The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a new statistic in April. It showed that one out of every 36 children suffered from autism in 2020. When we look at the same number two years before that, it was one in 44. And when we look back to the year 2000, it was one in every 150 children.
Many people have been arguing that it’s because we have much better screening and diagnostic tools today. Meaning that the numbers are increasing because we can detect autism better than we used to.
But the surging numbers defy this simplistic explanation.
The current understanding is that autism depends on your genetics—so there’s nothing an individual can do about it.
But a recent meta-analysis of 25 autism studies could shift this understanding. It could fundamentally change the focus of research into the cause of autism from genetics to certain factors in your external environment. And that important shift could open up new, revolutionary avenues for potential treatments.
But does that mean we can treat autism, or at least decrease the severity of the symptoms? One doctor has been doing just that.
Join us as Dr. Jingduan Yang, a psychiatrist and a fifth-generation practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, shares his understanding on autism.
Make sure to subscribe to his YouTube channel “Dr. Yang Health Talks.”
Dr. Yang will be releasing a series there on treating children and adults with autism, as well as what couples can do before and during pregnancy.
