Jessica O’Connell’s commentary was included in an HBW Insight article examining how Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as Health and Human Services secretary may affect the U.S. supplement industry.
Jessica shares her insight, saying that “we haven’t heard from him a lot of concern about dietary supplements. That hasn’t been very high on his list of things that he’s concerned about. If anything, we’ve heard perhaps some support, some kind of support for non-drug approaches to addressing a range of conditions.”
“Through that lens, from an FDA perspective, I think a lot of people will be watching to see if perhaps there’s an approach that provides more flexibility, or more open mindedness around the types of ingredients that can be used in supplements,” she adds.
Jessica also notes that “Supplements haven’t been a significant focus of what he’s spoken about in the MAHA [Make America Healthy Again] discussions, and the things that he’s talked about as priorities. But through that lens, there could potentially be some additional consideration by FDA of its approach to CBD.”
Regarding potential actions related to hemp, Jessica stated, “I think there’s always kind of an ongoing push for Congress to act and kind of create a clear pathway for those. I think that will continue.” “I do think it’ll be really interesting in the first few months [following Trump’s inauguration] to see how dietary supplements are spoken about, particularly in the context of taking a broader approach of food is medicine, thinking about the approach to health holistically, things like that that we have heard RFK talking about a lot,” she added.