The United States leads in wealth and technology, yet U.S. children (ages 1 to 19) face an 80 percent higher risk of mortality than those in many developed nations, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Chronic illness is also a problem among U.S. children. According to a 2020 Centers for Disease Control report, nearly 13 percent of children ages 2–5 and 21 percent of children ages 6–11 were obese.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services, has advocated changes aimed at making Americans healthier. Some of Kennedy’s ideas have been acted upon by states.
For example, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, a Republican, recently took action to bar the use of food assistance program dollars to purchase soda and candy….