Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asserted, on Wednesday, that he could tell when a child is dealing with “mitochondrial challenges” or “inflammation” by just looking at them

Lamenting about the health of America’s youth, Kennedy, who does not hold a medical degree, espoused misinformation about juvenile diabetes and autism rates while claiming he can look at a child and determine they are sick

“I know what a healthy child is supposed to look like,” Kennedy said during a press briefing with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who signed a Make America Healthy Again bill on Wednesday

“I’m looking at kids while I walk through the airports today, as I walk down the street, and I see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges, inflammation, you can tell it from their faces, from their body movement, and from their lack of social connection,” Kennedy continued

Kennedy joined Abbott for the bill signing, which seeks to implement “MAHA” policies to improve childhood health, such as requiring extra warning labels for foods containing certain additives, prohibiting SNAP beneficiaries from using funds to purchase sweetened beverages and candy, removing certain additives from free to discounted school lunches, and more[…]
“I came from a big family. I have seven kids, I had 11 brothers and sisters, I had about 70 first cousins, and I never saw anyone with diabetes, never knew anyone with a food allergy, never knew anyone with autism,” Kennedy said – repeating a common anecdote he uses

Kennedy went on to claim that 38 percent of teenagers are “diabetic or pre-diabetic” – however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association found that 0.35 percent of people under 20 years old are diabetic

The 38 percent statistic Kennedy used appears to be the estimated percentage of American adults who are prediabetic