Watch: RFK Jr. Announces Obesity Rates in America Are Down for the First Time in Half a Century
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the obesity rate in the United States dropped last year for the first time in half a century.
Speaking at an event hosted by America First Policy Institute in Charlotte, Michigan, Kennedy said, “Since President [Donald] Trump came into office, obesity rates in this country have dropped by 2.5 percent. That’s the first drop in 50 years. And that drop alone will have significant impacts on health care costs in this country, because obesity drives about 80 percent of chronic disease.”
Health care costs account for approximately 35 percent of federal expenditures, according to the most recent data from the Treasury Department.
In fiscal year 2024, the federal government spent $1.9 trillion on health care programs, making it the largest category of federal spending.
“Thirty-five percent of American adults are obese,” RFK Jr. said. “When my uncle [John F. Kennedy] was president [in the early 1960s], 3 percent of children were obese. Now, it’s 20 percent.”
“Since President Trump came into office, obesity rates in this country have dropped by 2.5%. That’s the first drop in 50 years.”
“That drop alone will have significant impacts on healthcare costs in this country.” — @SecKennedy pic.twitter.com/uOLhmfbJ1g
— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) June 16, 2026
Gallup released a survey last October, essentially confirming Kennedy’s obesity statistic. “After peaking at a record high of 39.9% in 2022, the U.S. adult obesity rate has gradually declined to 37.0% in 2025. This is a statistically meaningful decrease representing an estimated 7.6 million fewer obese adults compared with three years ago,” Gallup said.
The firm noted that the increased use of weight loss drugs, like Ozempic, in recent years has helped bring the obesity rate down.
“Why did Americans suddenly get obese?” Kennedy asked. “It’s not because they suddenly became indolent or lazy or hungry. It’s because they were being mass poisoned by ultraprocessed foods. And because of the food pyramid and the dietary guidelines, we were directed away from protein, away from healthy foods. Seventy percent of the calories, when we came in … are ultra-processed foods, and it’s poisonous. It destroys your metabolic system. It makes you obese.”
“Diabetes, for example, is driven by ultra-processed food. When I was a kid, a typical pediatrician would see one or two cases of Type 2 diabetes over a 40 or 50-year career. Today, 38 percent of American teens are diabetic or pre-diabetic,” he added.
Why did Americans suddenly get obese? It’s because they were being mass-poisoned by ultra-processed foods.
“The government has been lying to you for 50 years, and now you have a government that’s telling you the truth…The [new] Dietary Guidelines are already having an impact… pic.twitter.com/qvSR66MIrC
— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) June 16, 2026
Gallup reported that diabetes reached an all-time high of 13.8 percent of the population in 2025.
A study published last year by the National Institutes of Health said “Ultra-processed foods (UPFs), often high in sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats, compose more than half of total dietary energy consumption in the United States. A diet composed of a high amount of UPFs can contribute to glucose dysregulation and insulin resistance, which may lead to prediabetes and type 2 diabetes.”
The agency further described ultraprocessed foods as “items that go through multiple industrial processes before people purchase or eat them. Examples of common UPFs include soft drinks, packaged snacks, margarine, and sausages. Most UPFs are calorie-dense and high in sugar, salt, and unhealthy fats, while low in protein, vitamins, and minerals.”
UPF’s cause sugar spikes in the body, resulting in insulin being released.
The Cleveland Clinic explained that insulin resistance occurs when the cells in your muscles, fat, and liver cannot properly process the sugar taken in, resulting in excess blood sugar, and potentially, over time, obesity, pre-diabetes, and diabetes.
Besides medical intervention, treatments include eating healthy, whole foods, which lowers the amount of sugar taken in, thereby lowering the body’s insulin response.
“Movement and exercise make your body more sensitive to insulin. Exercise also builds muscle that can absorb blood glucose,” the Cleveland Clinic also said.
Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again initiative is promoting moving people away from UPFs when the government is picking up the tab, such as in school lunch programs and through SNAP benefits.
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans can be summarized in three words: Eat Real Food.https://t.co/B0dP6dhTlx pic.twitter.com/qy7UuTMBJJ
— HHS Rapid Response (@HHSResponse) June 16, 2026
Kennedy summarized his recommendations in three words: “Eat real food.”
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