MAHA report on children’s health doesn’t go far enough, say experts
A recent action plan on children’s health from the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission—aimed at tackling high rates of obesity and chronic disease among children in the U.S.—raises important issues but misses the mark in a number of ways, according to experts quoted in media reports.
In addition, say the experts, Trump administration actions could actually undermine efforts to boost children’s health. Since January, the administration has cut the budget at government agencies including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), pulled back on environmental regulations, and cut funding for research into topics relevant to children’s health, such as access to nutritious foods and environmental exposures.
Several faculty members from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health were among those quoted on the MAHA report.
In a Sept. 9 PBS article, Marc Weisskopf, Cecil K. and Philip Drinker Professor of Environmental Epidemiology and Physiology, said he was glad to see the report highlight the importance of physical activity, access to nutritious foods, and environmental factors in shaping children’s health outcomes. But he said there’s a disconnect between one of the report’s stated goals—delivering “gold-standard science”—and its unraveling of research aimed at shedding light issues related to children’s health. “We need people who are knowledgeable about this work to be around the table,” he said. He added, “Cutting NIH severely would directly work against everything that [the new] document purports to want to do.”
Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition, commented on the report in a Sept. 10 CNN article. He said that there is much the report gets right, “especially the need to improve diet quality and increase physical activity while reducing screen time.” But he added that the Trump administration may cut some programs that support better nutrition for children. For example, the administration may sharply reduce a monthly allowance for fruits and vegetables offered through the WIC program—the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Willett also pointed out that the report fails to address several important factors impacting American children’s health, including firearm injuries, which are the leading cause of death for children and teens ages 1-19, according to the CDC; poverty and systemic racism, which “are clearly important underlying contributors” to the chronic disease epidemic in children; and sugar-sweetened beverages and lead in water, which Willett called “huge and well-documented issues.”
Jerold Mande, adjunct professor of nutrition and a former senior policy official in the Bush, Clinton, and Obama administrations, said in a Sept. 10 New York Times article that an initial MAHA report, published in May, was “revolutionary in its focus” by identifying ultra-processed foods, and the companies that make them, as a driver of poor health in children. But he said the recent report seemed to be more aligned with food industry interests, “written to just maintain the status quo.”
Read the PBS article: 3 things to know about RFK Jr.’s MAHA report on children’s health
Read the CNN article: MAHA’s ‘Make Our Children Healthy Again’ guidance ignores real causes of poor childhood health, experts say
Read the New York Times article: Kennedy Report Won’t Solve America’s Food Issues, Experts Say
