(NewsNation) — A prominent physician and wellness expert says President-elect Donald Trump’s expected health care appointee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could help address what he calls “the greatest epidemic of chronic disease in the history of humanity.”
Dr. Mark Hyman, co-founder and chief medical officer of Function Health, said Friday that chronic disease transcends political divisions and requires urgent national attention.
“Six in 10 of us have chronic illness. Fifty-one percent of children have some type of chronic illness, including obesity,” Hyman said on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.”
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The doctor emphasized that recent years have seen dramatic increases in various conditions, citing a 50% rise in heart disease, 30% increase in cancer and 150% surge in Alzheimer’s cases alongside a 200-300% increase in pharmaceutical use.
While acknowledging concerns about Kennedy, who is not a doctor and has expressed controversial medical opinions, Hyman argued for systemic changes to America’s food and health policies.
He criticized the current system, noting that “ultra-processed food is the No. 1 killer in the world” and claiming it causes 11 million global deaths annually.
Kennedy has been openly angling for a lead position in one of several public health agencies, hoping to make his “Make America Healthy Again” platform a reality, especially around immunizations.
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The former presidential candidate said Wednesday there are “entire departments” within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that “have to go.”
“In some categories … there are entire departments, like the nutrition department at the FDA … that have to go, that are not doing their job. They’re not protecting our kids,” Kennedy said during an interview on MSNBC.
Kennedy allies and members of Trump’s close circle have started discussing a variety of places for the former independent candidate to have influence in a second Trump term, most recently around vaccine data, and are even floating workarounds to the confirmation process on Capitol Hill if he faces pushback.
However, many public health experts have expressed opposition and are growing increasingly alarmed at the prospect of Kennedy holding any kind of senior position with influence over the U.S. health system.
Some have sought to draw attention to his more controversial claims about the science of vaccinations and an unverified link between children, autism and shots as well as his founding of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense.
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Another leading health expert, Georges Benjamin, who serves as executive director of the American Public Health Association, said people in the public listen to Kennedy, even if he has no credibility in the public health sector. Amplifying Kennedy’s voice could lead to distrust of scientific experts and undermine important messaging.
Kennedy became particularly critical about vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, when over 1.1 million people died, according to U.S. health records, and partisan fights broke out over things like mask requirements and vaccine mandates in the workplace and public.
“I’m not going to take away anybody’s vaccines,” Kennedy told NBC News when asked whether there were specific vaccines that Kennedy would want to remove from the market.
When asked if he would eliminate any health agencies, Kennedy told MSNBC, “To eliminate the agencies, as long as it requires congressional approval, I wouldn’t be doing that.”
“I can get the corruption out of the agencies,” he added.
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Dr. Mark Hyman says Ozempic is not the solution
Addressing the popular weight-loss drug Ozempic, Hyman cautioned against viewing it as a comprehensive solution to America’s health crisis.
He estimated that providing such medications to all overweight Americans would cost approximately $5.1 trillion, arguing instead for dietary and systemic changes to the nation’s food system.
“The problem is we live in a toxic food environment where the bad choice is the easy choice, and the healthy choice is the hard choice,” Hyman said. “That needs to stop, and that can be stopped with policy.”
NewsNation partner The Hill contributed to this report.
