Children's health crisis is real

American children, health crisis

Today’s children are the sickest generation in American history in terms of chronic disease

Obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancers, asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases, behavioral disorders.

Preventable trends continue to worsen each year

https://www.whitehouse.gov/maha/

Federal and state policy have sometimes been guided more by corporate profit than the public interest.

Scientific and medical institutions, complacent, defaulting to symptom management.

We need gold-standard science to prevent and reverse root causes.

The U.S. food and agricultural systems, embraced ultra-processed ingredients and synthetic chemicals.

Healthcare system has over-medicalized children, frequently masking and compounding underlying issues.

Rising screen addiction and sedentary lifestyles

Chronically stressed, sick, and isolated generation.

Purpose of this report, radical transparency, spur a conversation about how we can build a world

Farmers are put at the center of how we think about health.

Healthcare system thrives when disease is prevented and reversed, not just “managed”.

AI technology that will develop new tools and push the frontiers of science, re. reverse chronic disease.

America’s children

73 million children

Over 40% (aged 0-17) in US, at least one chronic health condition

Over 75% of American youth (aged 17- 24) are ineligible for military service, primarily due to obesity, poor physical fitness, and/or mental health challenges.

More than 1 in 5 children over 6 years old are obese.

More than 270% increase compared to the 1970s

80% of obese teens will become obese adults

70% of youth with obesity already have at least one risk factor for heart disease

Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes have consistently increased the past 2 decades

By 2060 if current DM trends continue

65% increase in type 1 diabetes

600% increase in type 2 diabetes

Autism spectrum disorder impacts 1 in 31 children by age 8,

Over 10% of children have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

(1 million more children diagnosed in 2022 compared to 2016)

Rates of other neurodevelopmental disorders and learning impairments are also increasing.

Over 7.5 million (over 10%) K-12 students received special education services in 2023-24

Childhood cancer incidence has risen over 40% since 1975

Teenage depression rates nearly doubled from 2009 to 2019

More than 1 in 4 teenage girls in 2022 reporting a major depressive episode in the past year

Three million high school students seriously considered suicide in 2023

Diagnosed anxiety increased by 61% among adolescents between 2016 and 2023.

Over 57% of girls report feelings of sadness and hopelessness

From 2007 to 2021

Suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds increased by 62%

Suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds increased by 62%

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death in teens aged 15-19.

Over 1 in 4 American children suffers from allergies

Eczema (atopic dermatitis), 12.7% of children

Between 1997 and 2018, childhood food-allergy prevalence rose 88%.

Celiac disease rates have increased 5-fold in American children since the 1980s.

Rates of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including Crohn’s, have increased by 25% over the last decade.

Factors

Food

Exposure to environmental chemicals

Pervasive technology use

Children are highly medicated – and it’s not working