Health Viewpoints

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Have Lower Autism Rates–Is It Because They Circumcise Their Boys Differently?

Ultra-Orthodox Jews Have Lower Autism Rates–Is It Because They Circumcise Their Boys Differently?
Mohel Manachem Fleischmann (L) concludes the circumcision ceremony of baby infant Mendl Teichtal at the Chabad Lubawitsch Orthodox Jewish synagogue on March 3, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Jennifer Margulis
|Updated:
0:00
According to a 2015 article published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, children of modern Jews are more frequently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder than those of ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs.

The study, which was led by Dr. Raanan Raz, who was at the Harvard School of Public Health at the time, analyzed data collected on more than 2,400,000 children from the Israeli National Insurance Institute.

Jennifer Margulis
Jennifer Margulis
Author
Jennifer Margulis, Ph.D., is an award-winning journalist and author of “Your Baby, Your Way: Taking Charge of Your Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting Decisions for a Happier, Healthier Family.” A Fulbright awardee and mother of four, she has worked on a child survival campaign in West Africa, advocated for an end to child slavery in Pakistan on prime-time TV in France, and taught post-colonial literature to nontraditional students in inner-city Atlanta. Learn more about her at JenniferMargulis.net
twitter
Related Topics