We do, actually. It isn't that there's more autistic people, just that the definition has changed so much that it includes way more people. I've often seen people recieve the diagnoses, either for themselves or their kid, then begin explaining away their behavior as if it's entirely caused by autism.
Think of it this way, in the 90s, over 1 million people became autistic overnight due to a redefinition. That doesn't mean 1 mil people suddenly got it, they've always had it, they just are incredibly high functioning.
I think diet plays a part too. Obesity has been skyrocketing for decades, diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver, fibromyalgia, adhd, depression, anxiety, autism - you name it and cases have been skyrocketing since the 70s. What changed in the 70s? They introduced the food pyramid, told everyone that low fat, grains, vegetable oils, and ultra processed foods were healthy. If you look at the grocery store 99% of the food is stuff our grandparents wouldn't recognize as food. Lucky Charms has trisodium phosphate in it. TSP is sold as a cleaner you use to wash your walls before you paint them. Vegetable oils, specifically ones made from seeds have high levels of omega 6 fatty acids, which are linked to inflammation. Seed oils are in literally everything because they are cheap. High fructose corn syrup is also in everything on the shelves. Fructose is processed by liver, too much leads directly to nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a diagnosis practically unknown 50 years ago. And one that can be reversed by not eating foods containing fructose.
I'm not saying the study that claims the amish have no chronic diseases is correct; diabetes, cancer, heart disease, and mental illness can affect literally anyone because of how biology and genetics are super complicated. I'm saying that there might be a correlation between the types of foods we eat and chronic illnesses. I know that personally switching to a whole food, high protein and fat diet has all but cured my arthritis, fibromyalgia, and has completely gotten rid of my chronic anxiety - something even medication couldn't do - even though I haven't lost a single pound. A low carb, high protein diet also is known to put diabetes in remission, it won't put type 1 into remission but a strict low-carb diet can help a typ1 diabetic have normal blood sugar and reduce risk of complications; and I recently learned a lot of people are successfully using diet to manage serious mental illness. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anorexia, and more controlled simply through eating more red meat, saturated fat, eggs, and dairy, and limiting grains and sugar. Basically going back to the kind of foods our grandparents ate, back when very few people were obese or chronically ill.
I don't think ultraprocessed foods will go away. I think it's more likely that we'll develop more and more of these foods and the population will get fatter, weaker, and sicker. I'm
this close to believing there's a literal conspiracy between the food conglomerates and big pharma to slowly poison us all. If drug companies don't have an audience for their "innovations" then create them. We see this in troonism - SRS is expected to be a billion dollar industry soon. We've all talked about how this movement has been astroturfed by billionares and pharma. Create a life-long patient as a teenager, sterilize the unworthy/disabled, and profit all the way to the bank.
I don't know if I'm right or just another annoying quasi-religious keto evangelist. I may get nothing but dumb stickers, because this way of thinking is definately not mainstream. I can only talk about the almost miracleous affects I've seen in my own life. I think it's an avenue worth exploring, though there is an almost insurmountable uphill battle to get people to accept diet is the cause for many complaints.
