Health

(WASHINGTON) — Governors in several states have recently announced plans to eliminate some unhealthy foods from their food stamps programs, creating momentum for a key component of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

The governors of Arkansas, Idaho and Indiana on Tuesday all said they would submit a waiver to the United States Department of Agriculture requesting permission to prevent Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients from using the money to buy candy and soft drinks.

The move follows a similar announcement from the governor of West Virginia last month.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, whose department oversees SNAP, has said she would approve such waivers. She appeared at a press conference Tuesday alongside Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as Sanders announced her submission of a waiver.

The same morning, Kennedy appeared with Indiana Gov. Mike Braun for a similar announcement.

“You’re setting the stage at the federal level,” Braun told Kennedy.

“This isn’t a usual top-down one-size-fits-all public health agenda,” he said. “We’re focused on root causes, transparent information and real results. We’re taking on big issues like diet-related chronic illness.”

Eating too much added sugar can contribute to health problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Guidance from the USDA suggests that added sugar should not represent more than 10 percent of the daily caloric intake for children or adults. Based on a 2,000-calorie intake, that would be 200 calories or approximately 12 teaspoons. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children are eating 17 teaspoons of added sugar per day on average as of 2017-2018.

Kennedy and Rollins have promoted changes to SNAP and have publicly encouraged governors to submit waivers.

Kennedy appeared last month with West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey as he announced he would submit a waiver to ban soda from SNAP.

“The message that I want to give to the country today and to all the other governors is, get in line behind Governor Morrisey and apply for a waiver to my agency, and we’re going to give it to you. That’s the way we’re going to win this,” Kennedy said that day.

As it stands, according to the USDA website, SNAP recipients can use the money to buy fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry and fish; dairy products; breads and cereals; “other foods such as snack foods and non-alcoholic beverages”; and seeds and plants.

SNAP money may not be used to purchase alcohol or tobacco, among other things.

Experts say the state efforts to add soda and candy to the prohibited list is likely to be effective in shifting SNAP recipients away from junk food.

“If they have to spend their own money on junk food, they’re not going to buy as much junk food,” Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of public health at New York University, told ABC News.

But Nestle indicated it could be difficult for states to define what should be excluded from SNAP benefits.

“Candy can have nuts, it can have raisins, it can have other kinds of things in it that are real foods and are healthier,” she said.

An Idaho bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Brad Little defined candy as “a preparation of sugar, honey, or other natural or artificial sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruits, nuts, or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of confections, bars, drops, or pieces.”

The bill’s definition of candy does not include “any item that contains more than ten percent flour by weight or requires refrigeration.”

Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, told ABC News, “We need to try a lot of different things” to make Americans healthier, and expressed optimism about the state-level efforts to overhaul SNAP.

“If we make the program meet all its goals, including nutrition, which is in its name, then that strengthens the program,” he said.

Vani Hari — a healthy food activist also known as the Food Babe, the founder of Truvani and a front-facing leader of the MAHA movement — called this “a do-or-die moment” for American health.

“We need to question any legislator that doesn’t sign these bills, there is no legitimate reason to allow high fructose corn syrup water in government funded nutritional dollars. Governors who stand with Secretary Kennedy’s vision of MAHA will change the course of history of American health – it’s a do or die moment and we’ve never had momentum like this before,” Hari told ABC News in a statement.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AUSTIN, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas continues to grow, with 561 confirmed cases, according to new data published Tuesday.

This is an increase of 20 new cases over the last five days.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Four of the cases are among residents who have been vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Seven cases are among those vaccinated with two doses.

At least 58 people with measles have been hospitalized so far.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, followed by children ages 4 and under.

Gaines County, which borders New Mexico, remains the epicenter of the outbreak, with 364 cases confirmed so far, DSHS data shows.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has recorded the highest number of measles cases since 2019, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Friday.

There are now 712 confirmed measles cases across 24 states, an increase of 105 cases from the prior week, the CDC said.

There were 1,274 reported cases in all of 2019.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AUSTIN, TX) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seemed to imply in recent days that the measles outbreak in western Texas was slowing down.

In a post on X on Sunday, Kennedy remarked on the second death linked to the outbreak, which occurred in an unvaccinated school-aged child.

About 10 minutes later, Kennedy edited the post to add that the curve has been flattening since early March, when he started sending in reinforcements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — supplying clinics with vaccines and other medications.

“Since that time, the growth rates for new cases and hospitalizations have flattened,” he wrote.

However, data from the Texas Department of State Health Services showed that cases are increasing, with more counties in western Texas reporting infections.

Katherine Wells, director of public health for Lubbock, Texas, said last week that public health officials were projecting “a year-long timeline for control of the outbreak.”

“This is going to be a large outbreak, and we are still on the side of increasing number of cases, both due to spread and increased testing capacity,” she said.

Public health specialists told ABC News they are skeptical that the curve is flattening and believe that cases linked to the outbreak are not only increasing, but likely much higher than the official case count.

“This outbreak is far from under control — even if the curve begins to flatten, we still face major risks in under-vaccinated communities across the country,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer, as well as an ABC News contributor. “With so many pockets of low vaccination, we’re still on the brink of widespread, sustained transmission unless urgent action is taken.”

Likely more cases in Texas

As of Tuesday, there have been 505 confirmed measles cases in Texas, according to DSHS data.

Between March 28 and April 4, DSHS confirmed 81 cases — one of the highest totals confirmed in a single week since the first cases were identified in late January. The Texas Department of State Health Services does not make hospitalization rates available to the public.

“We know that there have been more cases, at least sustained cases, over the past couple months. We know that the size of the outbreak has jumped pretty substantially over the past month,” Dr. Craig Spencer, an associate professor of the practice of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health, told ABC News.

ABC News has requested a copy of the data that Kennedy is referring to when making claims about the curve flattening, but has not yet heard back from the HHS.

“We don’t have a full picture of what’s happening on the ground because of our inability to reach some communities. And so, I certainly would not feel confident saying that we have plateaued,” he added.

Spencer said one reason he is not comfortable saying the outbreak has plateaued in Texas is that he believes the number of cases is likely an undercount.

Texas DSHS said any cases reported after March 16 are incomplete, and additional cases may be reported.

There have been two confirmed deaths linked to the Texas outbreak and a third death is being investigated in New Mexico in an unvaccinated adult who tested positive after dying.

“We know that there’s really, on average, about one death for every around 1,000 cases,” Spencer said. “We’ve already seen three deaths, which would make you suspect it’s probably more like 3,000 cases.”

“It feels very, very likely that the count is higher than 500,” he said, adding, “It’s not impossible for there to be three deaths among 500 cases, but statistically, one would expect more cases for that number of deaths.”

Dr. Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News there is risk in saying the cases have flattened when the data may suggest otherwise. Namely, she said is worried that people may be dissuaded from getting tested or treated.

“We know that many people are avoiding formal medical care and therefore testing. There is always a delay in reporting even when people are tested,” Ranney said. “I worry that people are afraid to get measles tested or to bring their kid in for care.”

“My other worry is we still want people to take prevention measures and, of course, we know the vaccine is not only the safest way, but also the most effective way to prevent infection with measles,” she continued.

Kennedy promotes catch-all treatments not intended for all measles cases

In a second social media post on Sunday evening, Kennedy shared that he had met the families of the two school-aged children who died of measles in Texas, as well as a third family who reportedly had a daughter in the ICU for three weeks with measles.

Kennedy said he also met with two physicians who have “treated and healed” about 300 children infected with measles in the Mennonite community with aerosolized budesonide and clarithromycin.

Aerosolized budesonide is a steroid used to reduce inflammation in the lungs, making it easier to breathe. Clarithromycin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections.

“If you were to go to any evidence-based treatment guidelines, there is nothing that says you should treat patients with budesonide or clarithromycin,” Spencer said. “Now those are medications that have a broad suite of uses, and so I’m not going to say that they have absolutely no indication for measles, or really anything else.”

He said there are scenarios in which either medication may be used in a measles patient, but it is on a case-by-case basis.

“I don’t think that they’re hurting anyone, but they’re probably not helping anyone,” he added. “They are not at all tools that I would reach to as my first, or really even second, line of tools that I would use in someone presenting with symptoms consistent with measles.”

In an interview with ABC News Live on Monday, Dr. Peter Marks, the former director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the Food and Drug Administration — who is reported to have been forced out — said budesonide, clarithromycin and vitamin A — another treatment endorsed by Kennedy — are neither preventatives nor “real treatment” for all cases of measles.

He highlighted the importance of receiving the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine. The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles or nearly 100% effective against dying of measles after contracting it.

Some people may be at risk for an adverse reaction with any vaccine, so experts say it’s important to discuss the risks and benefits with a health care provider.

“It should be an easy decision, as easy as buying a car seat and strapping your kid in,” Marks said about getting a vaccine if eligible. “You would never drive without your kid strapped into their car seat. You know, if you had an 18-month-old, why wouldn’t you give that child something that could prevent your child from dying of an infection when there’s a one in 1,000 chance if they get measles, they would die from it?”

ABC News’ Dr. Mark Abdelmalek contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AUSTIN, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow, with 24 new cases confirmed over the last five days, according to data published Tuesday.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Three of the 505 cases are among residents who have been vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Seven cases are among those vaccinated with two doses.

At least 57 measles patients have been hospitalized so far, DSHS said.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, followed by children ages 4 and under.

Gaines County, which borders New Mexico, remains the epicenter of the outbreak, with 328 cases confirmed so far, DSHS data shows.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said on Monday he plans to assemble a task force and ultimately change the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance to stop recommending adding fluoride.

His comments came during a press conference in Utah, which just became the first state to ban fluoride from drinking water systems.

The Associated Press was the first to report Kennedy’s intended changes to the CDC guidance.

The CDC currently recommends the use of fluoride to prevent cavities.

If Kennedy, who has been outspoken in his support for removing fluoride from water, directs the CDC to change its guidance, it could lead to more cities and states removing fluoride from drinking water, a decision that’s made on the local level.

“Fluoride should not be in the water,” Kennedy said on Monday.

But the CDC’s guidance on fluoride is not enforceable, and a ban on fluoride, should it survive legal challenges, would ultimately need to come from the Environmental Protection Agency.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, also in Utah with Kennedy on Monday, announced that the EPA, too, is reviewing “new science” on fluoride. EPA sets the maximum level of fluoride in water.

“We’re prepared to act based on the science,” Zeldin said at the press conference.

The review by EPA will “inform any potential revisions to EPA’s fluoride drinking water standard,” a press release said, specifically citing a report from the National Toxicology Program, a government-run division.

The August report found lower IQ in children who had higher levels of fluoride exposure — about twice the level recommended limit for U.S. drinking water — and said more research is needed to determine if the small doses recommended in the U.S. cause harm.

“Many substances are healthy and beneficial when taken in small doses but may cause harm at high doses. More research is needed to better understand if there are health risks associated with low fluoride exposures,” the report said.

The study was also cited in a federal judge’s ruling in September that ordered the EPA to take steps to lower the potential risk of fluoride.

U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said more research was needed to understand if the typical amounts of fluoride in the water in the U.S. were causing lower IQ in kids.

“I think we need to apply the cautionary principle in this country that we should do no harm,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “And it clearly is doing harm, and the tradeoff is IQ loss in kids, and we can’t afford that in this country. We need all the brain power that we can to handle the challenges of the future.”

In November, shortly before the election, Kennedy pledged that the Trump administration would advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water on day one.

The American Dental Association, responding to Kennedy and Zeldin’s comments Tuesday, said fluoride in water was necessary for good oral health and at U.S.-recommended levels “does not negatively impact IQ levels.”

“The growing distrust of credible, time-tested, evidence-based science is disheartening. The myths that fluoridated water is harmful and no longer necessary to prevent dental disease is troublesome and reminds me of fictional plots from old movies like Dr. Strangelove,” said Brett Kessler, president of the American Dental Association.

“When government officials, like Secretary Kennedy, stand behind the commentary of misinformation and distrust peer-reviewed research it is injurious to public health.”

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(LUBBOCK, TEXAS) — A second child in Texas has died of measles, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

“The school-aged child who tested positive for measles was hospitalized in Lubbock and passed away on Thursday from what the child’s doctors described as measles pulmonary failure,” the statement said, in part. “The child was not vaccinated and had no reported underlying conditions.”

The University Medical Center in Lubbock, Texas, said the child had been receiving care for “complications of measles while hospitalized” and also emphasized, as the state health department did, that the child was unvaccinated with no underlying conditions.

An unvaccinated school-aged child also died of measles in Texas in late February, according to the Texas Department of Health Services – the first measles death in a decade in the United States. A week later, an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico died with measles, the New Mexico Department of Health reported.

The outbreak has so far led to 642 confirmed cases across 22 states, but the vast majority — 499 cases — have been in Texas, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy posted on X on Sunday afternoon.

Kennedy also said in the post that he visited Texas on Sunday to “comfort” the family of the child. He said he’d developed a close relationship with the impacted community — which has largely been unvaccinated — including the family of the first child to die in the outbreak.

He added that the “most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” is the measles, mumps and rubella — or MMR — vaccine.

The HHS secretary, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, has come under fire from public health officials for downplaying the measles outbreak and not advocating enough for widespread vaccination.

In Kennedy’s first public comments on the measles outbreak last month, he said that outbreaks were not “uncommon” because they happen every year and declined to specifically encourage vaccination.

Public health experts who criticized Kennedy pointed out that outbreaks do not have to happen every year and are preventable with the MMR vaccine, which is 97% effective with two doses. Kennedy has since repeated that the vaccine is the “most effective way” to prevent measles, though often also noted that it’s a “personal choice.”

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who publicly wrestled with his support for Kennedy but eventually voted to support him as HHS secretary, said the second death in Texas proved that “top health officials” should be “unequivocally” encouraging the vaccine.

“Everyone should be vaccinated!” Cassidy wrote on X Sunday. “There is no treatment for measles. No benefit to getting measles. Top health officials should say so unequivocally [before] another child dies.”

The Texas Department of State Health Services said on April 4 that Texas is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 30 years.

There are more than double the number of cases of measles in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year than the entirety of last year, which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are the highest number of measles cases in the U.S. since 2019, which saw 1,274 cases, according to the CDC. New Mexico is experiencing its worst measles outbreak in 40 years, with 54 cases. Kansas and Ohio are also experiencing outbreaks.

If the number of this year’s cases continues to grow at the current rate, the U.S. would likely surpass that 2019 number, which would lead to the highest number of cases in the U.S. since 1992.

The U.S. declared measles eliminated in the year 2000, after finding no continuous spread of the highly contagious disease over 12 months. The country would be at risk of losing that status if an outbreak continued for more than one year. The Texas outbreak saw its first measles cases in January.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles.

In his statement on Sunday, Kennedy said a CDC team was deployed to Texas in early March to support state and local health officials and to supply pharmacies and clinics with MMR vaccines.

“I’ve spoken to Governor Abbott, and I’ve offered HHS’ continued support. At his request, we have redeployed CDC teams to Texas. We will continue to follow Texas’ lead and to offer similar resources to other affected jurisdictions,” he said in the post.

Kennedy’ visit to Texas comes shortly after the secretary, a prominent vaccine skeptic, has cut one-fourth of the HHS workforce and one-fifth of those employed by the CDC.

The HHS recently clawed back roughly $11 billion in funding from state and local health departments for COVID recovery efforts, saying the money was no longer needed as the pandemic was over. But health officials said the money was being used to better equip communities’ abilities to deal with the spread of diseases — including measles — and better prepare for the next pandemic.

Dr. Philip Huang, the top health official for the city of Dallas, told ABC News that the cuts to the HHS funding and its workforce could impact efforts to respond to the measles outbreak in his state.

“This definitely impacts our measles response,” he said. “We were looking to build out our lab capacity, some of our ability to get immunizations out into the community and into schools.”

“These smaller health departments, they don’t have many staff. You make a small cut and that takes away a considerable percentage of their workforce and ability to respond to anything at all,” Huang said.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Sixteen state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday over its cancellation of research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, argues the cancellation of the grants is “unlawful” and the attorneys general “seek relief for the unreasonable and intentional delays currently plaguing the grant-application process.”

The defendants named in the suit include the NIH, almost all of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centers, NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the Department of Health and Human Services and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The NIH told ABC News it does not comment on pending litigation. The HHS did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.

“Once again, the Trump administration is putting politics before public health and risking lives and livelihoods in the process,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Millions of Americans depend on our nation’s research institutions for treatments and cures to the diseases that devastate families every day.”

“The decision to cut these funds is an attack on science, public health, and medical innovation — and I won’t stand for it. We are suing to restore these critical funds because the people of New York, and the entire nation, deserve better,” the statement continued.

Over the past several weeks, active research grants related to studies involving LGBTQ+ issues, gender identity and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) have been canceled at the NIH because they allegedly do not serve the “priorities” of President Donald Trump’s administration.

As of late March, more than 900 grants worth millions of dollars have been terminated, an NIH official with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named, told ABC News.

In previous termination letters, viewed by ABC News, they state that, “Research programs based on gender identity are often unscientific, have little identifiable return on investment, and do nothing to enhance the health of many Americans. Many such studies ignore, rather than seriously examine, biological realities. It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize these research programs.”

“The premise…is incompatible with agency priorities, and no modification of the project could align the project with agency priorities,” the letters continue.

The plaintiffs argue that the terminations, “if left unchecked,” could cause “direct, immediate, significant, and irreparable harm to the plaintiffs and their public research institutions. “

The attorneys general are seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction asking the defendants to review delayed applications and barring them from carrying out terminations of grants.

Earlier this week, researchers who had millions of dollars’ worth of grants terminated by the NIH sued the agency, the HHS, Bhattacharya and Kennedy in the hopes of stopping any further research cancellations.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(AUSTIN, Texas) — The measles outbreak in western Texas has hit 481 cases, with 59 newly identified infections confirmed over the last three days, according to new data published Friday.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS).

Three of the cases are among people vaccinated with one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and seven cases are among those vaccinated with two doses.

At least 56 measles patients have been hospitalized so far, the DSHS said.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, at 180, followed by children ages 4 and under, who account for 157 cases, according to the data.

Gaines County, which borders New Mexico, remains the epicenter of the outbreak, with 315 cases confirmed so far, DSHS data shows.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORIK) — About 10,000 people across the United States Department of Health and Human Services were laid off this week as part of a massive restructuring plan.

In a post on X on Tuesday afternoon, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the layoffs represented “a difficult moment for all of us” but that “we must shift course” because Americans are “getting sicker every year.”

An official at the National Institutes of Health with knowledge on the matter, who asked not to be named, told ABC News that the layoffs were an “HHS-wide bloodbath,” with entire offices being fired.

Sources told ABC News that affected offices included a majority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health, key offices in the Center for Tobacco Products, most of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the entire assisted reproductive technology team at the CDC.

Then, Kennedy told ABC News on Thursday that some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.

In a video statement posted on X prior to the layoffs, Kennedy said that he plans to bring to the agency a “clear sense of mission to radically improve the health of Americans and to improve agency morale.”

In the six-minute clip, Kennedy claimed that the U.S. is the “sickest nation in the world,” with rates of chronic disease and cancer increasing dramatically and the lifespan of Americans dropping — though Kennedy did not present any data in his video to support those claims.

Smoking and the use of tobacco products contribute to both chronic disease and cancer — and the offices tackling those issues are among those that were gutted in Kennedy’s recent moves.

While Kennedy is correct in his statement that some chronic disease and cancer rates have risen, public health experts said — and data shows — that the country has made great progress tackling illnesses, including driving down cancer mortality rates, and that life expectancy is on the rise.

“Gutting the public health system while claiming to fight disease is a dangerous contradiction,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as a contributor for ABC News.

“We should be focusing on strengthening – not stripping – the public health system if we’re serious about tackling chronic disease,” Brownstein continued. “Dismantling key infrastructure will only set us back in the fight to keep Americans healthy.”

American life expectancy increasing

In a post on X, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator from 2022 to 2023, said Kennedy was incorrect in his statement about Americans getting sicker.

“So much of what is in here is incorrect,” he wrote. “Americans are NOT getting sicker every year. After a devastating pandemic, life expectancy is beginning to rise again.”

Between 2022 and 2023, age-adjusted death rates decreased for nine of the leading causes of death in the U.S., according to a December 2024 report from the CDC.

This includes decreasing death rates from heart disease, unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and COVID-19.

Additionally, age-specific death rates dropped from 2022 to 2023 for all age groups ages 5 and older, the CDC report found.

The report also found life expectancy in the U.S. is beginning to rise again after it dropped in every U.S. state during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Life expectancy in 2023 hit its highest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC report. Data showed life expectancy for the U.S. population was 78.4 years in 2023, an increase of 0.9 years from 2022.

The drop in age-adjusted death rates was largely attributed to decreases in mortality from COVID-19, heart disease, unintentional injuries and diabetes.

“Claims that Americans are getting sicker every year simply don’t hold up,” Brownstein told ABC News. “Life expectancy is rising again post-pandemic, and we’ve seen declines in cancer, cardiovascular and overdose mortality.”

Obesity rising in children, decreasing in adults

Kennedy has said he wants to tackle the obesity epidemic, including childhood obesity.

Research does show that obesity is rising in children in the U.S. and is occurring at younger ages, with approximately one in five children and teens in the U.S. having obesity, according to the CDC.

A 2022 study from Emory University that studied data from 1998 through 2016 found that childhood obesity among kindergarten through fifth-grade students has become more severe, putting more children at risk of health consequences.

However, Jha pointed out in his post on X that “even obesity rates have plateaued and are beginning to turn down” in adults.

For the first time in over a decade, adult obesity rates in the U.S. may be trending downward, with numbers dropping slightly from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023, according to a study published in JAMA Health Forum in December 2024.

The study reviewed the body mass index, a generally accepted method of estimating obesity, of 16.7 million U.S. adults over a 10-year period. The average BMI rose annually during that period to 30.24, which is considered obese, until it plateaued in 2022, then dropped marginally to 30.21 in 2023.

“Recent research I co-authored in JAMA shows that obesity rates in adults have plateaued and are even starting to trend downward,” said Brownstein, a co-author of the study. “That progress reflects the very kind of long-term public health investment this reorg puts at risk.”

Chronic disease on the rise

Kennedy has made tackling chronic diseases a cornerstone of his “Make America Healthy Again” platform.

Over the past two decades, the prevalence of chronic conditions has been steadily increasing, according to a 2024 study conducted by researchers in Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

“An increasing proportion of people in America are dealing with multiple chronic conditions; 42% have [two] or more, and 12% have at least [five],” the authors wrote.

However, the study also found that the prevalence of chronic disease varies by geographic location and socioeconomic status. Residents who live in areas with the highest prevalence of chronic disease also face a number of contributing social, economic and environmental barriers, the study found.

A 2022 study from the CDC found chronic diseases linked to cigarette smoking include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancers and diabetes.

Rates of cancer have ‘increased dramatically’

Kennedy is correct in stating that cancer rates in the U.S. have increased, with incidence rates rising for 17 cancer types in younger generations, according to a 2024 joint study from the American Cancer Society, Cancer Care Alberta and the University of Calgary.

There has been a notable increase in incidence rates for many cancer types among women and younger adults, research shows.

Incidence rates among women between ages 50 and 64 have surpassed those among men, according to a 2025 report published in the journal of the American Cancer Society.

Additionally, cancer rates among women under age 50 are 82% higher than among men under age 50, which is up from 51% in 2002, the report found.

However, while cancer incidence has increased, cancer mortality has decreased.

A 2025 report from the American Cancer Society found that age-adjusted cancer death rates have dropped from a peak in 1991 by 34% as of 2022, largely due to reductions in smoking, advances in treatment and early detection for some cancers.

However, there is more work to be done and disparities still persist. For example, Native Americans have the highest cancer death rates of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S.

Additionally, Black Americans have a two-fold higher mortality rate than white Americans for prostate, stomach and uterine corpus cancers, the latter of which is a cancer of the lining of the uterus.

Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase is a family medicine and preventive medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.

ABC News’ Dr. Niki Iranpour, Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.