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One in five American children are now obese, according to a new study.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, shows that around 20% of all children aged 2-19 years old are now classified as obese.
The researchers analyzed data on more than 6 million American children collected by eight clinical-research networks in 2024.
About 27% of 2-5-year-olds and nearly 40% of teenagers and young adults were either overweight or obese.
Just under 10% of all teenagers and young adults were severely obese.
According to the Make America Healthy Again Commission’s report, issued in May of 2025, chronic disease including obesity is being driven by increasing consumption of ultra-processed food, exposure to toxic chemicals, sedentary lifestyles and overprescription of medications.
The report states the Commission’s goal to be “reversing the childhood chronic disease crisis… by getting to the truth of why we are getting sick and spurring pro-growth policies and innovations to reverse these trends.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that more than four out of 10 children in the United States have at least one chronic health condition, such as asthma. About 75 percent of American youth are not eligible for military service, primarily due to obesity and poor fitness, according to the Department of Defense.
The report concludes with ten recommendations, which include new long-term nutritional trials comparing the effects of whole-food and ultra-processed-food diets, and new systems to monitor the safety of vaccines and medication.
Other recommendations include calls to investigate the safety of food additives deemed “Generally Recognized as Safe” by the Food and Drug Administration, the creation of a task force to investigate patterns of chronic disease using AI, and increased investment in non-animal testing models for drugs and food additives.
President Trump established the Make America Healthy Again Commission in February, with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as its chair.
The President directed the commission to “study the scope of the childhood chronic disease crisis and any potential contributing causes, including the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, Government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.”
