Patron Nick Grace holds a chocolate glazed donut and a coffee drink at a Dunkin' Donuts store in Santa Monica, California REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
(Washington, D.C.) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially opened a new front in his “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) campaign. His targets? The two biggest coffee chains in America, Starbucks and Dunkin’ and the sugary coffee beverages that have become their mainstays.
Kennedy told a crowd in Texas last week that he wants to see the nutritional data of popular seasonal lattes, and other cold coffee beverages that Dunkin and Starbucks have turned into a cash cow in recent years. “I want to see the data,” Kennedy challenged. “Show me the study that proves it is safe for a 14-year-old girl to consume 115 grams of sugar in a single sitting before she goes to homeroom.” Dieticians says 115 grams of sugar is roughly the same amount found in three cans of soda. It fives times the recommended sugar allowance suggested by the American Heart Association. Kennedy says the fancy cold sugary brews are more like a mlk shake than a cup of joe.
The Health Secretary’s comments about Dunkin have politicians in Massachusetts seeing red. The “Bay State” is home to Dunkin headquarters. Governor Maura Healey posted a photo of a Dunkin’ iced coffee to her social media platforms with a defiant four-word caption: “Come and take it.” Other in Massachusetts argue that Kennedy is infringing on the right of businesses to sell legal products to consenting adults.
https://t.co/Kr4qXdOEBI pic.twitter.com/W6jIA3tkMT
— Governor Maura Healey (@MassGovernor) March 4, 2026
Interestingly, neither Starbucks or Dunkin have gone on the attack against the Health Secretary. There have been no real formal rebuttals to Kennedy’s assertions. The muted response to the sweet coffee accusations may signal the coffee chains are worried their may be some sort of legal fight on the horizon over how they post the caloric and nutritional data of the flavored coffee drinks.
RFK Jr. has shown that he is ready to do battle with those who sell highly processed foods or overly sugary items in bid to make Americans healthy again. He has said that some of the blame for the huge obesity problem across the nation lays at the feet of the restaurant chains who have been making and feeding American unhealthy high fats foods for decades.
