Cases of autism have exploded in recent decades
It’s hard to look at the stunning rise in cases of autism over the last few decades and not think something very strange is going on.
Here are the figures. In 2023, one in 36 eight-year-old children in the US received an autism diagnosis: that’s 2.8%, or 4% of boys (1 in 25) and 1% of girls (1 in 100). Just twenty years earlier, the figure was 1 in 150; in the 1990s, it was estimated as 1 in 1,000; and in the 1970s, 1 in 10,000. To call these figures a stunning rise is, if anything, an understatement.
Professionals and so-called experts will blithely tell you it’s just better detection methods and screening programs. What they’re saying is, “There were always this many autistic kids: we just didn’t know it until now.”
But that explanation doesn’t wash, especially when you start digging into the literature and find case studies on the transformative effects of simple targeted interventions. Giving autistic children common antifungals has been shown, for example, to reverse symptoms totally in some cases, probably because those children’s guts have been colonised by opportunistic microbes like Aspergillus fungus, which interfere with the complex role our guts and their inhabitants play in mood and cognition.
Large-scale studies, including a recent study of over 16,000 children from Sweden, suggest a clear role for gut dysbiosis—disturbance of the vital community of microorganisms that inhabit our gut—in the development of autism and related conditions like ADHD. The researchers behind that Swedish study identified a number of risk factors for autism, including antibiotic treatment during a child’s first year—which wreaks havoc on the developing gut—and reduced levels of anti-inflammatory fats and increased levels of endocrine disruptors (harmful chemicals that alter our hormone levels) in the child’s cord blood at birth.
Just a few weeks ago, I wrote for Infowars about a new study which suggests a clear link between glyphosate exposure and autism, one of many chemicals linked to gut dysbiosis as well as a whole range of negative health effects. Since 1974, it’s estimated that at least 1.6 billion kg of glyphosate has been used in the US, or roughly 20% of the total global usage of the chemical. Over 80% of Americans over the age of six have detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine.
What we’re looking at with the rise of autism, as far as I’m concerned, is not the discovery of something that was there all along, waiting to be discovered, but the growth of a condition that is largely, if not entirely, caused by the sheer toxicity of the modern world we live in. And that toxicity is growing. It’s in the food, the water, the air—everywhere we look.
If that’s the case, it means autism can be treated, right—so long as we can reduce our exposure and especially our children’s exposure to those toxins? Yes, it does. That’s precisely what a new case report suggests.
The report, published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine, shows that simple lifestyle changes, including dietary changes, can make a significant difference to the severity of autism symptoms in children. In this case, the subjects were twin girls suffering from Level 3 autism spectrum disorder, a severe diagnosis “requiring very substantial support.”
The girls’ parents were told to make changes that addressed their daughters’ “total allostatic load,” which basically means reducing bodily and environmental stressors that have been shown by a wealth of studies to increase the risk of chronic diseases. These stressors can be physical, mental or environmental, and they lead to the persistent release by the body of inflammatory cells and substances like cytokines and cortisol. Exposure to these cells and substances, in the long term, damages tissues and causes a wide variety of negative physical and mental changes.
The girls were given specialist behavioural analysis and speech therapy, but just as importantly they were given a diet that was about as far from the typical child’s diet today as possible. Out went processed, store-bought food, and in came natural, organic foods—the kind of foods our ancestors ate in abundance until about the middle of the last century, when modern processed foods began to flood the supermarket aisles and a new era of “convenience”—and massive ill-health—was born.
Processed-food consumption has been linked to pretty much every single one of the prevailing diseases of modernity, from cancer and obesity to heart disease and Alzheimer’s.
A recent study showed that in the US today, toddlers (kids aged between two and five) derive 58% of their daily calories from processed food. The US is second only to the UK in this regard, where a whopping 66% of toddlers’ daily calories come from processed food.
The twins’ new diet is described in detail in the case report.
“The twins were also put on a strictly gluten-free, casein-free diet that was low in sugar and had no exposure to artificial colors, dyes, or ultra-processed foods. An emphasis was placed on consuming organic, unprocessed, freshly prepared, and home-cooked food from local sources when possible. The family also consulted with a dietician for guidance around these dietary interventions.”
As well as organic, unprocessed foods from local sources, the girls’ diets were enhanced with a select regimen of supplements.
“A number of dietary supplements, including omega-3 fatty acids, a multivitamin, vitamin D, carnitine, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, and bio-individualized homeopathic remedies, were taken by both girls.”
Genetic profiles of the girls helped to establish their particular needs. This analysis revealed, for example, that the girls had genetic variations that increased their risk of systemic inflammation and that they suffered from impaired serotonin metabolism. One sister also was predisposed to lack vitamin D, and the other had genes that put her at risk of “neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and compromised detoxification,” so special supplements were chosen to counter these proclivities.
The parents were advised to take other important, but quite simple, interventions. Their home was evaluated for air quality, mold and moisture risk, and improvements were made, including ensuring windows were regularly opened for better ventilation and airflow.
So what happened? Over a period of two years, both girls’ Stage 3 diagnoses were totally reversed. Six months after that reversal, none of the symptoms had returned.
A miracle—that’s what the parents of the girls say in the postscript to the study.
In the US, the costs of autism are projected to reach $15 trillion in lifelong costs if autism rates continue to increase along their current path. But the costs extracted from individual families are devastating in a way money simply can’t describe. As far as I can see, no parent has anything to lose by attempting the kind of lifestyle interventions detailed in this new case study, with or without the aid of a physician. What these changes amount to is no more than a recognition, and a rebellion against, a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to life. A world that we created with our own hands.
