Health
RFK Jr.’s MAHA Movement Obscures America’s Unhealthy Past
“We will make Americans healthy again,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has declared. A political action committee that has promoted Mr. Kennedy, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for health and human services secretary, says his movement is “igniting a health revolution in America.”
But the word “again” presumes a time in the country’s past when Americans were in better health. Was there ever really a time when America was healthier?
For historians of medicine, there is a short answer.
“No,” said Nancy Tomes, a historian at Stony Brook University.
John Harley Warner, a historian at Yale, said, “It’s hard for me to think of a time when America, with all the real health disparities that characterize our system, was healthier.”
Dr. Jeremy Greene, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, asked: “Which particular era does R.F.K. want to take us back to?”
Probably not the 19th and early 20th century.
Rich men smoked cigarettes and cigars, the poor chewed tobacco. Heavy drinking was the norm.
“It was definitely a drinking culture,” said Dora Costa, an economic historian at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Drinking was a huge problem, saloons were a huge concern. Men were drinking away their paychecks. That is the reason we had Prohibition.”
And, Dr. Costa notes, American diets for most of the 19th century were monotonous.
It’s true that agriculture at the time was organic, food was locally produced and there were no ultraprocessed foods. But fresh fruits and vegetables were in short supply because they were difficult to ship and because growing seasons were so short. For the most part, Dr. Costa said, until the 1930s, “Americans were living off of dried fruits and vegetables.”
As for protein, Americans were relying on salted pork, she said, because meat was difficult to preserve. Only after the Civil War did meatpackers in Chicago begin to process meat and ship fresh beef across the country. At that point, Dr. Costa said, beef “became a large part of the American diet.”
But even though the availability of beef helped diversify diets, people did not become healthier.
Dr. Costa worked with Robert Fogel, the University of Chicago economic historian and Nobel laureate, to understand the health of a population of Americans living in the North around this period by examining the medical records of Union Army soldiers. Common conditions, like hernias, were untreatable — men had hernias as big as grapefruits, held in by trusses. Nineteen percent of those soldiers had heart valve problems by the time they were 60, compared with about 8.5 percent today.
Poor nutrition led to poor health. People were thin, often too thin. In 1900, 6.1 percent of Union Army veterans were underweight — a risk factor for various illnesses and often a marker of ill health — compared with 1.6 percent of U.S. adults today. In 1850, males at age 20 could expect to live to around 61 years. Today it is 74 years.
The start of the 20th century saw public health improvements (cleaner water, for example, and posters advising parents not to give their babies beer), but disease was rampant. There were no antibiotics and very few vaccines. When the 1918 flu struck the nation, no one knew the cause — the flu virus had not been discovered and strange folk remedies were rampant. About 675,000 Americans died. In 1929, the Great Depression began, and its economic toll over the next decade led to severe nutritional and health problems.
Health improved in the second half of the 20th century but was poor compared with that today.
Many people are nostalgic for the 1950s and 1960s, seeing those decades as a time of prosperity, when the American pharmaceutical industry pumped out new medical advances: antibiotics, antipsychotics, drugs for high blood pressure and vaccines for tetanus, diphtheria, measles and polio.
Despite that progress, those years were terrible for health, Dr. Greene said, with “a tremendous amount of heart attacks and strokes.”
Heart disease was rampant in 1950, with 322 deaths per 100,000 Americans annually from cardiovascular disease, double the rate today. By 1960, Dr. Greene said, heart disease, was responsible for one-third of all deaths in America.
In part, that was because nearly everyone smoked.
“We were among the heaviest smoking countries,” said Samuel Preston, an emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. David F. Musto, a medical historian at Yale, who died in 2010, once said in an interview that although he never enjoyed smoking, the social pressure to smoke when he was in college in the 1950s was so great that “I felt it was my duty to find my brand.”
Smoking greatly increases the risk for heart disease, the leading killer in the 1950s and 1960s.
Heart disease death rates plummeted in recent decades because smoking is much less common now, and treatment for heart disease is much more effective. Cholesterol-lowering statins, introduced in 1987, reduced the risk of heart disease. Other new medications as well as bypass surgery and stents also saved lives.
Cancer was the second leading killer in the 1950s, as it is today. But in 1950, there were 194 cancer deaths per 100,000 people. Now there are 142 cancer deaths per 100,000 people.
A decline in smoking is a leading reason, but there also has been a revolution in cancer treatment.
Until the 1990s, cancer was treated with brute force: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Now an array of targeted therapies are turning some cancers, once deadly, into treatable chronic diseases or even curing them.
Dr. Greene said he was not surprised by the idea of a halcyon past when people were healthier.
“There’s a long history in America of nostalgia for a past that was better than the present,” he said. “History is all about erasure — the things we don’t choose to remember.”
Today is not a sort of health utopia, of course.
Researchers are quick to acknowledge that Americans’ health is not as good as it can be. And they bemoan the huge disparities in health care in this country.
Yet the U.S. spends more on medical care than other countries — an average of $12,555 per capita, which is about twice what other wealthy countries spend.
But, historians say, the past was actually much worse.
And so, they say, the phrase “Make America Healthy Again” makes no sense.
“As a historian of health, I don’t know what ‘again’ Kennedy is imagining,” Dr. Tomes said. “The idea that once upon a time all Americans were healthy is a fantasy.”
Jill Biden says Joe’s debate performance made her wonder if he had a stroke
Former first lady Jill Biden revises her account of former President Joe Biden’s disastrous 2024 debate, now alleging she feared he was suffering a stroke. This new statement from the first lady contrasts sharply with her earlier public affirmations of his performance. Contributor Ben Domenech scrutinizes the timing and motivations behind this sudden shift.
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Former first lady Jill Biden has expressed her concerns about former President Joe Biden’s health status, noting that she feared he was having a stroke during a 2024 debate against President Donald Trump.
Biden struggled his way through the performance, with long periods of silence, confused facial expressions and stammered speech. In a recent interview with CBS, Jill Biden commented that she was “frightened.”
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “I mean, when I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke,’ and it scared me to death.”
JILL BIDEN SAYS SHE THOUGHT JOE WAS HAVING A STROKE DURING HIS DISASTROUS 2024 DEBATE PERFORMANCE
A stroke occurs when there is bleeding in the brain or when blood flow to the brain is blocked, according to Mayo Clinic.
Identifying a stroke may be difficult, as symptoms can vary.
Stroke symptoms can include balance loss, weakness, slurred speech, face drooping, confusion and severe headaches. (iStock)
The American Stroke Association (ASA) identifies the following key warning signs, using the acronym “B.E. F.A.S.T.”
- B – Balance loss
- E – Eye (vision) changes
- F – Face drooping
- A – Arm weakness
- S – Speech difficulty
- T – Time to call 911
In a situation in which someone could be having a stroke, “the only” thing to do is to call 911, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel told Fox News Digital.
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The doctor emphasized other symptoms to watch for, including weakness on one side, slurred speech, difficulty processing information and confusion.
The ASA also warns that severe headaches can also be a sign of stroke.
At the first sign of stroke, 911 should be contacted immediately, as 1.9 million brain cells die every minute that a stroke goes untreated. (iStock)
Siegel advised against giving the person an aspirin, as it could worsen bleeding in the brain if that is the cause of stroke.
With an ischemic stroke, that type of medication could be helpful.
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The ASA says 1.9 million brain cells die every minute that a stroke goes untreated, which means earlier treatment leads to higher survival rates and lower risk of disability.
“In medicine, we use the term ‘time is brain,’” Siegel said. “This means that the faster you bring the patient to the emergency room, the faster they can receive emergency treatment if indicated to reopen the blocked artery in the brain, if there is one.”
Brain imaging should be done within the first several hours after seeking medical attention for a stroke, according to a top physician. (iStock)
Brain imaging can also be done on arrival at the ER, which should occur within the first several hours, Siegel said.
Anyone who is experiencing a stroke should not drive themselves to the hospital, according to the CDC. Instead, the person should get a ride or call 911 — as treatment begins inside the ambulance.
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About 80% of strokes are preventable, the American Heart Association states.
Prevention includes managing high blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation and other risk factors.
One in four survivors have another stroke within the next five years, per CDC data, so those at higher risk should prepare a prevention and treatment plan.
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Fox News Digital’s Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
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Health
Single infusion of controversial drug changed severe depression symptoms within hours, study finds
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People experiencing severe depression with suicidal symptoms may not have to wait weeks for traditional antidepressants to take effect.
A recent review suggests that a single intravenous ketamine infusion can provide rapid relief for some patients.
Originally developed as an anesthetic, ketamine is a medicine that can reduce pain and, in some cases, help treat depression, but it can also be misused as a recreational drug, experts warn.
SINGLE DOSE OF POWERFUL PSYCHEDELIC CUTS DEPRESSION SYMPTOMS IN CLINICAL STUDY
Researchers from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine reviewed 26 clinical trials that included more than 1,100 patients. Approximately 626 received ketamine and 540 served as controls who did not take the drug.
Most of the trials included patients with major depressive disorder, but 11.5% included those with bipolar depression and 7.7% included people with both unipolar and bipolar depressive diagnoses.
A recent review suggests that a single intravenous ketamine infusion can provide rapid relief for some patients with treatment-resistant depression. (iStock)
Compared to a placebo, a single treatment significantly reduced depression in just four hours and dramatically lowered suicidal thoughts within 24 hours, the study found.
Patients reported fewer depressive symptoms after a week and reduced suicidal thoughts for up to a month after one ketamine infusion. Those who received repeated ketamine infusions showed a similar reduction of suicidal and depressive symptoms at the end of the treatment.
WHAT IS KETAMINE THERAPY? MORMON REALITY STARS TOUT CONTROVERSIAL TREATMENT
The most common adverse effects of ketamine – including headaches, numbness, dissociation (“out of body” experiences), nausea, dizziness and visual disturbances – were temporary and resolved within hours of the infusion.
Rarer, more serious side events included hospitalization, suicide attempts and suicide, but most were unrelated to ketamine, the review stated.
The analysis was published in May in JAMA Psychiatry.
Treatment-resistant depression
Major depressive disorder is a formal psychiatric diagnosis affecting approximately 280 million people globally, according to recent research.
Effective treatment involves a combination of therapy and medication, frequently antidepressants. However, for a few patients, symptoms do not respond to multiple therapies, a condition known as treatment-resistant depression, doctors say.
“When all existing treatment options fail, patients with severe depression could consider ketamine infusions.”
These patients are at a higher risk of very serious, sometimes tragic consequences, including suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and death.
“When all existing treatment options fail, patients with severe depression could consider ketamine infusions,” lead author Taeho Greg Rhee, PhD, of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital. “This is still a safer option when compared to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).”
Compared to a placebo, a single treatment significantly reduced depression in just four hours and dramatically lowered suicidal thoughts within 24 hours, the study found. (iStock)
Traditional antidepressants stabilize mood by slowly elevating serotonin levels in the brain, but it can take weeks for the full effect to be achieved.
Ketamine, in contrast, works rapidly by blocking glutamate, a neurotransmitter that can impact emotions negatively when levels are too high in the brain, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Implications for care
The authors say their findings have two important potential clinical applications.
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First, ketamine’s rapid effects can be a life-saving treatment in the emergency room for patients presenting with suicidal ideation.
Experts caution that the medication should only be administered in closely monitored settings, such as clinics, to ensure safe treatment. (iStock)
Second, the effects of a single ketamine infusion are relatively short-lived – as almost all patients relapsed with depressive symptoms after a single infusion – so those with treatment-resistant depression will need repeated sessions.
“While intravenous ketamine is not yet FDA-approved for treating depression, it may still be used with off-label indications for those with severe depression and/or with a high risk of suicidal behaviors,” said Rhee.
Experts urge caution despite promise
Dr. Lama Bazzi, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, has had several patients receive ketamine infusions.
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“For a small subset of patients in a major depressive episode or struggling with suicidal thoughts, intravenous ketamine can be genuinely lifesaving,” Bazzi, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. “The relief they experience is almost immediate, offering them distance from the intensity of their emotions.”
However, she cautions that the medication should only be administered in closely monitored settings, such as clinics, to ensure safe treatment.
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Ketamine is not a panacea, Rhee agreed, warning of the potential risk of abuse and addiction.
“It should only be used medically,” he advised.
Ketamine’s rapid effects can be a life-saving treatment in the emergency room for patients presenting with suicidal ideation, some experts claim. (Getty Images)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, noted in previous comments to Fox News Digital that ketamine is increasingly being used to treat severe depression, but emphasized that it should be administered under careful medical supervision because of its potential risks.
Study limitations
Although the studies compared ketamine with a placebo, some patients may have realized they were receiving the drug. This could have influenced how they reported their symptoms and how effective they perceived the treatment to be, according to the researchers.
“It should only be used medically.”
Another limitation is the small sample size of the studies, which could make the effects seem disproportionately magnified.
Also, as this was a review of many different studies, it is challenging to apply the findings to the general population, the researchers noted.
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“While long-term outcomes have not been studied, I believe that when patients are severely depressed or suicidal, ketamine is sometimes the only choice that almost always works,” Bazzi added.
Anyone interested in exploring alternative depression treatments should first consult a doctor.
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