Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has attributed a recent decline in U.S. obesity rates to the Trump administration, stating that obesity rates have dropped 2.5% since President Trump took office, marking the first such decline in 50 years. Kennedy, speaking at an event hosted by the America First Policy Institute in Charlotte, Michigan, also claimed that this drop would significantly impact healthcare costs, as obesity is a major driver of chronic diseases. He suggested that Americans are starting to eat "good foods" and moving away from "perverse incentives" in pharmaceutical interventions, advocating for a focus on primary care. He also highlighted that consumption of "real foods" reportedly increased by 7% to 10% this year.
However, fact-checking indicates that Kennedy's claims distort the timeline and underlying causes of the obesity decline. While Gallup polling does show a 3.5 percentage point decrease in adult obesity rates from a peak of 39.9% in 2022 to 36.4% in early 2026, about two-thirds of this decline occurred between 2022 and 2024, during the Biden administration. Furthermore, experts suggest that the decline is more likely linked to the rise in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, such as Ozempic, rather than widespread dietary changes or increased "real food" consumption, as Kennedy implies. Gallup's data shows that the share of adults using these medications for weight loss has risen from 3% in 2024 to 11% this year, with the largest drops in obesity seen in age groups with high and increasing GLP-1 use.
Kennedy has previously made similar claims, stating in August that obesity rates dropped 3% "in the last year" and that "real food" consumption went up. He has also linked the rise in obesity to "mass poisoning by ultraprocessed foods" and flawed dietary guidelines. The BNP Paribas analysis he cited, which found that sales of unprocessed foods grew 7% faster than ultraprocessed foods in certain categories between June 2025 and June 2026, does not fully support his broader assertions about the obesity decline being solely due to dietary shifts.
The federal government spent $1.9 trillion on healthcare programs in fiscal year 2024, making it the largest category of federal spending. Kennedy contends that this financial burden is partly due to the high incidence of chronic diseases linked to obesity, contrasting the current situation with his uncle John F. Kennedy's presidency when, he claims, the country was healthier and spent "zero" taxpayer dollars on chronic disease. His emphasis on chronic disease prevention and the consumption of "real foods" forms a core part of his "Make America Healthy Again" movement, despite his historical skepticism towards GLP-1 drugs.
