Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s high-profile government position is paying huge dividends for the Make America Healthy Again supporters he’s brought into the fold.
While Kennedy publicly vowed to avoid conflicts of interest in his work at Health and Human Services (HHS), he hasn’t shied away from boosting the network of alternative health influencers and entrepreneurs who backed his Cabinet nomination, The Wall Street Journal reports.
For instance, at an April presser announcing his ban on artificial food dyes, Kennedy appeared alongside prominent MAHA social media activist Vani Hari. Known online as “The Food Babe,” Hari owns a supplement and health bar brand called Truvani.
After she delivered an impassioned speech in favor of RFK’s plan, Kennedy called her “an extraordinary leader.”
In March, Hari appeared alongside Kennedy and other “MAHA moms” in a video posted to the White House’s X account in which members of the group struggled to pronounce the scientific names of ingredients in processed food products.
MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN! 🇺🇸💪“MAHA Moms have made their way to Washington, D.C., to continue the righteous work to ensure that we have the best, the safest, and the most transparent food supply in American history.”@SecKennedy @SecRollins @EDSecMcMahon @TheFoodBabe pic.twitter.com/ilgVY6psU2
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 12, 2025
Just a month later, Target began selling some of the protein powders produced by Hari’s company, according to the Journal.
Hari defended her ties to Kennedy’s agency in a statement to the Journal, saying: “HHS has been a revolving door to the food and pharmaceutical industry and never given a voice to advocates and mothers like me until now.”
Following Hari in the speaker list at Kennedy’s press conference was Dr. Mark Hyman, an author-entrepreneur who owns Function Health, a subscription-based biomarker testing program that costs $499 a year.
Kennedy said that Hyman—another vocal MAHA advocate—has been his “friend and partner on these issues for 20 years” and praised his book The Blood Sugar Solution: 10-Day Detox Diet.
The valuation of Hyman’s company has skyrocketed from $191 million in June 2024 to a staggering $2.5 billion in February of this year, according to PitchBook.
Kennedy’s efforts to boost his network of holistic health influencers encroach on a legal and ethical gray area, experts told the Journal.
RFK Jr. “made a point of the evils of government doing the bidding of business in food and nutrition and medical areas—this starts to look kind of like the same thing,” said Noah Bookbinder, head of the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.
“It appears that the WSJ is taking issue with private citizens exercising First Amendment rights,” the HHS said in a statement to the Journal. The agency did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment on the article.
Kennedy has even added some of the MAHA influencers to his team at the HHS—all the while allowing them to retain stakes in their health-related business ventures.
One of Kennedy’s most influential advisers is Calley Means, a wellness influencer who co-owns Truemed, a company which helps firms hawking supplements, classes, and snacks become eligible for purchase with tax-free dollars from health savings accounts.
Because Means is a special government employee, the number of days he can work each year is limited, but he is exempt from the government’s divestment requirements.
Means’s sister, Dr. Casey Means, also an online health influencer, was announced this week as Trump’s pick for surgeon general—despite not having an active medical license. Kennedy had supported her candidacy since November.
Kennedy has also granted waivers to some of his staffers, allowing them to keep investments they would otherwise be required to give up. Stefanie Spear, a senior aide and longtime RFK Jr. mouthpiece, was allowed to keep running her media consulting firm, Stellar Inc., the Journal reported.
The secretary also gave a waiver to his chief of staff, Heather Flick Melanson, whose husband owns a $1 million stake in a California vineyard, among other investments, according to the Journal. However, Melanson was required to recuse herself from HHS decisions pertaining to the companies, like those related to alcoholic drinks.
The HHS told the Journal that Kennedy’s staff has followed all government ethical guidelines. “Any waiver that they received was limited in nature and carries with it mandatory recusals, which they have complied with,” it said.
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