3 ms·

Ok, Saturday night rant time: The most curious things about autism is that A. There isn't much data on prevalence outside the U.S. B. The rise is hand waved

Ok, Saturday night rant time: The most curious things about autism is that A. There isn't much data on prevalence outside the U.S. B. The rise is hand waved off as better diagnosis by autism skeptics. C. Looking at causes of autism has been stigmatized because of the anti-vax controversy. We'll still be sitting here 20 years from now because nobody really wants to get to the bottom of this. Maybe the people who don't use that brand of whatever essential consumer good that causes autism will be the only people who will make it past the next generation and it will effectively breed autism out of the population that way. A whole bunch of people subsistence farming in Africa most likely. This almost reminds me of Bruce Sterling's story "Sacred Cow" from "A Good Old Fashioned Future" where everybody in Britain and the west dies of mad cow disease and the Indians who don't eat cow take over the world.

_greim_ 12y ago
> nobody really wants to get to the bottom of this Don't confuse "nobody takes my speculation and anecdotal stories seriously" with "nobody wants to get to the bottom of this."
kpil 12y ago
I think the situation is very similar in Europe. One interesting thing is that here in Sweden we have a rather large group of refugees from Somalia that have refused vaccinations because they have been rather heavily afflicted by autism. (Several times higher) Interestingly it appears that it does not help - so vaccines can be pretty much rules out, at least as a single cause, just by looking at this a-b test. There is quite a lot of research on this: One research study on this group suggested that it might be related to the low level of vitamin-D in the group, caused by the low level of sunshine in Sweden, combined with that the women is covered for religious reasons. Elisabeth Fernell have published a few articles on this.
- narrator 12y ago
  So is anyone doing a vitamin D supplement trial for expectant mothers? I wonder how long they'll just leave that speculation out there before anyone tries an experiment. I'll push the snooze button on this one. Society doesn't seem to need a better answer on this than "More diagnosis" or "Because they're muslims".
  - henrylahore 12y ago
    Study conclusions using vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy are reported about twice a month now. http://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=3421 http://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=3421 There are 46 clinical trials listed for pregnancy with vitamin D intervention. http://is.gd/PregDTrials http://is.gd/PregDTrials. I am aware of several which are just being started, but not yet announced.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]

_greim_ 12y ago

> nobody really wants to get to the bottom of this Don't confuse "nobody takes my speculation and anecdotal stories seriously" with "nobody wants to get to the bottom of this."

kpil 12y ago

I think the situation is very similar in Europe. One interesting thing is that here in Sweden we have a rather large group of refugees from Somalia that have refused vaccinations because they have been rather heavily afflicted by autism. (Several times higher) Interestingly it appears that it does not help - so vaccines can be pretty much rules out, at least as a single cause, just by looking at this a-b test. There is quite a lot of research on this: One research study on this group suggested that it might be related to the low level of vitamin-D in the group, caused by the low level of sunshine in Sweden, combined with that the women is covered for religious reasons. Elisabeth Fernell have published a few articles on this.

narrator 12y ago
So is anyone doing a vitamin D supplement trial for expectant mothers? I wonder how long they'll just leave that speculation out there before anyone tries an experiment. I'll push the snooze button on this one. Society doesn't seem to need a better answer on this than "More diagnosis" or "Because they're muslims".
- henrylahore 12y ago
  Study conclusions using vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy are reported about twice a month now. http://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=3421 http://vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page_id=3421 There are 46 clinical trials listed for pregnancy with vitamin D intervention. http://is.gd/PregDTrials http://is.gd/PregDTrials. I am aware of several which are just being started, but not yet announced.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]