MAHA Report Faces Scrutiny Over Citation Errors & AI Concerns

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MAHA Report Cites Nonexistent, likely AI-Generated, Studies

by: Food and Drug Law at Keller and Heckman of Keller and Heckman LLP - The Daily Intake

Tuesday, June 3, 2025

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The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission published its report detailing what it claims to be the main causes of chronic diseases. The report is receiving increased scrutiny after News of the United States (NOTUS), a nonprofit digital news site, published an article on Thursday, May 29 stating that many of the citations in the report either had large errors or even cited nonexistent studies. Some cited authors who were contacted by NOTUS were surprised to hear of their citation and denied ever working on the studies referred to in the MAHA Report.
Both The Washington Post and The New York Times published articles later that same day referring to even more errors and inaccuracies. The Washington Post article quoted artificial intelligence experts who suspect that many of the citations in the MAHA Report were likely produced by AI. Indeed, no authors are identified for the MAHA Report itself, which leaves considerable questions as to the scientific accuracy of its findings. The article points to the use of the text “oaicite” (OpenAI Cite) in some of the citation URLs within the report, which is “a marker indicating use of OpenAI, a U.S. artificial intelligence company.” This suggests that the conclusions reached in the report may have preceded the citations.
When asked about the NOTUS article and the potential reliance on AI, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to any inaccuracies as “minor citation and formatting errors.” The MAHA Report has since been updated to remove the incorrect citations at issue in the NOTUS article.
Separately, following public complaints from a number of grower groups regarding the MAHA Report, The America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a nonprofit think tank that was founded in 2021 by current Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, released its “Farmers First agenda for responsible nutrition policy” Driving Responsible Nutrition Policy on May 29.
The AFPI paper outlined the following principles:
- Federal programs should allow states to incentivize healthier eating.
- Federal government must ensure our domestic food supply is transparent, safe, and upholds nutritional integrity.
- Federal nutrition programs must be reserved for the truly needy and must aim to restore the dignity of work.
- Government and the private sector must collaborate to reduce food loss and waste.
- Driving responsible nutrition policy also means supporting the domestic specialty crop sector, including fruit and vegetable farmers.