MAHA Commission: Rhetoric & Blind Spots

RFK Jr. Continues to Ignore Public Health Evidence

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again commission has generated significant attention with its promise to tackle childhood chronic disease, but beneath the compelling rhetoric lies a troubling disconnect between political messaging and public health reality. While the initiative correctly identifies some alarming health trends affecting American children, its approach reveals fundamental gaps that expose it as more political theater than evidence-based policy.

The recently released 68-page MAHA report, established through a February 2025 executive order, identifies four major drivers behind the rise in childhood chronic illness: poor diet, environmental chemicals, chronic stress and lack of physical activity, and overmedicalization. The commission places heavy emphasis on ultra-processed foods, criticizing the food industry’s influence on dietary guidelines and pointing to processed foods as a primary culprit in childhood obesity and chronic disease. Environmental toxins re…