A scathing new report from President Trump’s Make America Healthy Again Commission is sending shockwaves through the country, revealing a stunning rise in chronic diseases among American children. The most chilling claim? Kids today may not live as long as their parents.
The report, spearheaded by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., cites a combination of overmedication, ultra-processed foods, environmental toxins, and screen addiction as the leading culprits behind the crisis. It warns that without drastic intervention, the next generation could be sicker, heavier, and more medicated than any in American history.
Kennedy, a longtime critic of pharmaceutical overreach and corporate control in healthcare, said the report is a “diagnosis” of where we are—and that a “prescription” will follow in 100 days. That prescription will take the form of sweeping policy recommendations aimed at reversing what he called a “chronic disease crisis.”
The numbers laid out in the report are staggering. Teen depression has nearly doubled since 2009. One in five kids over six is obese. Autism diagnoses have skyrocketed to one in 31. Childhood cancer has spiked 40% since the 1970s. And an astonishing 75% of American youth are now considered unfit for military service due to chronic health issues like asthma, allergies, autoimmune disorders, and obesity.
“This is a national security issue as much as it is a public health emergency,” the report states.
Among the most concerning revelations: a 250% jump in ADHD prescriptions from 2006 to 2016, a 1,400% increase in antidepressant use among kids between 1987 and 2014, and an 800% spike in antipsychotic prescriptions between 1993 and 2009. The report questions whether these drugs are being prescribed responsibly—or simply masking larger problems caused by diet, environment, and poor health policy.
NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya didn’t mince words on a press call. “What the report says is that the next generation of children will live shorter lives than their parents. As a parent, that is absolutely shocking,” he said.
Bhattacharya pointed the finger directly at what he called a toxic mix of environmental exposure, harmful food additives, and over-prescription. “The implication is that whatever is happening to our kids—the food that they eat, the medicines they take, the environment they live in—is not making them healthier. In fact, it’s making them sicker.”
FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary echoed that sentiment, declaring the U.S. has become “the most obese, depressed, disabled, medicated population in the history of the world.”
The MAHA report outlines a dramatic culture shift over the past few decades, from outdoor play to indoor screens, and from fresh meals to hyper-processed food packed with seed oils and artificial ingredients. All of it, the commission says, has been subsidized, promoted, or tolerated by a federal health system that’s been asleep at the wheel.
RFK Jr., who has long warned of pharmaceutical industry overreach and corruption, called the new report a necessary first step in turning things around. “This is a century of failed approaches, and we’re drawing a line in the sand. No more.”
The final recommendations are expected by late August and will reportedly target junk food marketing, pharmaceutical industry transparency, and environmental contaminants like microplastics and pesticides.
Critics on the left have already attacked the commission, dismissing it as alarmist or politically motivated. But the numbers don’t lie—and the response from health experts suggests this may be a turning point in how the federal government tackles childhood illness.
The question now is whether Washington will listen—or keep putting Big Pharma and corporate food giants ahead of America’s kids.
