(NewsNation) — Dr. Phil McGraw says he is concerned about the state of children’s health in the United States, citing alarming statistics while defending the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative.
“We have one of the sickest generations of young people of any developed countries,” McGraw said Monday on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.” “We’re 33 out of 38 among developed countries right now in terms of the presence of chronic disease in young people.”
The television personality highlighted a dramatic increase in chronic diseases among American children, saying rates have risen from around 2-3% in the 1960s to approximately 40% today.
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He said this is “a serious problem that can be eliminated in one generation, if we’ll just do a few different things that are totally doable.”
McGraw outlined several key changes needed to address these health concerns, including reducing children’s screen time, increasing outdoor activities, cutting processed foods and removing unnecessary chemicals from the food supply.
Some “70 percent of our young people right now can’t qualify for military service,” McGraw said, attributing this to preventable conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
McGraw’s comments come after a vaccine expert resigned from Health and Human Services, now run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., citing concerns about health misinformation.
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McGraw defended RFK Jr., saying, “I have found RFK Jr. to be committed to the science … someone that is going to follow empiricism.”
The psychologist said he is optimistic about the Trump administration’s commitment to health reform: “I’ve talked to the president about this, and he is very focused on this. I think he’s sincere about it,” McGraw said.
The discussion came ahead of McGraw’s Merit TV special, “Make America Healthy Again,” which will feature “MAHA moms” advocating for children’s health issues.
McGraw said that his concerns transcend political divisions.
“There aren’t any Democrat children. There aren’t any Republican children, they’re just American children,” he said. “This isn’t a political issue for me.”
