Health

Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More

Published

1 year ago

January 31, 2025

Kennedy, in His Own Words: Flu, Diabetes, Autism and More

At Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings, beginning on Wednesday, senators are expected to question him closely about his controversial views on vaccines.

For years Mr. Kennedy has questioned the safety of vaccines, including those for polio and measles, two diseases that continue to harm children. More recently, he has said that he’s not planning to take vaccines away from Americans but wants to release safety data to the public — even though nearly all of the data is already publicly available.

Mr. Kennedy’s contrarian views extend well beyond vaccines. And as secretary of health and human services, he would have enormous influence on health policy, even on issues typically under state control, by cutting funding for certain programs or elevating others.

Here’s a fact check of some of his claims.

This is false. Mr. Kennedy’s number is off by orders of magnitude.

The National Diabetes Statistics Report estimated that in 2021, about 35 per 10,000 children and adolescents younger than 20 — that is, 0.35 percent — had a diagnosis of diabetes. Another study found that 0.1 percent of young people 10 to 19 had diabetes in 2017.

Mr. Kennedy also seems to be conflating juvenile or Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease, with Type 2 diabetes, which can result from an unhealthy lifestyle. He is correct that new cases of diabetes — both types — are on the rise. But the prevalence in teenagers is still much lower than in adults and increases with age; the highest prevalence, 29.2 percent, is among adults 65 and older.

In a later comment that included prediabetes, Mr. Kennedy said, “These kids are now dependent on, you know, insulin and diabetes treatments, on chronic disease treatments for the rest of their lives, and that’s bankrupting our health care system.”

While prediabetes is a warning sign for diabetes, most cases don’t require treatment with insulin and can be reversed with lifestyle changes, including modest weight loss. Prediabetes, too, is rising; about 28 percent of teenagers are prediabetic.

This is false. Every year, scientists track the effectiveness of the annual flu vaccine. And every year, dozens of studies document the vaccine’s effectiveness against hospitalizations and deaths. The exact numbers vary, but the results always show that vaccination is beneficial.

Injected flu vaccines do not contain live virus, and nasal spray vaccines contain weakened virus; neither type can transmit the flu.

The flu vaccine’s composition is typically determined in the spring, based on the dominant variants in the Southern Hemisphere at that time. In some years the vaccine that is produced is an excellent match for the viruses that emerge in the fall, and in other years the scientists’ best guess is a little off.

As a result, effectiveness may range from 30 to 90 percent, depending on the age group and the subtype of influenza. But even when effectiveness is low, the vaccine can shorten the duration and severity of illness.

Because flu tends to be most severe in children under 5 and in older adults, the vaccine is particularly recommended — not mandated — for those age groups. And since the flu vaccine was introduced in 1945, life expectancy, including among older adults, has risen steadily.

This needs context. Mr. Kennedy is partly right. One in 36 American children is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the one-in-34 estimate is specific to boys). And in California, one in 22 children has autism.

But autism is a spectrum, and a majority of those diagnosed can participate in sports, write poetry (if they are so inclined), pay taxes, date and marry; many are parents. The list of people with autism includes successful athletes, writers, actors, activists, artists, politicians — and even Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and head of the Trump administration’s government cost-cutting effort.

Studies suggest that most of the increase in autism diagnoses is on the milder end of the spectrum, in part because the diagnostic criteria have widened.

What Mr. Kennedy describes is a subset of autistic people, about one in four with the diagnosis, who are profoundly affected. But even they are more likely to harm themselves than others. (The prevalence of profound autism is rising, but slowly.)

Mr. Kennedy may not have seen such people when he was a child because back then, most of them were isolated at home or institutionalized, misdiagnosed with mental illnesses and heavily medicated.

This needs context. First, most states mandate that children receive about 20 shots to enter school, but those shots include doses of eight or so vaccines (depending on which combination vaccines are used) that together protect against a dozen diseases.

Even including vaccines that are recommended and not required, such as a yearly flu shot, children may receive 35 shots by age 5. Mr. Kennedy’s math would be correct only if the number included vaccines given in pregnancy, and if each component and each dose of a combination product were considered a separate vaccine.

All vaccines must meet strict requirements for safety before approval. Even after their approval, federal officials monitor reports of side effects in multiple systems that analyze medical records and reports from patients and doctors.

Mr. Kennedy’s claim that none of the shots have been tested in placebo-controlled trials also needs context. Some of the vaccines currently in use have indeed been tested against a placebo; others are newer alternatives to vaccines that underwent placebo-controlled trials before approval.

A newer vaccine is often tested against an approved one — rather than against a placebo — to show that it is just as good at preventing disease. Newer treatments for certain diseases like cancer are similarly tested in such trials, which are called non-inferiority trials.

That’s because it would be unethical to deny some children in a trial protection against a dangerous pathogen, as it would be to deny treatment to patients with a disease, by giving them a placebo.

This is false. Numerous studies have examined this claim and found it to be unsubstantiated. On the contrary, pertussis itself, rather than the vaccine, can be dangerous or even fatal to young children.

In both statements, Mr. Kennedy is referring to a vaccine for pertussis, or whooping cough, that was discontinued in the 1990s. The vaccine was made from inactivated bacteria and, compared with the newer vaccines, was associated with more side effects, including fever, drowsiness and irritability.

But research has not found severe short- or long-term consequences. According to one large study, for every 100,000 doses of the vaccine, fewer than nine produced a febrile seizure on the day of vaccination.

Febrile seizures are seizures caused by high fevers and can occur during any childhood illness, including an ear infection; they do not cause lasting harm. Longer-term follow-ups by several teams have shown no evidence of brain damage in children who received the vaccine.

Mr. Kennedy is correct that one team reported increased mortality after pertussis vaccination in West Africa. But a series of independent panels that was convened to examine the studies unanimously concluded that the team’s data did not support this conclusion.

“Indeed, the papers provide substantial evidence against such a conclusion,” the experts wrote.

Click to comment

Health

Aging process could accelerate due to ‘forever chemicals’ exposure, study finds

Published

2 hours ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Aging process could accelerate due to ‘forever chemicals’ exposure, study finds

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A new study suggests that middle-aged men may be more vulnerable to faster biological aging, potentially linked to exposure to “forever chemicals.”

The research, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, examined how perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, more commonly known as PFAS, could impact aging at the cellular level.

PFAS are synthetic chemicals commonly used in nonstick cookware, food packaging, water-resistant fabrics and other consumer products, the study noted.

Their chemical structure makes them highly resistant to breaking down, allowing them to accumulate in water, soil and the human body.

Chinese researchers analyzed blood samples from 326 adults enrolled in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1999 and 2000.

A new study suggests that middle-aged men could face accelerated biological aging at the cellular level due to exposure to PFAS. (iStock)

The researchers measured levels of 11 PFAS compounds in participants’ blood and used DNA-based “epigenetic clocks” — tools that analyze chemical changes to DNA to estimate biological age — to determine how quickly their bodies were aging at the cellular level, the study stated.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Two compounds, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanesulfonamide (PFOSA), were detected in 95% of participants.

Higher concentrations of those chemicals were associated with faster biological aging in men of certain age groups, but not in women.

“People should not panic.”

The compounds most strongly linked to accelerated aging were not the PFAS chemicals that typically receive the most public attention, the researchers noted.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“The associations were strongest in adults aged 50 to 64, particularly in men,” Dr. Xiangwei Li, professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine and the study’s corresponding author, told Fox News Digital.

“While this does not establish that PFAS cause aging, it suggests that these widely present ‘forever chemicals’ may be linked to molecular changes related to long-term health and aging.”

The study found that two of the compounds were detected in 95% of participants, and higher levels were linked to faster biological aging in men ages 50–64. (iStock)

Midlife may represent a more sensitive biological period, when the body becomes more vulnerable to age-related stressors, according to the researchers.

Lifestyle factors, such as smoking, may influence biological aging markers, potentially increasing vulnerability to environmental pollutants.

While Li said “people should not panic,” she does recommend looking for reasonable ways to reduce exposure.

That might mean checking local drinking water reports, using certified water filters designed to reduce PFAS, and limiting the use of stain- or grease-resistant products when alternatives are available.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIES

Meaningful reductions in PFAS exposure will likely depend on broader regulatory action and environmental cleanup efforts, Li added.

The researchers noted that midlife could be a particularly sensitive stage, when the body is more susceptible to stressors associated with aging. (iStock)

Study limitations

The researchers outlined several important limitations of the research, including that the findings show an association, but do not prove that PFAS directly causes accelerated aging.

“The study is cross-sectional, meaning exposure and aging markers were measured at the same time, so we cannot determine causality,” Li told Fox News Digital.

The study was also relatively small, limited to 326 adults age 50 or older, which means the findings may not apply to younger people or broader populations.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

Researchers measured PFAS levels using data collected between 1999 and 2000, and today’s exposure patterns may differ.

Li added that while PFAS is known to persist in the environment and the body, these results should be validated through larger, more recent studies that follow participants over time.

Kelly McGreal is a production assistant with the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital.

Health

Melissa Joan Hart, 49, Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause

Published

13 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Melissa Joan Hart, 49, Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause

Melissa Joan Hart Opens up About Weight Loss in Perimenopause | Woman’s World

Use left and right arrow keys to navigate between menu items.

Use escape to exit the menu.

Create a free account to access exclusive content, play games, solve puzzles, test your pop-culture knowledge and receive special offers.
Already have an account? Login

Health

Alzheimer’s prevention breakthrough found in decades-old seizure drug

Published

14 hours ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Alzheimer’s prevention breakthrough found in decades-old seizure drug

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

A drug that has long been used to treat seizures has shown promise as a potential means of Alzheimer’s prevention, a new study suggests.

The anti-seizure medication, levetiracetam, was first approved by the FDA in November 1999 under the brand name Keppra as a therapy for partial-onset seizures in adults. The approval has since expanded to include children and other types of seizures.

Northwestern University researchers recently found that levetiracetam prevented the formation of toxic amyloid beta peptides, which are small protein fragments in the brain that are commonly seen in Alzheimer’s patients.

The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons, according to the study findings, which were published in Science Translational Medicine.

The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

The medication was found to prevent the formation of amyloid-beta 42 in both animal models and cultured human neurons. (iStock)

“While many of the Alzheimer’s drugs currently on the market, such as lecanemab and donanemab, are approved to clear existing amyloid plaques, we’ve identified this mechanism that prevents the production of the amyloid‑beta 42 peptides and amyloid plaques,” said corresponding author Jeffrey Savas, associate professor of behavioral neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, in a press release.

“Our new results uncovered new biology while also opening doors for new drug targets.”

HIDDEN BRAIN CONDITION MAY QUADRUPLE DEMENTIA RISK IN OLDER ADULTS, STUDY SUGGESTS

The brain is better able to avoid the pathway that produces toxic amyloid‑beta 42 proteins in younger years, but the aging process gradually weakens that ability, Savas noted.

“This is not a statement of disease; this is just a part of aging. But in brains developing Alzheimer’s, too many neurons go astray, and that’s when you get amyloid-beta 42 production,” he said.

The effect was also seen in post-mortem human brain tissue obtained from individuals with Down syndrome, who are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease. (iStock)

That then leads to tau (“tangles”) — abnormal clumps of protein inside brain neurons — which can kill brain cells, trigger neuroinflammation and lead to dementia.

In order for levetiracetam to function as an Alzheimer’s blocker, high-risk patients would have to start taking it “very, very early,” Savas said — up to 20 years before elevated amyloid-beta 42 levels would be detected.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES

“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death,” the researcher noted.

The researchers also did a deep dive into previous human clinical data to determine whether Alzheimer’s patients who were taking the anti-seizure drug had slower cognitive decline. They reported that the patients in that category had a “significant delay” in the span from cognitive decline to death compared to those not taking the drug.

“This analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” the researcher said. (iStock)

“Although the magnitude of change was small (on the scale of a few years), this analysis supports the positive effect of levetiracetam to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology,” Savas said.

Looking ahead, the research team aims to find people who have genetic forms of Alzheimer’s to participate in testing, Savas said.

Limitations and caveats

The study had several limitations, including that it relied on animal models and cultured cells, with no human trials conducted.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER

Because the study was observational in nature, it can’t prove that the medication caused the prevention of the toxic brain proteins, the researchers acknowledged.

Savas noted that levetiracetam “is not perfect,” cautioning that it breaks down in the body very quickly.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

The team is currently working to create a “better version” that would last longer in the body and “better target the mechanism that prevents the production of the plaques.”

“You couldn’t take this when you already have dementia, because the brain has already undergone a number of irreversible changes and a lot of cell death.”

The medication’s common documented side effects include drowsiness, weakness, dizziness, irritability, headache, loss of appetite and nasal congestion.

It has also been linked to potential mood and behavior changes, including anxiety, depression, agitation and aggression, according to the prescribing information. In rare cases, it could lead to severe allergic reactions, skin reactions, blood disorders and suicidal ideation.

TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.

Fox News Digital reached out to the drug manufacturer and the researchers for comment.

Melissa Rudy is senior health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to melissa.rudy@fox.com.