To look back a year into U.S. history does not promote a warm, fuzzy feeling of nostalgia, but rather something closer to revulsion. Toward the end of May in 2025, New York Times reporters Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Dani Blum told readers that a recent presidential commission had just painted a “bleak picture of American children.”
They discussed what the government was saying, doing, and not doing, about a list of conditions and circumstances affecting childhood obesity — like ultra-processed foods; stress; insufficient exercise; drugs, including antidepressants; and exposure to chemicals that either are or should be avoidable to varying degrees.
Perhaps unwilling to recall the tremendous effort that former First Lady Michelle Obama had exerted to bring awareness to the problem, the 68-page commission mentioned the word “obesity” only three times, although it divulged the information that 40% of Americans were obese. Also, Americans were getting pretty much half their calories from ultraprocessed foods (UPFs). This is a real head-scratcher, and maybe above our pay grade, but… could there possibly be a connection?
Regardez-vous les autres…
Meanwhile, compare three European countries — France, Italy, and Portugal — where the citizens obtain only between 10% and 30% of their calories from UPFs. Reader, prepare for a shock: only fewer than one-quarter of those folks qualify as obese.
Anyway, about a year ago, a presidential commission led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a report that included the phrase, “the sickest generation in American history.” The officials who were expected to identify the reasons for that found plenty. A case was made that this country’s medical research establishment has been placing too much emphasis on eradicating specific diseases.
Historically, in many cases, that has been proven possible, yet somehow a feeling seems to exist that more energy should be expended on treating illnesses and identifying their causes, rather than trying to eliminate them from the biosphere altogether. Why there should be any controversy over this point is difficult to understand. We are America. Why not boldly aspire to do it all?
Do corporations exert too much influence on policy?
Probably, folks of any political persuasion would agree that corporations are too powerful in this aspect of life, differing only in their assessment of which corporations have too much influence, and of what sort, and what ought to be done about it.
In fact, upon first hearing, most generalizations sound pretty much the same. Two people might agree that American children are over-medicalized, and at the same time operate from very divergent sets of assumptions and beliefs.
Anyone may read the entire MAHA report. It says unkind things about topics also discussed here at Childhood Obesity News, like the diets of American children, which are rife with such engineered substances as ultra-processed fats, grains, and sugars. This dreck makes up two-thirds of their total caloric intake.
The authors note that Mr. Kennedy is happy with neither America’s food system nor its plethora of environmental toxins. Various of his viewpoints are contrary to those favored by his supporters, while many of his thoughts also disagree, as might be expected, with other opinions and beliefs.
2,500
By a strange coincidence, the report issued in 2025 included a very similar figure — 2,500 — which happens to be the number of dicey, or at least questionable, additives found in what the kids are eating these days. The strange brews include “emulsifiers, binders, sweeteners, colorings, and preservatives” with names like Propylparaben, Butylated Hydroxytoluene, and Titanium Dioxide, which (whether honored with capital letters in their names or not — it seems to be optional) do not look or sound attractive.
According to the report,
Studies have linked certain food additives to increased risks of mental disorders, ADHD, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndromes and even carcinogenic effects. Additionally, preliminary evidence suggests a possible association between the consumption of food colorings and autism…
Many substances also disrupt the gut microbiome, which increasingly appears as vitally important as the brain. It is possible that parents who worry about their kids sustaining brain damage through drug use might appropriately be just as concerned over potential gut microbiome devastation from some of those 2,500 food additives.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Kennedy and Trump Paint Bleak Picture of Chronic Disease in U.S. Children,” NYTimes.com, 05/22/25
Source: “The MAHA Report,” US-Gov-West-1, 2025
Image by Pat Hartman/Pixabay (Squirrel_photos, JohnHain)
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