“Autism” rates are skyrocketing among children in the United States, especially in the state of California, according to new data obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The new figures claim one in 36 American eight-year-olds, or 2.8 percent, have been diagnosed with autism. This is higher than the 1 in 44, or 2.3 percent of December 2021. By comparison with the CDC’s first autism prevalence report, published in 2007, the increase is shocking: only 1 in 150 children, or 0.7 percent, had been diagnosed sixteen years ago.
The new data makes concerning reading at a time when the nation’s children seem sicker and unhappier than ever before. Back in November, we reported on how members of Generation Z are suffering massive, pandemic-induced depression. Millions of Zoomers were diagnosed with mental-health problems during the pandemic, highlighting the terrible effects of the social-distancing measures, and the constant barrage of fear propaganda, on a generation that had already been identified as perhaps the most fragile and troubled in recent times.
Last week we reported on how Big Pharma is now using “patient-influencers” on TikTok to sell new drugs to teenagers. A new study in The Journal of Medical Internet Research reveals a very dark side to influencer marketing, a segment which is expected to be worth $23 billion this year. Pharmaceutical companies are now paying influencers to help sell “weight loss” drugs like semaglutide, otherwise known by its brand names of Ozempic and Wegovy.
“The bottom line here is that patient influencers act as a form of interactive direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, sharing their knowledge and experiences on pharmaceutical drugs with communities of followers in which they wield great influence,” said study author Erin Willis, an associate professor of advertising, public relations and media design.
“This raises ethical questions that need more investigation.”
AUTISM: RATES JUST KEEP INCREASING.
The data used in the report was collected by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, a program that aims to understand the prevalence and traits of children with autism. The ADDM Network surveys children aged 4 and 8 in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.
According to the ADDM Network, the median age of first diagnosis across these states for 8 year olds is just over 4 years. In California, the age is just 3 years.
“California is unique because of the intense focus on early detection and extensive early services,” says study co-author Karen Pierce, PhD, co-director of the UC San Diego Autism Center of Excellence and principal investigator of the ADDM California site, in a media release.
“Some children in San Diego are diagnosed with autism by their second birthday and connected to services quickly thereafter. This is great news because the sooner they can be connected to services and support, the more likely they are to thrive in school and in later life.”
The new figures showed interesting changes in the demographics of autism diagnosis too. While previous reports had shown white children with the condition more often than others, the researchers discovered, for the first time, that autism rates are now higher in all minorities, except in California, where there were no racial differences of note.
Boys have been four to five times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, but the new report shows that the gap is now closing, including in California.
THE FUTURE OF THE NATION’S YOUTH.
While it seems the authors are pleased that diagnosis is taking place earlier, especially in California, this can’t hide the fact that the cause of the rise in numbers, if not simply a reflection of the fact that there are better facilities in place for detection, still needs to be explained. Many, expert and non-expert alike, will suspect that more is going on than just speedier and improved diagnosis.
The causes of autism are a controversial subject, to say the least. There’s no doubt that genetic factors play a role in the development of the condition. But there’s also increasingly good evidence to suggest a wide variety of environmental factors play an equally important role too. There is an increasingly well substantiated link between autism and diet, for instance. It’s well known that autistic children tend to suffer gastrointestinal issues such as constipation, diarrhea, and abdominal discomfort, and studies have revealed that autistic children lack certain beneficial bacteria in their guts, like bifidobacteria and prevotella, and have much higher levels of potentially harmful bacteria like escherichia/shigella and clostridium cluster XVIII.
Other studies have revealed links between autism and compounds found in particular kinds of food, especially processed food.
In 2019, for instance, scientists found a molecular link to a common food preservative, propionic acid (PPA), suggesting that it could be responsible for neuronal damage during gestation and childhood. Very high bodily levels of PPA, which are characteristic of a diet heavy in processed food, can prevent proper differentiation of nerve cells. Stool samples from children with autism are known to have much higher levels of the chemical.
What are we to make, then, of the news that children are now consuming record quantities of processed food? According to a new study, British children between two and five years old have possibly the worst diet in the world among their age cohort. Nearly two-thirds of British toddlers’ average calorie intake comes from processed foods. Under-5s in the US and Australia hardly fare much better, with 58 percent and 47 percent, respectively, of their calories coming from this awful garbage.
Disastrous dietary trends among the young have only been made worse by the pandemic response. As opportunities for play and socialisation all-but-disappeared, and activity levels decreased, children’s diets inevitably worsened. According to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between March and November 2020 the body mass index (BMI) of a sample of 430,000 children increased at twice the rate it did before the pandemic began. Not only the stress of prolonged isolation, which encouraged comfort eating, but also increased economic pressure on parents, was to blame.
The simple truth is, by allowing our children to eat in such a manner, we’re setting them up to fail – whether that means they will become the 1 in 36 who now develops autism, the 1 in 5 who is obese or, even worse, both. We need to do much better if we want the nation, and our children, to have a real future.
