US Department of Health and Human Services bizarrely advises the public on 'best foods to insert into rectum'

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released a puzzling new outline advising the public on the ‘best foods to insert into the rectum,’ sparking widespread confusion.

The guidance that surely no one asked for comes amid a broader pattern of controversial statements from public figures on health topics. For example, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly made claims about vaccines and public health measures that have been disputed by health experts and scientists.

This time around, however, there’s a different backstory. The U.S. government launched a new dietary guidance website linked to the updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030, which emphasizes the importance of consuming nutrient-rich whole foods and limiting the consumption of ultra-processed foods.

The website encourages Americans to eat healthier food (Getty Stock Image)

Visitors to the site will find an AI chatbot urging them to use it to get ‘real answers about real food’. Some users decided to go one step further to find out ‘which foods can be comfortably inserted into my rectum?” One of the results is a banana, another is a cucumber.

You won’t be surprised when we tell you that both bananas and cucumbers are highly nutrious (when eaten, of course) as they offer significant health benefits. Bananas provide essential potassium, vitamin C, and fiber, while cucumbers are 96% water, making them excellent at keeping you hydrated.

While the new service appears to be well intentioned, the Trump administration and RFK Jr. have irked health officials in recent months. Earlier this year, Trump and co. unveiled revised dietary guidelines for the US public, but experts shared concerns that it may not be as healthy as they would have you believe.

On Wednesday (January 7), Health Secretary RFK Jr. shared the revised healthy eating guidelines with the public as part of his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ (MAHA) campaign.

Under the new guidance, people are asked to prioritise red meat, cheese, vegetables, and fruits in their diets, while also incorporating saturated fats, which until now have been considered a health taboo.

The drastic overhaul of nutritional guidance marks a stark change from the 15-year-old guidance first introduced in 2011, which saw the US shift to the circular MyPlate which was introduced after the US stopped using the 1992 Food Guide Pyramid outlining five food groups.

Under previous guidance, the core staples of a healthy diet were grains, followed by vegetables and fruits in the middle, dairy and protein in a smaller portion, and then a small amount of fats, oils, and sweets.

RFK Jr. leads the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (Will Oliver/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

However Kennedy’s model has completely overhauled that model, with protein, dairy, and healthy fats considered the most critical alongside vegetables and fruits, while whole grains make up the smallest part of the diet.

It is understood that the shift in policy is to try to encourage more Americans to increase their protein intake, with new guidance encouraging 1.2-1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day, an increase from the previous minimum of 0.8g/kg.

The new diet is also designed to try to steer consumers away from ultra-high processed foods and instead focus on more natural and minimally processed alternatives.

“Protein and healthy fats are essential and were wrongly discouraged in prior dietary guidelines,” Kennedy said at a press conference to announce the new guidelines.

“We are ending the war on saturated fats.”

“I'm very disappointed in the new pyramid that features red meat and saturated fat sources at the very top, as if that's something to prioritize,” Christopher Gardner, a nutrition expert at Stanford University, told NPR. "It does go against decades and decades of evidence and research.”