What Does RFK's MAHA Report Say About Our Kids? We Read It So You Don't Have To.

If you’ve been listening to Robert Kennedy in any capacity over the past decade or so, chances are you will not be surprised by the contents of “The MAHA Report: Making Our Children Health Again.” The report, which reflects many concerns and conclusions of the so-called “Make American Healthy Again” movement championed by Kennedy, is a mix of sturdy science already supported by official government agencies and unproven conclusions rooted in questionable or misunderstood science.

This 68-page document was prompted by an executive order in February, was drafted by the “MAHA Commission,” which includes Health and Human Services secretary Kennedy, Lee Zeldin (head of the Environmental Protection Agency), Martin Makary (director of the Food and Drug Administration), Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, as well as other cabinet members and key figures from the Trump administration.

The report — which has earned praise and criticism — outlines what it perceives to be the four main drivers of poor health in children: poor diet; aggregation of environmental chemicals; lack of physical activity and chronic stress; and over-medicalization, which we will look at point by point.

Poor Diet

This section of the report highlights the disproportionate consumption of ultra-processed foods or UPFs. The report notes that nearly 70% of an American child’s caloric intake comes from these foods.

While there is no universal definition for a UPF, generally speaking they are considered foods made in factories with ingredients you wouldn’t find in a household kitchen. These can include things like sugary snack cakes and chips, but also flavored yogurts, cereal, sliced bread (including the whole grain bread), and canned soups. While they’re not universally unhealthy or void of nutritional value, they very often contain high levels of added sugar and sodium.

Broadly speaking, this section has been roundly praised for its interpretation of available research, though many have pointed out that experts and federal agencies have long encouraged diets focused on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein, encouraging minimal inclusion of added sugars and sodium.

Aggregation of Environmental Chemicals

This includes heavy metals like lead and mercury, pollutants in the air, water, and soil, pesticides (more on that in a minute), and endocrine disruptors like phthalates among others. It also includes — contrary to the scientific consensus — fluoride and electromagnetic radiation, specifically citing 5G, Wi-Fi, and mobile phones.

Some expected the report to take a stronger stance against the use of popular pesticides. Some farmers have nevertheless felt it went too far in its condemnation of what they see as necessary for maintaining the national (and international) food supply.

But while the report warns of the dire, long-term consequences of childhood exposure to such contaminants, the Trump administration has rolled back a number of environmental protections in regard to air and water pollution and pushed back or paused increased regulations for others, including so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

Lack of physical activity and chronic stress

This section highlights that a decline in physical activity among children, paired with over-use of screens and social media, insufficient sleep have led to poorer outcomes for children’s physical and mental health. This section generally comports not only scientific consensus but the conclusions of past administrations, including Dr. Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General under Joe Biden, who urged parents to keep young children off social media.

Over-Medicalization

After highlighting all the ways American children have become unhealthier — physically and mentally — as a result of corporate interests taking precedent over and above public and individual health, the report categorizes children as being unnecessarily pathologized and medicated. While the report briefly discusses “balancing the paradox” of over-diagnosis and the increase of mental health struggles reported in children, it falls short of satisfactorily defining that balance and, indeed, appears to reach contradictory conclusions depending on the aim of individual sections. Increased rates of ADHD, for example, are held up as a result of increased consumption of UPFs and exposure chemicals in the environment, but are also held up as an example of misdiagnosis leading to “unnecessary drugs, treatments, and social stigma.”

This section is, perhaps, the most partisan of the report. It casts doubt on the safety of vaccines, criticizing both the development of vaccines as being insufficient to determine necessity or safety and the current vaccine schedule. (Both assertions have drawn criticism from experts as being misleading.) It also categorizes pediatric gender-affirming care as “child chemical and surgical mutilation.”

What wasn’t in the report...

Social determinants of health went largely unaddressed throughout the report. For example, despite poverty being disproportionately linked with poor diet, environmental contaminants, chronic stress, lack of physical activity, and screen use, poverty is not addressed in the report. Lack of access to adequate healthcare — an issue that afflicts approximately one in five children — was also not addressed.

Gun violence, including suicide by firearm, the number one cause of death among American children — was also not addressed.

And while the report called for increased research, monitoring to improve childhood health outcomes, it did not address how those resources would be established amid multi-billion dollar cuts to the HHS, including nearly $3 billion to the National Institutes of Health alone.

Formal recommendations are expected in mid-August

This report served to highlight issues facing American children and fell short of asserting official guidelines for systemic change. That should come sometime this summer. We’ll keep you posted.