Make Our Children Healthy Again?

Here's what to know on the latest MAHA report out of the White House

This past week, the White House released Make Our Children Healthy Again, a new report from the MAHA Commission that aims to diagnose and reverse what it calls “a chronic disease crisis” among American children. It touches everything from obesity to ADHD to anxiety and it doesn’t shy away from controversy (shocking).

While there’s a lot in here, I am going to focus in on the mental health side of things as that’s my lane. And specific to that topic is a call to rethink how we approach mental health and addiction, or what the authors term "behavioral health." Some of the ideas are long overdue. Others made me raise an eyebrow, especially when the science takes a back seat to ideology.

Here’s a breakdown of what’s actually being proposed and what I think deserves a closer look.

What’s promising

There were some good things in this report.

First, behavioral health is being prioritized as a national emergency. While we have known this for some time, the report does identify what many in health and education already know: young Americans are having a tough time under historic levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They also call out what they see as an overmedication issue.

Second, the report attempts to attack root-cause solutions, not just obvious quick fixes. Honestly, this was one of the surprises for me. Instead of defaulting to more prescriptions or just reactive solutions, the report proposes more lifestyle-based, preventive interventions: physical activity, better sleep, less screen time, and a whole-food-based diet. While not feasible for all communities, there are some evidence-backed moves that could lower both mental and physical health risks over time.

Finally, it asks a lot of questions about the role of medications. The report calls out how many of medications are used off-label or without strong long-term safety data. They also call for better oversight, independent research, and real-world drug monitoring, which is hard to argue with. While this is a super slippery slope, it’s not bad to look deeper at what’s working and what’s not.

What’s concerning

First, it leans too hard into ideology and distrust. The report’s framing often veers from scientific to conspiratorial. It paints a dark picture of “corporate capture,” government cronyism, and hidden industry agendas without always offering clear evidence or differentiating between systemic problems and unsupported claims. This undermines credibility and was really hard to read at times.

Second, it flirts with medical skepticism, especially around psychiatry.
While critique of overmedication is a foundation here, the report walks a fine line with its tone on mental health care. It questions the efficacy of therapy and social-emotional learning programs without acknowledging their benefits or the broader body of evidence (which I will be writing about again very soon!). The risk? Throwing out valuable tools and overgeneralizing.

Third, it’s super light on specifics for addiction or substance use. Despite framing itself as tackling behavioral health broadly, there’s almost no serious engagement with substance use disorders, including no discussion of opioids, teen vaping, cannabis use, or alcohol. For a report about a “behavioral crisis,” that’s a conspicuous blind spot considering how bad this problem has been in the country.

Finally, it prioritizes lifestyle change, but totally sidesteps structural barriers. Telling kids to sleep more, move more, and eat whole foods is all great and good, but where’s the plan for food insecurity, safe neighborhoods, affordable health care, or working parents with no time for home-cooked meals? Without addressing inequality, all this prevention talk rings hollow.

Bottom line

The MAHA report again puts childhood mental health on the national stage and calls for long-overdue reforms in how we think about youth mental health and well-being. The bigger problem is that it risks turning this important conversation into a culture war where we mix valid critiques with fringe suspicion and cherry-picked data, and neither one of these things are good for our kids or our society.

It’s tempting to evaluate the report on its own terms; however, this report doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Like an avalanche you can see coming right at you, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” currently being pushed by the same administration that wants to Make America Healthy Again threatens to undermine much of what could be promising. Stripping health insurance from between 8 and 13 million people, slashing billions in food assistance for families, all just to funnel savings into a tax cut where a quarter of the benefits go to the top 1 percent makes it hard to see how this larger piece of legislation is a strategy to make children healthier. In fact, I can’t help but see it as a major contradiction. You simply can’t call for prevention to be a priority while you are at the same time defunding the very programs that make it possible in the first place.

The best thing this report could do? Spark a serious, science-driven national conversation about how to raise healthier kids. But if we’re serious about that, we can’t cherry-pick solutions or data while dismantling the very systems that support children and families. The conversation we need must be rooted in evidence, equity, and truth. This report gets us part of the way there - but only part.