American children are increasingly sick and obese, and the federal government must take steps to reverse this by reducing unhealthy food consumption, ending reliance on pharmaceuticals and ridding the environment of toxic chemicals.
That’s the message from the MAHA Report: Making our Children Health Again issued Thursday by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Mr. Kennedy is seeking “a strategic realignment” to make the population healthier, he said at a White House event unveiling the initiative.
“This is the beginning of a conversation, a national conversation, that we are going to have with maturity, with nuance, for the first time in history,” he said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40% of the nation’s 73 million children have at least one chronic health condition such as asthma, allergies, obesity or behavioral disorders.
Mr. Kennedy’s 69-page report outlined what he described as a chronic disease crisis in children that stems from the grocery store to the doctor’s office and is putting a generation at risk.
President Trump appointed a group of cabinet and agency heads to tackle the problem over the next three months.
“There is something wrong and we will not stop until we defeat the chronic disease epidemic. America, we are going to get it done,” Mr. Trump said. “We are demanding the answers, the public is demanding the answers, and that’s why we’re here.”
Mr. Kennedy’s report directs an investigation into the uptick in childhood chronic disease and potential contributing factors. Some of the culprits, Mr. Kennedy writes in the report, include ultra-processed food that has become a mainstay of the American diet and makes up 70% of children’s calories.
The report follows the Trump administration’s decision to grant waivers to states allowing them to ban sugary soda purchases with food stamps.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said she’s signed waivers for three states and plans to green light the soda ban in at least another dozen states.
Mr. Kennedy said diet isn’t the only culprit in the childhood disease epidemic. Toxins in the environment, medical treatments, lifestyle factors such as inactivity, addiction to electronic devices and sleep deprivation play a role.
The report also points the finger at government policies, food production, electromagnetic radiation from phones and other devices, and the corporate influence over what Americans consume.
“By examining the root causes of deteriorating child health, this assessment establishes a clear, evidence-based foundation for the policy interventions, institutional reforms, and societal shifts needed to reverse course,” Mr. Kennedy writes.
The report criticizes the over-medicalization of children, who he said are overprescribed medications due to conflicts of interest in medical research and regulations.
Stimulant prescriptions for ADHD in the U.S. increased 250% from 2006 to 2016, according to the report, “despite evidence they did not improve long-term outcomes.”
Among those appointed to examine the issue is Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary, who said the effort “will transform our health care system from a reactionary system where doctors are playing Whac-A-Mole, to a proactive system.”
Mr. Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again or MAHA movement has grown in popularity, particularly among mothers who are seeking healthier food choices.
In April, Mr. Kennedy announced the FDA will move to eliminate six petroleum-based food dyes found in breakfast cereal, drinks, candy and other food items by the end of 2026.
“Over the past few years, we’ve built an unstoppable coalition of moms and dads, doctors and young people and citizens of all backgrounds who have come together to protect our children, very importantly, keep the dangerous chemicals out of our food supplies, get toxic substances out of our environment and deliver the American people the facts as to really where we’re going,” Mr. Trump said. “And we want to have what we deserve, and we want to be healthy, and we want to have a lot of good things happen, and I think we’re going to have that.”
