MAHA committee releases strategy to combat childhood diseases
The MAHA Committee released a strategy to reshape the federal response to chronic childhood diseases.
Chelsea Clinton wants to talk about tallow.
More broadly, Ms. Clinton, the 45-year-old daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wants to learn what doctors, nutritionists, parenting experts and other advocates are saying about hot-button health issues like tallow and help people separate the noise and misinformation.
That mission is the basis of Clinton’s new weekly podcast on public health, “That Can’t Be True.” New episodes arrive every Thursday, digging into health advice about the virus and the truth about how to make the best decisions for your family.
The former eldest daughter is a longtime public health advocate, serving as vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and raising awareness about issues such as vaccine hesitancy and health equity. She holds a master’s degree in public health from Columbia University and a master’s degree and doctorate in international relations from the University of Oxford.
After a career in the public and private sectors, the now mother of three aims to use her experience in research and advocacy to debunk health myths.
“We are now inundated with so much information on social media and other parts of our lives about what we should and shouldn’t do,” Clinton told USA TODAY. “It’s difficult for anyone to tell what’s real and what’s fake.”
She talks about what Americans need to know to live healthier lives, the Make American Healthy Again movement, and whether she has political aspirations.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Your podcast helps listeners “check the facts in their newsfeed” when it comes to health and wellness. What can Americans do to increase public health literacy, especially online?
Chelsea Clinton: I think it’s important to encourage all of us to go where we already trust: our doctors. I also think one of the important habits for all of us when consuming information is to ask ourselves, “Who is this person?” “What are their qualifications?” “Why would they tell me that?”
My hope is that in this moment, we can all ask the same healthy questions about messages and messengers of anyone working in public health.
Your podcast tackles hot-button health debates, including raw milk, tallow, autism, and seed oils. How do you think these topics represent the current situation in public health?
I grew up hearing my parents use the framework, “You have to pay attention to both the headline and the trend line.” Whether it’s seed oil or Tylenol, it’s so important to have space to discuss and highlight what’s in the headlines. You can also work on trend lines if you can use it to make sense of what your corpus of data actually says about other areas you don’t spend enough time on.
One of the topics I really appreciated having with (economist, professor, and author Emily Oster) was the importance of sleep. We don’t pay attention to sleep in the headlines. It’s not the sexiest topic. Still, there’s plenty of evidence that the quantity and quality of sleep is really important for children. It’s important to react to headlines and support experts. It’s also important that we don’t get so confused by headlines that we don’t give space or attention to other things that we know are really important to our health and well-being.
In your episode featuring Dr. Jessica Kunulik, you talked about how many scientists and experts are asking many of the same questions as the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, but arriving at different answers. How can we collaborate better?
I think parents overwhelmingly want what’s best for their children. Mothers want to make the right choices so that their children are as healthy as possible. It’s important to approach these conversations with integrity and always engage in terms of what the science is telling us and what we don’t know yet.
At a moment when much of the federal safety structure is under pressure with the threat of defunding the regulations that help protect and improve the quality of the air we breathe and the water we drink, I think it’s important that (Food Safety Regulation and Oversight) also join this conversation. When we’re having conversations with people in the nutrition-focused MAHA movement, yes, it’s evidence-based and science-based, but also not forgetting the food safety element, which is often not part of the conversation, but should be part of the conversation.
It is a good thing that more and more attention is being paid to the quality and nutritional density of school meals. That’s what Mrs. Obama focused on, and that’s what we spent a lot of time focusing on at the Clinton Foundation.
When we have common ground, we must find it, claim it, and build on it.
These conversations can’t happen in silos. If we’re going to talk about nutrition, we must also include food safety. If we are going to discuss school lunches, we must include how school districts pay for them.
What advice would you give to Americans who disagree with someone else’s health outlook?
There are many reasons why people are skeptical. It’s important to listen to people’s questions and concerns. Ask if you can afford the same thing in return. Always approach with humility and confidence. Confidence in what you actually know and humility in what you don’t know. There is still much we don’t know about personal health and well-being. But we know quite a bit about public health. It’s so important to find healthy ways to connect with your family and friends without cutting them off.
Some podcast feedback criticizes your career — You have a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in international relations. How are you shaping the voice you bring to the field of public health, and why should Americans listen to that perspective?
I never say someone has to do something. I only say that to my children. People should listen, read, and see the voices they feel are important to how they want to be informed about the world. Hearing diverse voices in a healthy way – asking what those voices are saying to you – are all healthy dynamics.
I first became interested in public health when I was 11 years old and watched Magic Johnson reveal his HIV status. I remember hearing newscasters talk about how brave he was to do that and wondering as a kid, “Why does that take courage?” This led me to become very interested in HIV, AIDS, and the stigma associated with infectious diseases and diseases. For more than 30 years, I’ve been thinking about public health, what affects public health, and what motivates people in public health discourse, research, and policy. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking and wrestling with these questions. I’m obviously very passionate about making sure we all have access to high quality information to make the right choices. I really hope that comes through on the podcast and that people follow the guests that I’ve been lucky enough to speak with. I’m really proud to be a part of the conversation.
Do you think your thought leadership on public health translates into political campaigns?
Certainly as an advocate. Lately, the (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has been very concerned about layoffs starting in January. Confusion is unhealthy. Losing people who are true public servants to public health is unhealthy and unhelpful. Although I have no plans to run for political office, I believe that we are citizens every day, not just on Election Day, and that public health should not be political in this country. Protecting us from real public health threats should not be political. Right now (health) is political, and it’s going to be difficult until we get to a situation where there’s broad agreement that this is in our public interest, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, an independent or an independent, or you’ve never voted. This is to keep us healthy and safe.
