Lifestyle
RFK Jr. Claims Children Have This One Big Problem That Has Everyone Saying, “Huh?”

RFK Jr. told the press he can tell what’s wrong with children just by looking at them.
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The clip of him explaining this “talent” is going viral:
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“I know what a healthy child is supposed to look like. I’m looking at kids as I walk through the airports today, as I walk down the street, and I see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges with inflammation. You see tell it from their faces, from their body movements, and from their lack of social connection. And I know that’s not how our children are supposed to look.”
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People are like, “…what?!”
A bunch of people pointed out that RFK isn’t, in fact, a doctor.
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Other people brought up the whole looking at kids in airports thing: “you can tell a lot about kids based on how they look at airports.”
But a lot of people were like, what in the world does ‘mitochondrial challenged’ mean!?!?
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So, what the hell is it!
ABC
In an article titled “Mitochondrial Dysfunction Is a Bit of a Fad,” Canadian scientist Jonathan Jarry discusses claims about mitochondria made by RFK’s close ally, Dr. Casey Means. In her book Good Energy, Dr. Means argues that modern diets and lifestyles are causing serious harm to our mitochondria. And if you remember from science class, mitochondria are structures inside our cells that produce the energy our bodies need to function.
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Jonathan Jarry says that the idea of widespread mitochondrial dysfunction is overhyped and not strongly supported by scientific evidence: “Mitochondria are the energy generators inside our cells, and problems with this or any function they fulfill have indeed been tied to a long list of noninfectious diseases. But there remain many important questions to answer before we have reliable interventions that target mitochondrial dysfunction. To help your mitochondria do their job, the best advice remains to eat healthy, exercise regularly and get enough quality sleep.”
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On X, Dr. Ashish Jha chimed into the discussion, saying, “I’m sorry but what? Our Health Secretary says that he sees kids at airports and can tell by their faces that they have mitochondrial challenges This is wacky, flat-earth, voodoo stuff people This is not normal.”
So, that begs the question: Do you think you can tell how healthy someone’s mitochondria are just by looking at them…at airports?
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