{"id":48006,"date":"2025-07-08T06:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48006\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T06:38:09","slug":"american-kids-have-been-growing-increasingly-unhealthy-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/48006\/","title":{"rendered":"American kids have been growing increasingly unhealthy, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0health of U.S. children<\/a>\u00a0has deteriorated over the past 17 years, with kids today more likely to have\u00a0obesity<\/a>, chronic diseases and mental health problems like depression,\u00a0a new study<\/a>\u00a0says.\n<\/p>\n

Much of what researchers found was already known, but the study paints a comprehensive picture by examining various aspects of children\u2019s physical and mental health at the same time.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe surprising part of the study wasn\u2019t any with any single statistic; it was that there\u2019s 170 indicators, eight data sources, all showing the same thing: a generalized decline in kids\u2019 health,\u201d said Dr. Christopher Forrest, one of the authors of the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.\n<\/p>\n

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought children\u2019s health to the forefront of the national policy conversation, unveiling in May\u00a0a much-anticipated \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d report<\/a>\u00a0that described kids as undernourished and overmedicated, and raised concerns about their lack of physical activity. But the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0actions<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including cuts to\u00a0federal health agencies<\/a>,\u00a0Medicaid<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0scientific research<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 are not likely to reverse the trend, according to outside experts who reviewed Monday\u2019s study.\n <\/p>\n

\u201cThe health of kids in America is not as good as it should be, not as good as the other countries, and the current policies of this administration are definitely going to make it worse,\u201d said Dr. Frederick Rivara, a pediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children\u2019s Hospital and UW Medicine in Seattle. He co-authored\u00a0an editorial accompanying the new study<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Forrest and his colleagues analyzed surveys, electronic health records from 10 pediatric health systems and international mortality statistics. Among their findings:\n<\/p>\n