Commune with Jeff Krasno The MAHA Debate: Dr. Will Cole and Dr. Jessica Knurick on Public Health
Mar 10, 2026
Dr. Jessica Knurick, a PhD nutrition scientist focused on public health and policy, and Dr. Will Cole, a functional medicine clinician and bestselling author advocating ancestral approaches, spar over MAHA’s meaning and influence. They clash and find common ground on causes of chronic disease, policy versus individual choices, nutrition misinformation, SNAP and school lunch politics, and how messaging shapes public health funding.
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Reduce Evolutionary Mismatch To Improve Health
- Will Cole recommends reducing evolutionary mismatch by addressing diet, toxins, stress, trauma, sleep, and movement.
- He argues targeting multiple modifiable exposures at individual and community levels reawakens genetic resilience.
Guidelines Are Sound But Not Followed
- Knurick argues dietary guidelines are evidence-based and consistent internationally, not the root failure.
- She notes over 90% of Americans never meet those guidelines, so changing guidelines alone won't improve health.
Food Policy Shaped By Profit Not Nutrition
- Policy choices like crop subsidies and industrial consolidation shaped the food supply for profit, not because science recommended it.
- Knurick traces subsidies to 1970s policy choices (Earl Butz) favoring monocultures of corn, wheat, and soy.