Mona SharmaCelebrity nutritionist and wellness advocate

Why Are So Many Kids Getting Sick? A Pediatrician Explains 👶⚠️

24 Apr 2025 · 1 min

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In this opening segment, Mona Sharma and a pediatric expert discuss the dramatic increase in childhood chronic illnesses such as ADHD, eczema, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and autism. They cite striking statistics—about 50% of children now have a chronic disease compared with roughly 5% a few decades ago, and autism rates rising from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 36 nationally and 1 in 22 in California. The speakers suggest that better diagnosis, widespread denial, and a lack of focused investigation contribute to the uncertainty around causes. They pose the question of what proactive steps parents can take and whether there is a common denominator driving these trends.

Questions this video answers

About 50% (speaker's claim).

Historically 1 in 10,000; about 20 years ago 1 in 150; current cited rates ~1 in 36 nationally and 1 in 22 in California.

Chapters

I want to talk about how and why have the rates of illnesses skyrocketed from things like add, adhd, eczema, obesity, diabetes amongst children, cancer even? Right. So when we think about how and why do parents, what's the first place that parents can be proactive? And are you noticing a common denominator?
In the past, there is a lot of denial out there in terms of what's going on with our health. A lot of people, you know, we're just better at diagnosing things. But the reality is, when you look at the studies, about 50% of kids have a chronic disease, which is insane. It wasn't like that just a few decades ago. It was maybe 5% or so. But when you look at autism, for example, even 20 years ago was 1 in 150. Before that it was 1 in 10,000. Now it's 1 in 36. 1 in 22 in California. We don't exactly know why because we're not looking into this in that sort of way. I mean, I think there's a lot of denials.