The MAHA report is a May 2025 White House assessment, from a commission chaired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., that named four likely drivers of chronic disease in American children: poor diet, chemical exposures, too little activity plus chronic stress, and overuse of medicine. A September 2025 strategy followed with 128 proposals. As of October 2026, some, like new dietary guidelines, have taken effect, while others, like a federal definition of ultra-processed food, are still pending.

What is the MAHA Commission?

President Trump created the Make America Healthy Again Commission by executive order on February 13, 2025. The order put the HHS secretary in charge and gave the commission two jobs: deliver an assessment of childhood chronic disease within 100 days, then a strategy within 180 days. Members include the heads of the FDA, NIH, EPA and USDA.

What does the MAHA report say?

The assessment, titled Make Our Children Healthy Again, was released on May 22, 2025. It calls children's chronic disease a crisis and points to four "potential drivers":

  • Poor diet. The report says nearly 70% of children's calories come from ultra-processed foods.

  • Environmental chemicals. It says children face a growing load of synthetic chemicals, some linked to developmental problems, and that rules should be "continually evaluated."

  • Lack of physical activity and chronic stress. It cites inactivity, screen use, poor sleep and stress.

  • Overmedicalization. It argues children are prescribed too many medicines, "often driven by conflicts of interest." This section also questions the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule.

The report repeatedly blames "corporate capture" by the food, chemical and drug industries. Most policy recommendations were left for the later strategy.

What was wrong with the MAHA report's citations?

A week after release, the news outlet NOTUS found that seven of the more than 500 studies the report cited did not appear to have been published, the Associated Press reported.

The Washington Post found dead links, duplicate citations and, in some links, the marker "oaicite," which is associated with OpenAI's AI tools, according to Becker's Hospital Review.

The White House called the problems "formatting issues." HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said, "Minor citation and formatting errors have been corrected, but the substance of the MAHA report remains the same." Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association told the Post the report "should be junked."

What is in the MAHA strategy?

The Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy came out on September 9, 2025, with 128 recommendations, NPR reported. It is organized around four approaches: research, changing government incentives, public awareness and work with private companies.

  • A government-wide definition of "ultra-processed food"

  • Continuing to phase out petroleum-based food dyes

  • Making companies notify the FDA before claiming an ingredient is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS)

  • Helping states limit junk food purchases with SNAP benefits

  • Bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test

  • A "vaccine framework" covering the childhood schedule and vaccine injuries

  • Reviewing the science on fluoride in drinking water

On pesticides, the strategy called for more research and continued EPA review rather than new limits.

What has actually happened since?

  • Food dyes: An FDA plan from April 2025, before the report, began revoking two dyes and asked industry to drop six others by the end of 2026. The removals are largely voluntary, and the FDA's pledge tracker now lists the end of 2027 as the goal. HHS says 40% of the food industry has pledged to remove synthetic dyes.

  • Dietary guidelines: New guidelines released January 7, 2026, tell Americans to eat "real food," limit highly processed foods and added sugar, and eat more protein. They kept the 10% cap on saturated fat.

  • SNAP: By March 2026, USDA had approved waivers in 22 states limiting SNAP purchases of soda, candy and other sweetened drinks, Civil Eats reported.

  • GRAS: The FDA proposed mandatory GRAS notification in August 2026. It is not final.

  • Ultra-processed food definition: HHS and USDA sent a proposed definition to the White House budget office in August 2026. STAT reported that a planned unveiling was pulled after food industry pressure, citing Bloomberg. As of late October, it had not been released.

  • Vaccines: HHS overhauled the childhood schedule on January 5, 2026. Together with 2025 changes, the number of diseases targeted by routine shots fell from 17 to 11, and six vaccines, including flu and hepatitis B, moved to "shared decision-making," according to KFF. The new schedule was modeled on Denmark's.

  • Psychiatric drugs: In May 2026, HHS launched an action plan to support appropriate prescribing and "deprescribing" of psychiatric medicines.

What do supporters and critics say?

Supporters include Kennedy, who said the effort would end the childhood chronic disease crisis "by attacking its root causes head-on—not just managing its symptoms." He called the strategy's recommendations "historic and unprecedented." Former FDA commissioner David Kessler called the new dietary guidelines' push toward whole foods "a major advance." On vaccines, Kennedy said the new schedule aligns the U.S. "with international consensus." Farm groups praised the strategy; the National Corn Growers Association called its crop approach "reasonable and science-based."

In an April 2026 KFF poll, 41% of adults said they support the MAHA movement, and 75% said chemical food additives are not regulated enough.

Critics come from more than one direction. Philip Landrigan of Boston College called the strategy "a very uneven, poorly conceived, disjointed hodgepodge of recommendations." Susan Kressly of the American Academy of Pediatrics said cuts to Medicaid and SNAP undercut children's health. Nutrition professor Marion Nestle wrote in September 2026 that MAHA has been "mostly talk, but not much action." Pediatrician Paul Offit said the vaccine changes put "children in harm's way."

Some MAHA activists say the strategy went too easy on industry. Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America said the commission "allowed the chemical companies to influence the report" by dropping mentions of glyphosate and atrazine.

On vaccines, in the same KFF poll, 61% of voters disapproved of the administration's vaccine policy, while 67% of MAHA voters approved.

The bottom line

  • The MAHA report is a 2025 assessment naming four likely drivers of childhood chronic disease.

  • The first version cited some studies that could not be found. The administration corrected it and said the substance stands.

  • The September 2025 strategy listed 128 ideas across research, incentives, public awareness and industry partnerships.

  • Since then, dietary guidelines, SNAP waivers and childhood vaccine schedule changes have taken effect, while the GRAS rule and ultra-processed food definition are still pending.

  • Supporters, including Kennedy, call the effort historic. Critics, including some MAHA activists, say it does too little or focuses on the wrong things.

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Healthy, Again. is health news, not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before changing any medicine or supplement.

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