Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again commission released its first report last week, which it called a “groundbreaking assessment” of the drivers of childhood chronic diseases. Close study of the publication found one little problem in MAHA's analysis, however: several of the studies it cited do not exist.
A report from the political news site NOTUS found that MAHA misrepresented findings of existing reports and outright fabricated several others. NOTUS found multiple instances of named reports that contained links that did not work, were not findable through online searches, and were not published in the issues of the journals listed in the MAHA report. In some cases, the listed authors or the institutions for which they work said that they had never written the cited studies.
Epidemiologist Katherine Keyes was cited by the MAHA Report to back up claims of widespread anxiety and depression among adolescents. When reached by the outlet, she said she'd never authored the study.
“The paper cited is not a real paper that I or my colleagues were involved with,” Keyes shared..
One author named in the report called the commission’s conclusions over-generalized and a “tremendous leap of faith” from his research. Another said that the “conclusions in the report are not accurate and the journal reference is incorrect.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the reported inaccuracies on Thursday, attributing them to "formatting issues" and saying that the report would be updated.
NOTUS: A NOTUS investigation found that the MAHA commission report cites studies that appear to not exist. Does the WH have confidence that the info coming from HHS can be trusted?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 29, 2025
LEAVITT: Yes. I understand there were some formatting issues, but it does not negate the substance… pic.twitter.com/i1d5SMlGYy
