The Scary Thing About the New MAHA Report

I had an hour of free time (WOWZA!) and I read an article on the new MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) report on the drivers of chronic disease in children. You can read it here. This report is an assessment of causation, and the proposed policies are supposed to be out in about 3 months.

Why is it scary? Because 3 out of 4 actually nailed causation. Sadly, the MAHA prescription will be ridiculous, harmful and should be sent to a wastebin. No, I don’t need to read it to know that.

Here is the summary. Source.

• Poor diet: Ultra-processed foods like chips, cheeseburgers, french fries, cake and soda, have led to nutrient depletion, increased caloric intake and exposure to harmful additives. Research links UPFs to childhood obesity, diabetes, and potentially cognitive decline and cancer.

• Aggregation of environmental chemicals: Children are exposed to an increasing number of synthetic materials, such as heavy metals in paint and pipes; air pollutants; pesticides; plastic and personal care products with phthalates and BPA; microplastics; and electromagnetic radiation (cellphones and Wi-Fi).

• Lack of physical activity and chronic stress: Children are experiencing unprecedented levels of inactivity, screen use, sleep deprivation and chronic stress among children, which leads to rise in chronic diseases and mental health challenges.

• Overmedication: The report scrutinizes the rise in prescription medications in children, calling it a "crisis of overdiagnosis and overtreatment." It specifically calls out antibiotics, stimulants, antipsychotics, weight-loss and asthma drugs.

All of us who are “of a certain age” know that the first three are completely true. When we were kids, we ate FOOD. Meaning fruits and vegetables in season, simple dishes, a lack of junk food¹. We played outside constantly. TV was limited. While we had a different kind of pollution exposure (lead paint, asbestos, air pollution) we didn’t have the plastics, the pesticides, the chemicals in general. Our days were not filled with after school leagues with all the travel.

As for the medications - this is what they’re going to focus on, and they’ll get it wrong. There are a ton of medications that didn’t exist a generation ago that are incredibly helpful. And it’s true that solving the first three problems would decrease the need for meds. But MAHA won’t be able to do it in a reasonable fashion. They’ll just stop the meds (the way they have stopped Covid shots for kids and most adults) which will be a disaster.

For example, Type 2 diabetes needs to be controlled with medication. But it is preventable for most kids if they eat a healthy diet, get enough exercise, and keep their weight within normal limits. Is it preventable in all cases? Certainly not, so kids with Type 2 diabetes NEED meds to prevent further damage.

Will they bring back JFK’s 1961 Fitness Program? OF COURSE NOT. Why not take something simple, that WORKED and, oh yeah, wait, JFK was a Democrat.

This link shows the Fitness Program exercises for adults. It was slightly modified and tested on kids in elementary school. Each school that was part of the program received a record player, and a 45 rpm record with a song called “Go you Chicken Fat GO!” I remember doing that recording every morning in first grade. Below is a video of a college group doing the exercises. And yes, that’s the original tune, sung by Robert “The Music Man” Preston. When we did this in school, there was no such thing as “video”, so it was just a record. And yes, I can still do this as of today (it took me longer to do the pushups, so I needed to stop and re-start the video) and I bet you can, too. But I’m thinking a lot of kids cannot. Spending the 5 minutes every morning doing this in school would be a great tool in the arsenal against childhood obesity (and its offshoots Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure) but my guess is that MAGA-world would consider it child abuse.

Are antibiotics over prescribed? Certainly. But they ARE necessary for bacterial infections, especially in immunocompromised people. Antipsychotics? Again, completely necessary for those who need them. Asthma drugs? Are you effing kidding me? They are the difference between life and death. Would less pollution lead to fewer cases of asthma? Certainly. So wait, and remember, I’m only a blonde girl — shouldn’t we look at MORE EVs and fewer polluting gas-powered cars? Look at solar in lieu of coal? I shrug and roll my eyes.

My break is over. My husband needs me. He is doing as well as can be expected given the circumstances.

1. My mother NEVER allowed “chazari” (Yiddish for “crap food”) in the house. Every summer, there was a family picnic near my grandmother’s house. She made Hungarian fried chicken (with the secret herb blend), cole slaw and carrot salad. Each of us kids were given a dime. With said dime, we each bought a soda, which was a small glass bottle. When we returned the bottle, we received a nickel for the deposit, with which we could each get a Dixie cup. That was the ONE day a year we had ice cream or soda. It was NEVER allowed in the house.