RFK JR's highly anticipated MAHA report paints dismal state of child health, national security concerns

Fox News

22-05-2025

President Donald Trump's Make America Healthy Again Commission released its anticipated report assessing chronic diseases that have gripped U.S. youths in recent years, pinning blame for a spike in childhood issues to a host of variables stretching from ingesting foods with added chemicals to an increase in prescribing pharmaceuticals to young kids.
"After a century of costly and ineffective approaches, the federal government will lead a coordinated transformation of our food, health, and scientific systems," the report, released Thursday and reviewed by Fox News Digital, outlined. "This strategic realignment will ensure that all Americans—today and in the future—live longer, healthier lives, supported by systems that prioritize prevention, wellbeing, and resilience."
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. serves as chair of the commission and joined a call with the media earlier Thursday, when he explained that the report is a "diagnosis" of the state of U.S. health, and that the "prescription" for the ongoing issues will be released in 100 days at the end of August in the form of policy recommendations for the federal government.
The report's findings include: teenage depression nearly doubling from 2009 to 2019, more than one-in-five children over the age of six being considered obese, one-in-31 children diagnosed with autism by age 8, and childhood cancer spiking by 40% since 1975.
"Over 40% of the roughly 73 million children (aged 0-17) in the United States have at least one chronic health condition, according to the CDC, such as asthma, allergies, obesity, autoimmune diseases, or behavioral disorders," the report stated. "Although estimates vary depending on the conditions included, all studies show an alarming increase over time," the report stated.
Chronic diseases have a chilling effect on national security, commission members said in a Thursday morning phone call with the media. Roughly 75% of America's youth aged 17-24 do not qualify to serve in the military due to obesity, asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases or behavioral disorders, they said.
"We now have the most obese, depressed, disabled, medicated population in the history of the world, and we cannot keep going down the same road," Food and Drug Commissioner Marty Makary said on the phone call with the media. "So this is an amazing day. I hope this marks the grand pivot from a system that is entirely reactionary to a system that will now be proactive."
The report itself pointed to a handful of variables leading to what Kennedy and other Trump administration leaders called a "chronic disease crisis," including a "food system [that] is safe but could be healthier;" exposure to environmental chemicals such as pesticides outside or microplastics in food consumed; as well as a culture shift that moved kids from playing outside to being glued to their phones or tablets.
"American children are highly medicated — and it's not working," the report added of another variable compounding the chronic health issues.
The report found that prescribing medication to children has skyrocketed in recent history, such as a 250% increase in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder prescriptions between 2006 and 2016 despite scientific evidence that the prescriptions did not "improve outcomes long-term," as well as a 1,400% increase between 1987 and 2014 for antidepressant prescriptions for kids, and 800% increase in anti-psychotic medications for children between 1993 and 2009.
"These time trends significantly outpace more moderate increases seen in other developed countries," the report found. "Psychotropics for ADHD are one example, prescribed 2.5 times more in US than in British children , and 19 times more than in Japanese youth. The crisis of overdiagnosis and overtreatment in children is therefore both empirically evident, and proportionally specific to American youth."
While the report detailed that fluoride, which is a water additive frequently used to protect teeth from decay and cavities, was found to have a "statistically significant association between exposure to fluoride above recommended levels and reduced IQ levels in children." The EPA, the report said, is in the midst of reviewing fluoride data to potentially enact "revisions to the federal drinking water standard."
By 2022, more than 60% of Americans — more than 70% of those on public water systems — were consuming fluoridated water, the report said.
A 2025 systematic review published in JAMA Pediatrics, analyzing 74 high-quality studies, found a statistically significant association between exposure to fluoride above recommended levels and reduced IQ levels in children. EPA is currently conducting a review of additional research that will inform any potential revisions to the federal drinking water standard.
Director of the National Institutes of Health Jay Bhattacharya shared on the press call that the report underscores America's next generation of children are less healthy than their parents and will subsequently live shorter lives if not addressed.
"What the report says is that the next generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents," he said. "For me as a parent, that is absolutely shocking. The implication is that whatever is happening to our kids, the food that they eat, the environmental exposures they face, the medicines that they take to address the fact that they're sick are not translating over into making them healthier. And in fact, they are less healthy than their parents were at the same age."
The report found, "Despite outspending peer nations by more than double per capita on healthcare, the United States ranks last in life expectancy among high-income countries – and suffers higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Today's children are the sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease and these preventable trends continue to worsen each year, posing a threat to our nation's health, economy, and military readiness."
The Trump officials stressed on the call that America's food system is "100% safe," but that it could be even healthier, such as shifting from "ultraprocessed foods" that contain added "sugars, chemical additives, and saturated fats, while lacking sufficient intakes of fruits and vegetables."
Kennedy added that the "holistic"review of U.S. health as it relates to children includes promoting a strong economy, citing that "weak economies kill people."
The report "represents an invitation to the American people and the American press to have a complex conversation about a nuanced subject, including that environmental policy, good economic policy and good public health policy are ultimately 100% aligned," Kennedy said on the press call.
"The reason for that, particularly regarding public health, is that a strong economy is a social determinant of public health," he continued. "Weak economies kill people. They make people sicker. Large public deaths make people sicker. These are all social determinants. And we learned during COVID that you can't isolate the economy from the public health policy."
Trump signed an executive order in February establishing the commission, chaired by Kennedy and joined by other agency leaders such as EPA chief Lee Zeldin, USDA's Brooke Rollins and VA Secretary Doug Collins. The executive order directed the commission to release "an assessment that summarizes what is known and what questions remain regarding the childhood chronic disease crisis, and include international comparisons."
The commission will release its next report advising how to tackle chronic health issues in the next 100 days, which falls on Aug. 30.
Kennedy and Trump vowed on the campaign trail to "Make America Healthy Again," including directing their focus on autism among the youth in recent years.