It's time to end the autism epidemic (Conclusion)

I didn't intentionally set out to end this blog series on Autism Awareness Day. These ideas have been percolating in me for over a year, but it is fitting that I finish on a day when the world's attention is turned to autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Some have begun turning Autism Awareness movements into a celebration of being neurodiverse and so deflected attention from finding what is causing the rise in autism in order to stop the "epidemic." (I use quote marks because epidemics are of infectious diseases, and autism spectrum disorders are not contagious.) I'm what I would consider a mild case of "Asperger syndrome," and I experience both the good and bad of being on the autism spectrum: the ability to focus (obsess even) and shut out people around me, the bent towards abstract subjects like math and linguistics, and the delay in social skills that made me an easy target as a child for bullying peers. This form of high-functioning autism runs in my family and affects the males more than the females, often disrupting their ability to have productive relationships. Autism-connected disruption in social skill development is not something to celebrate; it's something to address, ameliorate, and prevent if possible.

The evidence I have cited in this series indicates that we can prevent a large percentage of cases of ASD in the USA by 1) replacing cyanocobalamin and folic acid with other forms of vitamin B12 and folate, and 2) consuming more glycine betaine (TMG) in easily absorbed ways during pregnancy and early childhood.

Thank you for reading. If you think the research and connections I have presented have merit, please spread the word. 

C. Taylor, JD

**This is one of a series of posts. Here are the links to each entry in the series.**

Introduction
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Conclusion