On the same day Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was sworn in as Secretary of Health and Human Services, President Trump issued an executive order establishing a “Make America Healthy Again Commission” that will be chaired by Kennedy and include heads of other agencies, including the USDA and the EPA.
Citing high rates of chronic disease and health conditions like obesity and autism in children, Trump said the government’s policy will be “to aggressively combat the critical health challenges facing our citizens, including the rising rates of mental health disorders, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases.”
The order requires the Commission to deliver an assessment of childhood chronic disease within 100 days and a strategy based on that assessment within 180 days. It includes looking at basic issues such as nutrition and physical activity but also orders an assessment of the “threat posed by” medications including popular weight-loss drugs and antidepressants, both of which Kennedy has been critical of in the past.
Trump stated the efforts would be done with methodological rigor and transparency, but it’s unclear how agencies will be able to accomplish any of the work given the scale of cuts to the workforce that are happening at the same time. Since Trump took office, health agencies have also been deleting records of scientific data and studies. The administration is also trying to cut National Institutes of Health research funding.
In a broader sense, the order had several points in common with former President Biden’s efforts to encourage cross-agency work connecting the dots between the food supply, nutrition, and health. For example, Biden’s HHS hosted the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in 50 years, where it launched a national strategy that called for the integration of nutrition and health and investments in “food is medicine” initiatives. (Link to this post.)
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