“Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, explains the latest in nutritional policy, including what Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement mean for sugar.
Gaine, a registered dietician, spoke Feb. 4 at the American Sugarbeet Growers Association annual meeting in San Diego. While she expressed a good deal of frustration surrounding chaos in Washington around nutrition and misinformation surrounding food, she sees opportunities for sugar to gain favor in the Make America Healthy Again movement.
It’s on the additive side that Gaine believes sugar can find favor with MAHA constituents. Sugar is natural while artificial sweeteners are not. Gaine said explaining the farm origins of sugarbeet and sugar cane seems to be a winning strategy. However, additives are difficult to define and complicated, so she worries MAHA will still just “go after sugar.”
Gaine also touched on the Food and Drug Administration updating the definition of “healthy” after seven years of rulemaking. The new definition requires foods labeled healthy to meet limits on sugars, sodium and saturated fat and to include a serving of at least one food group. Less than 2% of foods will meet the criteria, she said. Since artificial sweeteners and unlimited calories in a day are allowed, she doesn’t think it’s going to do much to inform the public.”
Read the full article here: https://www.agweek.com/news/sugarbeet/what-make-america-healthy-again-could-mean-for-sugar
April 7, 2026
“In specific guidelines for certain age groups and subpopulations, the new DGA advise to “avoid added sugars during infancy and early childhood” (birth to 4 years) and say “no amount of added sugars is recommended” up to age 11. The DGA provide no evidence to support such extreme recommendations. In fact, the author of the […]
March 22, 2026
"The Feeding the Economy report affirms the vital role food and agriculture play in our nation’s economic resilience and food security. Commercial bakers have long been proud partners to American agriculture, sourcing 85 percent of their core ingredients from domestic farmers....Sponsoring organizations from the food and agriculture industries, who helped make the 2026 study possible, provided commentary on this year’s findings. The full list of sponsoring organizations includes: ...The Sugar Association"
March 10, 2026
"Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, a scientific body that supports the U.S. sugar industry, told the USDA Outlook Forum that the school meal standards taking effect next year might prohibit added sugars in kindergarten meals and could significantly restrict them in other grades. That change alone would cut sugar demand by over 130,000 short tons. The industry faces additional pressure from rising GLP-1 weight-loss drug usage, which jumped from 12% in May 2024 to 18% in November 2025, though Gaine cautioned it remains "premature to assess the impact."
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