line

Nutrition is essential. Medicine is essential. The best results come when we combine them — evidence-based and free from supplement hype.

When you hear Hyman claim that doctors just need nutrition training to prevent 90% of disease, remember Samoa. Remember Tahiti. And remember my dad.

References

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