Virginia Foxx

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), the author of this legislation.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), who is the vice chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I include in the Record two scientific articles. [From the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy] Dairy Foods, Obesity, and Metabolic Health: The Role of the Food Matrix Compared with Single Nutrients (By Dariush Mozaffarian) Introduction Conventional dietary guidelines from around the globe have focused on individual nutrients to maintain and improve health and prevent disease. This is due to the historical focus, developed in the last century, on single nutrients in relation to clinical nutrient deficiency diseases. However, this reductionist approach is inappropriate for translation to chronic diseases. A look back at the history of modern nutrition science provides important perspectives on the origins of the reductionist approach to nutrition. In 1747, the British sailor and physician James Lind tested whether citrus fruits prevented scurvy, but it was not until 1932 that vitamin C was actually isolated, synthesized, and proven to be the relevant ingredient. The period of the 1930s to 1950s was a golden era of vitamin discovery, when all the major vitamins were identified, isolated, and synthesized, and shown to be the active constituents of foods relevant for nutrient deficiency diseases such as pellagra (niacin), beriberi (thiamine), rickets (vitamin D), and night blindness (vitamin A). This scientific focus on nutrient deficiencies coincided with global geopolitics, in particular the Great Depression and World War II, which accentuated concerns about insufficient food and nutrients. For example, the birth of RDAs was at the National Nutrition Conference on Defense in 1941, which focused on identifying the individual nutrients needed to prevent nutrient deficiencies in order to have a population ready for war. Together, these scientific and historical events led to the concept of food as a delivery system for calories and specific isolated nutrients. It was not until the 1980s that modern nutrition science began to meaningfully consider nutrition in association with chronic diseases, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer. Intuitively, the reductionist paradigm that had been so successful in reducing the prevalence of nutrient deficiency diseases was extended to chronic diseases. Thus, saturated fat became ``the'' cause of heart disease, whereas now, excess calories and fat are ``the'' causes of obesity. What recent advances in nutrition science have demonstrated, however, is that although a single-nutrient focus works well for prevention of deficiency diseases, such as scurvy or beriberi, this approach generally fails for chronic diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, type 2 diabetes, or obesity. For such complex conditions, the focus should be on foods. Calories in/Calories out The US obesity epidemic is a recent phenomenon, starting in the mid-1980s, and the rise of obesity globally is even more recent. The strategies to address this epidemic have not yet caught up with advances in nutrition science. Most current dietary recommendations and policies across the globe remain calorie and fat focused, recommending foods based on these reductionist metrics rather than their complex, empirically determined effects on health. For example, nearly all guidelines recommend low-fat or nonfat dairy foods to reduce calories, total fat, and saturated fat in the diet, based on the theory that this will help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of CVD. This is seen, for example, in the 2015-2020 US Dietary Guidelines; National School Lunch Program, NIH Dietary Guidelines for Kids; and CDC Diabetes Prevention Program. However, foods are not simply a collection of individual components, such as fat and calories, but complex matrices that have correspondingly complex effects on health and disease. Recommendations based on calorie or fat contents fail to consider the complex effects of different foods, independent of their calories, on the body's multiple, redundant mechanisms for weight control, from the brain to the liver, the microbiome, and hormonal and metabolic responses. This growing evidence indicates that different foods, calorie-for-calorie, have different effects on the risk of long-term weight gain and success of weight maintenance. Dairy Foods and Weight Although dairy products contribute cents10 percent of all calories in the US diet, until recently, little direct research had evaluated the health effects of different dairy foods. The complex ingredients and matrices of different dairy foods, from milk to yogurt to cheese, appear to have varying effects on weight. Although considerable research has focused on optimal diets for weight loss among obese individuals (secondary prevention), fewer studies have evaluated determinants of gradual weight gain (primary prevention). Among nonobese US adults, the average weight gain is centslb (0.45 kg) per year. This represents a very slow, modest increment, but when sustained over many years, this small annual weight gain drives the obesity epidemic. This gradual pace also makes it difficult, if not impossible, for individuals to identify specific causes or remedies. To identify specific dietary factors associated with long- term weight gain, we performed prospective investigations among 3 separate cohorts that included 120,877 US men and women who were free of chronic disease and not obese at baseline. We examined weight gain every 4 y, for up to 24 y of follow-up, and its association with the increased intake of individual foods. Within each 4-y period, participants gained an average of 3.35 lb. On the basis of increased daily servings of different foods, those strongly linked to weight gain were generally carbohydrate-rich, including potato chips (per daily serving, 1.69 lb greater weight gain every 4 y), other potatoes/fries (1.28 lb), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 lb), sweets (0.65 lb), and refined grains (0.56 lb). Other foods were not linked to weight gain, even when then intake was increased, including cheese, low-fat milk, and whole milk. Other foods were actually related to less weight gain: the more they were consumed, the less weight was gained. This included vegetables (-0.22 lb), whole grains (-0.37 lb), fruits (-0.49 lb), nuts (-0.57 lb), and yogurt (-0.82 lb) When sweetened vs. plain yogurt were evaluated, each was associated with relative weight loss, although when sweetened, about half the benefit was lost. What could explain these findings? We hypothesize that different foods have varying effects on multiple redundant mechanisms for weight gain, including effects on hunger and fullness, glucose, insulin and other hormonal responses, de novo fat synthesis by the liver, gut microbiome responses; and the body's metabolic rate. Based on these findings, certain foods, when consumed over the long term can have relatively neutral effects on weight, others promote weight gain, whereas still others promote weight loss. Interestingly, although we found that cheese, low-fat milk, and whole-fat milk were each unassociated with weight change, there is evidence that dairy foods may promote healthier body composition. Consistent with our findings, a systematic review and meta-analysts of 37 randomized clinical trials with 184,802 participants, which assessed the effect of dairy consumption on weight and body composition, found that overall, dairy consumption had little effect on BMI. Body composition, however, changed significantly. Dairy consumption led to a reduction in fat mass (0.23 kg) and an increase in lean body mass (0.37 kg). Overall, high-dairy intervention increased body weight (0.01, 95 percent CI: -0.25, 0.26), and lean mass (0.37, 95 percent CI: 0.11, 0.62); decreased body fat (-0.23, 95 percent CI: -0.48, 0.02) and waist circumference (-1.37 95 percent CI: -2.28, -0.46). In subgroup analyses, such effects appeared larger in trials also having energy restriction, but such subgroup findings should be interpreted cautiously The types and frequency of dairy products consumed varied among these trials, making it difficult to make distinctions in this meta-analysis about the effects of different types of dairy products such as low-fat or whole fat, or milk, yogurt, or cheese. When viewed in combination with our long-term observational findings, the joint results suggest that dairy foods do not promote weight gain, that dairy consumption may reduce body fat and augment muscle mass, and that the type of dairy product (milk compared with cheese compared with yogurt) may be more important for preventing long-term weight gain than the dairy fat content. Dairy Foods, Probiotics, and the Microbiome Many pathways appear relevant to the concept that foods cannot be judged on calorie content alone for risk of obesity. Among these, the gut microbiome is particularly interesting. Substantial evidence demonstrates that the quality of the diet strongly influences the gut microbiome. Among different factors, probiotics have been studied for their effect on the microbiome; as well as potential benefits of fermented foods, which may be greater than the sum of their individual microbial, nutritive, or bioactive components. For example, in an experimental model, mice genetically predisposed to obesity were provided control diets or a ``fast-food'' chow with and without probiotic-containing yogurt or a single probiotic (Lactobacillus reuteri) in water. Without probiotics, mice on the fast-food chow gained significant weight. However, the addition of either probiotic-containing yogurt or water prevented this weight gain. Crucially, the probiotics did not appear to reduce the amount of calories consumed; rather, the benefits appeared related to changes in microbiome function and inflammatory pathways. The results support weight benefits of probiotics and, more importantly, provide empiric evidence that challenges the widely accepted conventional wisdom that the effects of different foods on obesity depend largely on their calories. Consistent with this animal experiment, a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials examined the effects of probiotics, either in foods or as supplements, on body weight and composition in overweight and obese subjects. Administration of probiotics significantly reduced body weight percent (-0.60 kg), BMI (-0.27 kg/m\2\), and fat percentage (0.60 percent), compared with placebo. A separate meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials demonstrated that consumption of probiotics in foods or supplements significantly improves blood glucose, insulin, and insulin resistance. The trials in these two meta-analyses were neither long-term nor large--in all, a total of about 1,000 subjects were included in each meta-analysis, with trial durations ranging from 3 to 24 wk and with varying designs in terms of controls, disease conditions, and composition of probiotic preparations evaluated. Nonetheless, together with observational and experimental evidence, these studies provide compelling evidence to support weight and metabolic benefits of foods rich in probiotics. Dairy Foods, CVD, and Diabetes Although an important risk factor for type 2 diabetes and CVD, growing research suggests that specific foods may also directly alter disease risk. In a meta-analysis of 29 prospective cohort studies including 938,465 participants who experienced 93,158 deaths, 28,419 incident CAD events, and 25,416 incident CVD events, neither total dairy nor milk consumption was significantly associated with total mortality, CAD, or CVD. Notably, findings were similar when total whole-fat dairy, or low-fat dairy were separately evaluated. In contrast, the intake of fermented dairy products (predominantly cheese, plus yogurt and fermented milk) was associated with modestly lower risk of total mortality and CVD, with about 5 percent lower risk of each per 50 g daily serving. In addition, the consumption of cheese alone, the dairy product with the highest amount of dairy fat, was associated with a significantly lower risk of both CAD and stroke. In the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis cohort, including 5209US adults with Caucasian, Asian, black, and Hispanic backgrounds, different food sources of saturated fat were analyzed for their relation with subsequent CVD risk, adjusted for sociodemographics, medical history, and other dietary and lifestyle factors. A higher intake of saturated fat from dairy sources was associated with significantly lower CVD risk (per each 5 g/d, RR = 0.79, 95 percent CI = 0.68, 0.92), whereas a higher intake of saturated fat from meat sources was associated with higher CVD risk (per each 5 g/d, RR = 1.26, 95 percent CI = 1.02, 1.54). Intakes of saturated fat from other sources, such as butter and plant oils/foods, were too low to identify any associations. These findings suggest that saturated fat from different food sources may have varying effects on CVD risk. This may partly relate, for example, to differences in the types of saturated fatty acids in meat compared with dairy. Compared with meat, dairy has a greater proportion of short-chain and medium-chain saturated fatty acids, with correspondingly less palmitic and stearic acids. Compared with their longer chain fatty acids, growing evidence suggests that shorter and medium-chain triglycerides have different physiology, including potential benefits on metabolic risk, weight gain, obesity, and the gut microbiome. In addition, cardiometabolic effects of different dairy foods appear to vary depending on other characteristics, such as fermentation or the presence of probiotics. The large European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort across 8 European countries evaluated the consumption of different dairy foods and risk of diabetes among 340,234 participants with 12,403 new cases of diabetes during follow- up. In the fully adjusted model including adjustment for estimated dietary calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D, the consumption of milk (low-fat and whole-fat) was not significantly associated with type 2 diabetes. Individuals who consumed more yogurt or thick fermented milk experienced a nonsignificant tend toward lower risk (across quintiles: RR

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa), who is my classmate.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman from California.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, we are waiting for one more speaker to come, so I will yield myself 1 minute. Mr. Chairman, I want to reiterate some points that were made before. We are not being driven by any special interest group lobby. We are being driven by the special interest group of children. We want children in school to have access to whole milk, which, as my colleagues have pointed out, is 96.75 percent fat-free, but it provides one of the most nutritious meals that children can have. We are seeing tremendous waste in the schools. We are not excluding soy drink. The policy that we are trying to overcome here by providing whole milk to children was a policy passed under the Obama administration. We are not trying to harm minorities in any way whatsoever. We want everybody to have the choice to drink a soy drink, whole milk, skim milk, 1 percent milk, whatever.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield an additional 15 seconds to myself.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, this bill has been terribly mischaracterized by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. It is about healthy choices for children. Mr. Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Meuser).

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chair, I have seen a lot of bills mischaracterized on this floor in my time here, but I think this is one of the worst. Passing the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act would be a critical step toward empowering parents and securing our children's well-being. Whole milk isn't just a beverage; it is a vital source of nutrients essential for children's growth. Denying access to its calcium, vitamin D, and protein threatens to inhibit their development. To the anti-milk advocates, I have one thing to ask of you: What do you have against milk? If you scrutinize them closely, you might be convinced that Democrats are waging a war on dairy. The Democrat administration has presided over a 15 percent milk price increase in the grocery store. A Democrat proposal, the Green New Deal, calls for the elimination of cows for their so-called greenhouse gas emissions. A Democrat policy is slashing the milk available to newborns through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for women, infants, and children by four quarts. A Democrat interest group, PETA, has called milk a so-called white supremacist symbol. How patently absurd. Let's end the war on milk and pass the bill. Together, we can ensure that our children have access to the nutritional foundation they need to thrive and become the healthy, vibrant leaders of tomorrow. Mr. Chair, I urge all my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 927) condemning antisemitism on University campuses and the testimony of University Presidents in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 927.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. ``It depends on the context.'' This was the testimony delivered by so-called prestigious university presidents when presented with the question: Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your campus bullying and harassment policies? The context. What a disgraceful, legalistic answer from academia's supposed top minds. As chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, I will tell you what never depends on the context: defending the rights of Jewish students to feel safe on campus. Condemning calls to incite violence against the world's most persecuted ethnic group is always appropriate and never depends on the context. Holding smug university elites accountable never depends on the context. That is why I rise today in support of this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from New York.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Grothman), a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Kiley), a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bean), chairman of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.