The first report from the Make America Healthy Again Commission is out, with a particular focus on children’s health. The relatively short report includes astonishing data on obesity, heart disease, diabetes, life expectancy, substance abuse, mental illness, and many other terribles. 

The report is a shock, a painful read, a five-alarm fire, and the charts alone are astonishing. It is embedded below for your reading misery. 

“This report—Make Our Children Healthy Again: Assessment—is a call to action. It presents the stark reality of American children’s declining health, backed by compelling data and long-term trends. More importantly, it seeks to unpack the potential dietary, behavioral, medical, and environmental drivers behind this crisis. By examining the root causes of deteriorating child health, this assessment establishes a clear, evidence-based foundation for the policy interventions, institutional reforms, and societal shifts needed to reverse course.”

Further:

“After a century of costly and ineffective approaches, the federal government will lead a coordinated transformation of our food, health, and scientific systems. This strategic realignment will ensure that all Americans—today and in the future—live longer, healthier lives, supported by systems that prioritize prevention, wellbeing, and resilience. But real transformation requires more than vision—it requires clarity. Before we act, we must fully understand the scope of the crisis, the conditions that created it, and the mechanisms through which it continues to grow. Without this foundation, interventions risk being reactive, fragmented, or ineffective.”

Again, the focus is on children, but the data pertain to the entire population. 

Undoubtedly, the report will come as a shock to most Americans, and to American politics generally, even if the rest of the world is well aware.