National health agencies are putting a new focus on chronic illness in American children, releasing a new report Thursday that lays out the scope and potential causes of such illnesses.
A later report is expected to make new policy recommendations to address the problem.
FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary spoke with Scripps News Thursday about what expected changes and priorities could look like.
"When it comes to the health of the population, American health care has been a 50-year failure," Makary said. "So we've got to start being proactive and not reactionary. And that means asking big questions we've never asked before."
"We saw today an announcement of SNAP waivers so that sugary drinks and junk food is removed from SNAP tax dollar programs," Makary said. "Maybe we need to treat more diabetes with school lunch programs instead of just treating kids with Ozempic and maybe we need to treat more back pain with ice and physical therapy, then just surgery and opioids. We need a fresh new approach."
"We've got to talk about the microbiome and food as medicine and that means we also have to talk about environmental exposures and cancers and toxins that cause cancer, not just the chemotherapy to treat it. That is all a part of this Make America Healthy Again and initiative that the White House has put out today."
RELATED STORY | New MAHA report suggests root causes of chronic diseases in American children
Makary said he was not concerned about criticisms that medication and vaccine hesitancy could lead to further harm for children.
"Half of our nation's kids are sick. They've got diabetes, pre-diabetes, obesity, or a chronic condition. 40% of our nation's kids now have a chronic disease. And so the only thing that's dangerous just to keep going down the path that we're on," Makary said.
"We are taking a whole new approach at health. And that is going to be implemented at all of our health agencies. That means the NIH is going to look more at root causes, not just on chemotherapy to treat late-stage cancers. The FDA is going to look at the food supply. People forget that the F in FDA stands for food. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is going to look at how they reimburse for health, not just for sickness."
Watch the full interview in the video above.
