Whats with the rise in Autism rates?

[otherone]

Is it because of processed foods?

[jwirr]

1. We have had processed foods for a long time now. My question is why is it showing up now and not

long ago?

[otherone]

2. some of it is better testing - we know what to look for

but there has to be more..

[CFLDem]

3. I read it's because of

Better testing and an ever expanding autistic spectrum.

[Scootaloo]

4. Pretty much this, yes

[cthulu2016]

5. Prevalence of diagnosis does not always mean higher incidence

It can mean higher incidence, or it can mean that awareness is higher among parents and doctors, and/or that diagnostic guidelines are broadened, or other factors.

[longship]

6. Here's the science on autism and the diagnosis.

Autism at Science Based Medicine Blog <== science publications.

Here's a summary of your question:

Autism Prevalence

This article is not the latest, but there's no indication at all that autism is environmental. It is congenital.

Regards.

[Squinch]

7. Feel free to call me loony and accuse me of woo, but there is an observation

that the collapse of bee colonies (which is essentially caused by a disappearance of social abilities in bees) coincides in time and severity with the increase in the incidence of autism (which is essentially a reduction of social abilities in people.) The bee colony collapses seem to be being caused by neonicotinoids. So........

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

34. I made a similar observation in another thread.

Although I don't think there's any evidence that specifically links neonicotinoids to autism, there's at least one study out there showing the neonicitinoids act upon developing larvae to cause developmental defects that make the bees far more vulnerable to parasites.

But there could certainly be a method of action involving an environmental toxin that's acting upon the fetus if the mother ingests it, causing fetal brain development issues. It's certainly another avenue for study.

[Squinch]

42. I haven't seen any evidence either. The parasite vulnerability is interesting given

the gut issues that often go along with autism.

[LittleBlue]

8. Older couples having children, maybe?

Science has come a long way in allowing older people to have children, and the stresses of working perhaps push people to have children later in life?

No clue, just a guess.

[AngryAmish]

17. more expansive definitions and assortive marriage.

[alphafemale]

9. Over Diagnosis

A half step away from what is considered normal?

Here's your lifelong label of abnormal.

Huck Finn would have been met with intervention and medicated to a near coma.

Just let kids the fu_k be!

[liberal_at_heart]

21. children with autism need extra education on how to communicate and interact socially.

And some need extra help academically also. I know. My son has autism. To just let them them the fu_k be is to do them a disservice and no it is not over diagnosed.

[kcr]

23. It isn't overdiagnosed.

That is just as ridiculous as the anti-vaxxers.

[Squinch]

43. Really, no.

[ck4829]

10. It should be taken out of Axis I of the DSM and made it's own axis with a scale

I really think we're looking at it in the wrong way.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024742784#post29

[WatermelonRat]

11. The rate of autism isn't rising, the diagnosis is.

In the past people with severe autism were listed as insane and those with mild autism were simply considered weird or eccentric. As doctors become more knowledgeable about autism and access to those doctors increases, more cases are getting diagnosed.

It is unlikely to have anything to do with processed foods.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. More likely because it is better defined and recognized now.

Years ago (early '60s) there was a kid in my neighborhood who everybody said was just (in the unfortunate terminology of the time) "retarded." Looking back, it's apparent that the kid was severely autistic - he had strange, repetitive habits and although he could do some savant-type things, like instantly tell you what day of the week your birthday would be in 150 years, he could barely communicate otherwise and couldn't go to school. I think that the recognition of autism as something other than a developmental disability like Down syndrome has greatly increased in recent years, as well as an understanding that some other kinds of learning or behavioral issues could be a milder form of it. Whatever caused my neighbor's autism (he was born in about 1947), it probably wasn't processed foods.

[LeftishBrit]

13. The criteria for autism have changed over the years; as has simple awareness of the condition

In the past, people with high-functioning autism/Asperger syndrome were often regarded as 'maladjusted', 'behaviour problems' or just 'odd'; those with low-functioning autism as 'psychotic'; 'childhood schizophrenic' or most often just 'mentally handicapped'; and those in between as 'language impaired' or 'emotionally disturbed'.

A British study in 2009 investigated a large sample of people of different ages, and applied the current diagnostic criteria for autism to them. As expected, about one per cent of children met criteria; but so did one per cent of younger adults and one per cent of older adults. The only difference was that the children were more likely already to have a diagnosis on the autistic spectrum, while the adults more often had some other diagnosis or none.

[liberal_at_heart]

27. Think of how many parents probably have it and don't know it. I may be one.

My son has autism and autism is at least partially genetic. I have a social anxiety disorder that has kept me from working or even finishing college. I avoid social situations whenever possible because I just don't know how to act. I even avoid eye contact. My husband is always griping at me for walking away from conversations before they are done which is something our son does. I get flustered and frustrated easily. I get overwhelmed easily.

[Iggo]

14. Yes.

It's Kraft.

It's been Kraft all along.

You've solved it.

[jberryhill]

15. It was the return of Halley's Comet and Britney Spears' music

Why "processed foods"?

Basically, it was two things:

1. The last time Halley's Comet appeared, the earth went through its tail moreso than on previous occasions. This caused an increase in interstellar dust in the atmosphere.

2. Britney Spears - Coinciding with the return of Halley's Comet was the rise of Britney Spears to pop stardom. The peculiar rhythms and patterns of her music apparently activated compounds within the comet dust that had found its way into developing brains through respiration.

By focussing on "processed foods", you are missing these important other events, which some people dismiss as mere coincidence.

[FSogol]

40. I blame reality tv.

You get bonus points for the star dust and stardom.

[Zorra]

18. I suspect it's because of a variety of factors. Environmental changes and toxins could be part of

the mix.

No one knows for sure.

[Wolf Frankula]

19. Autism is the current 'hot' diagnosis

Fashions and fads in medicine like everything else come and go.

Wolf

[liberal_at_heart]

22. wrong.

[MatthewStLouis]

37. Yes, we are talking about it more, all new parents are terrified of it,

and everybody likes to guess at it's causes. But that does not make it any less real.

As the parent of an autistic child, I know. Every parent of a child with autism has to come to grips with the life changing knowledge this diagnosis brings. I would recommend everyone read the Emily Perl Kingsley essay, "Welcome to Holland". It helps others 'get' where we are coming from.

[MrMickeysMom]

20. I'm uncertain of the rate, however, the science suggests problems during fetal development...

… which point to environmental. From what I understand, the growth during the second trimester is when this effects brain development which in effect causes the entire spectrum to unfold Aspergers to clinically severe brain dysfunction.

I'm saying this because I just finished listening to the report being read (Thursday's Mike Malloy podcast). I'm pretty sure his point was to point out how we've got to stop thinking in terms of immunization, which made a lot of parents not get their kids immunized.

Listen to the 1st hour of that program, as it was fairly comprehensive. I don't have the study to link, but it may be in the thread.

[Skittles]

24. my theory (I have a severely autistic brother)

some kind of severe stress the mother experiences during pregancy

stress is much more common these days

[GoCubsGo]

28. NPR had a story on this a couple of days ago.

Recent research suggests just that. Something happens in the womb. I don't recall that they said it was stress that the mother experiences, but it might be some kind of "stress", in general.

[bhikkhu]

33. I missed the story, but that seems to be an unrealistic idealization of the past

How much less stress did pregnant mothers experience in the past? Health care and women's education was pretty sketchy, family sizes were much larger on average, kitchens and laundry and keeping up a house was far more laborious and intensive before electric appliances. Not to mention, women had very little voice and few options open to change their situations. Its hard for me to see how that would make the past less stressful.

[GoCubsGo]

39. When I said "stress"...

...I meant things like physical stresses (e.g., various environmental parameters, such as some exposure to some toxin), rather than emotional stresses or increased physical labor. There is a lot more crap being dumped into the environment, not to mention build-up of things like the shit that comes out of power plant smoke stacks. They've been spewing coal waste for centuries. Lots of other crap has been being pumped into the environment for decades, as well. It's more concentrated now than it was when most of us were conceived.

[MatthewStLouis]

41. I agree.

Personally, I think it's pollution and what it does to DNA. ...just throwing this out there, maybe girls (XX) with 2 X chromosomes have protection from certain mutations that boys (XY) don't have. I'm not a biologist, so I'll stop talking now...

[Sheepshank]

25. if we're throwing out wild guesses

It appears to be inversely proportional to the reduction in the immunization and delayed immunization rates.

[Warpy]

30. Baloney. It's present at birth.

[Sheepshank]

47. well, I did say "throwing out guesses"

I don't think anything is definitive at this point....and another responder to my off the cuff remark is still attempting to say that immunizations do play a roll...did you throw out your "baloney" comment there too?

So while I didn't previous "think" autism was caused by (or triggered, as is the new speak) immunizations, the increase in autism while the immunization rate decreases leads me to further confirm a lack of causation.

[Warpy]

49. Throw that idea way out

because it's been done to death and no link has ever been found.

A kid is exposed to more pathogens when he picks something nasty up off the ground and puts it into his mouth than he is when he's immunized against half a dozen diseases at once. It's how our immune system makes sure the planet doesn't kill us.

I'm royally sick of anti vaxxers. Diseases we never heard of for years are making a comeback because of their idiocy. If I came off as more than testy, that's why.

[Squinch]

44. Well, no. The reduced immunization was actually a reaction to the rising autism rates.

Because it was thought that the vaccines were causing the autism.

The rising autism rates came first.

[Sheepshank]

48. and while the anti vaxxers can claim some victory in reducing immuizations in the population

...the autism rate continues to grow.

[GoCubsGo]

26. Better criteria for diagnosing it. And...

I also suspect that ever-increasing amount of crap dumped into our environment has something to do with it. The anti-vacciners bring up mercury and other things that are in some vaccines, but the levels there are a tiny fraction of what one gets exposed to every day by such things as using plastic products, and by coal combustion fallout. The whole fucking planet is contaminated by mercury and other heavy metals that are released by coal power plants.

[Warpy]

29. Better diagnosis

30 years ago, most of them were still labeled mentally retarded, a catch all term that covered a hell of a lot of turf.

I'm glad to see the rates going up because it means kids are being diagnosed earlier and earlier and started on treatment to help them process the world without being overwhelmed by it.

This is one thing that can't be blamed on processed foods. They're starting to be able to pick up differences in brain development in utero, weeks before the kid is born.

While maternal pesticide load might have been linked, there just aren't the clusters of cases we'd expect to see in agricultural areas or places where runoff is heavy.

Right now we just know what doesn't cause it. We do know how to start treating it so the kiddo is as high functioning as possible, and possible also covers a lot of turf. I knew a lot of Aspies at MIT.

[JVS]

31. Expanded spectrum.

The term mild autism used to by an oxymoron.

[Freddie]

32. 4 out of 5 autistic children are boys

Makes you wonder, if not genetic, then whatever environmental cause makes boys much more susceptible.
My daughter is expecting a baby boy this summer and all of the tests have him being 100% normal that they can tell; this is my greatest fear for him. Their almost-4 year old girl is very bright and talkative.

[phylny]

35. A few years ago, is watched a show where they surmised

DNA may have changed in people who survived the 1918 flu pandemic, and we are seeing that change in the increase in autism. And I do not think it's just being over diagnosed or better diagnosed.

[Squinch]

45. Everyone seems to have accepted that explanation of the better diagnosis, but the studies

are very inconclusive. I don't know why. It should be easy to show increased or same incidence of a given definition of it, at least over the last 5 years or so.

The 1918 flu pandemic idea is interesting. There are a few autistic people in my family in the generation after mine. The generations before that (since 1918, because that's all I know) had increasing incidence of learning disabilities.

So that's interesting.

[randome]

36. You're all wrong.

It's caused by televised injections of Donald Trump.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[Squinch]

46. No. That's mass suicide that's caused by that.

[madokie]

38. A little off topic

but I look at the picture in your signature line and I see what I think is President Carters grandson with his Grand dad our very much loved President Carter. Is that who the photo is of?