A new report by Dr. Claudia Parvanta, reviews the implications of the current U.S. Administration’s May 2025 “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) report for children’s diets and nutritional education in the U.S. Responding to a request from the Social Marketing Quarterly editorial team, the author wrote “The MAHA Report and the Demand for Social Marketing: Driving Behavioral Change for Childhood Health Outcomes,” which finds that Social marketing is essential for achieving the MAHA Report’s goals, requiring more than just regulation or promotion. While the MAHA Report identifies key drivers of chronic diseases, such as ultra-processed foods and environmental chemicals, Parvanta highlights the report’s limitations, including potential misinformation.
She cautions against top-down mandates that alienate stakeholders and consumers. Borrowing from decades of behavior change research, she argues that effective change needs to address all “four Ps” (product, price, place, promotion) and involve both upstream (policy, industry) and downstream
(consumer) strategies.
She recommends to:
»» Study consumer behaviors in regard to consumption of ultra-processed foods (those high in added sugars, chemical additives, and saturated fats); promote healthy alternatives; leverage SNAP-Ed and WIC models; incentivize industry to improve food quality; tailor interventions to community needs;
»» Mobilize public support for stronger regulation of harmful chemicals; educate on safer behaviors (e.g., cooking methods, reducing plastics); make invisible threats visible; balance messaging to avoid confusion with essential nutrients;
»» Revive and sustain large-scale campaigns for physical activity, like CDC’s VERB; ensure long-term funding; focus on making activity easy, fun, and normative; address broader systemic barriers, and
»» Restore trust in public health through provider engagement; support evidence-based communication; avoid undermining public health agencies; use social marketing to build credibility and relevance.
Dr. Parvanta supports the urgency of improving children’s health but stresses that policy and regulation alone are insufficient. Sustained, evidence-based social marketing, involving all stakeholders (government, industry, communities) are needed.
She calls attention to the constructive examples of the:
- National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) which educates and engages communities to improve diabetes management.
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – Education (SNAP-Ed) which improves dietary behaviors through education, partnerships, and incentives.
The report is available from ResearchGate: DO – 10.13140/RG.2.2.23307.81444.
