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The secret’s out about a trendy autism treatment — now it may be impossible to find

Nypost · · 549 words · By Rachel Sacks
Medical Supply Shortage Autism Treatment Influence of Public Figures on Medicine
open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/18/health/secrets-out-about-a-trendy-autism-treatment…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Appeal to Fear 70% confidence
Building support by instilling anxiety or panic in the audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 6
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
info Single Source 1
verified
“Leucovorin — a reduced form of folate or vitamin B9, an essential nutrient our bodies can’t make on their own”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and multiple web sources confirm that folinic acid (leucovorin) is a form of folate/vitamin B9, which is an essential nutrient.
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web search NEUTRAL — Folinic acid is a form of folate, an essential vitamin commonly known as vitamin B9. For most vitamins, the needed nutrients can be used by the body in various chemical forms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folinic_acid
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web search NEUTRAL — Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, or vitamin B9, a nutrient that helps the body make red blood cells and is essential for “healthy cell growth and function”, according to the Mayo Clinic. Fola…
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/sep/26/what-is-leu…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Leucovorin is a form of folic acid, which is a synthetic form of folate (vitamin B9). Folic acid is important for helping the body make DNA and red blood cells, hair and nail cells, skin cells, and ot…
https://www.aol.com/articles/know-leucovorin-old-drug-rebran…
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“A study published Monday in JAMA Network Open found that leucovorin prescriptions increased by more than 2,000% over three years.”
CORROBORATED
Neuroscience News and JAMA Network Open (via web search) confirm the study and the surge in prescriptions, specifically mentioning the 2,000% increase.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Aid Access is a nonprofit organization that provides access to medication abortion by mail to the United States and worldwide. It was founded in 2018 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts who describes …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_Access
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — JAMA Network Open is a monthly open access medical journal published by the American Medical Association covering all aspects of the biomedical sciences. It was established in 2018 and the founding e…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAMA_Network_Open
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Zyn (stylized as "ZYN") is a Swedish brand of nicotine pouches. Zyn pouches are designed to be placed between the gums and lip, allowing nicotine to be absorbed into the bloodstream through oral soft …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zyn
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Interest in leucovorin, a cheap drug used to protect healthy cells from chemotherapy, further spiked when the Trump administration promoted it in September 2025.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources (NPR, The Guardian) report that the Trump administration promoted leucovorin for autism and that it is used to protect cells from chemotherapy (specifically methotrexate).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This article encompasses the domestic policy of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States. Prospective policies for Trump's second presidency were proposed in Agenda 47, a collection of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_policy_of_the_second_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — During his second term as President of the United States, Donald Trump has made numerous false or misleading claims. The Associated Press fact-checked several of Trump's statements from his first week…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Donald Trump's second and current tenure as the president of the United States began upon his inauguration as the 47th president on January 20, 2025. Trump, a Republican, previously served as the 45th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_presidency_of_Donald_Tr…
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“By November 2025, rates climbed to over 835 prescriptions per 100,000 outpatient hospital encounters, more than double the amount only a few months prior.”
CORROBORATED
Neuroscience News specifically cites the rate climbing to more than 835 prescriptions per 100,000 encounters in November 2025.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Year 835 (DCCCXXXV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian Calendar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/835
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and dec…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Muhammad ibn Ali al-Jawad (Arabic: مُحَمَّدٌ بْنُ عَلِيٍّ ٱلْجَوَادُ, romanized: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Jawād, c. 8 April 811 – c. 29 November 835) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_al-Jawad
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“A 2012 clinical trial found that about one-third of young participants with autism who took leucovorin twice daily showed significant improvements in speech and language.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources report on a 2012 clinical trial where about one-third of children with autism showed significant improvement in speech and language when taking the drug twice daily.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2012 (MMXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2012 is a 2009 American epic apocalyptic disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Emmerich and Harald Kloser, and starring John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_(film)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mali War is an ongoing conflict that began on 16 January 2012 with a Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali. The rebels included the secular-oriented National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNL…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_War
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Low folate in the brain — a condition known as cerebral folate deficiency — is highly prevalent in kids with neurodevelopmental disorders, especially autism, which affects about 1 in 31 US children.”
CORROBORATED
Independent Medical Alliance confirms the 1 in 31 US children statistic for autism, and other sources link cerebral folate deficiency to neurodevelopmental disorders/autism.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cerebral atrophy is a common feature of many of the diseases that affect the brain. Atrophy of any tissue means a decrement in the size of the cell, which can be due to progressive loss of cytoplasmic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_atrophy
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer layer of neural tissue of the cerebrum of the brain in humans and other mammals. It is the largest site of neural integration in th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_cortex
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“Folic acid is synthetic and must be converted first, while leucovorin is an active form that the body can use immediately.”
CORROBORATED
The Guardian and AOL both distinguish folic acid as a synthetic form of folate and leucovorin as a usable/active form.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Folinic acid, also known as leucovorin, is a medication used to decrease the toxic effects of methotrexate and pyrimethamine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folinic_acid
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Folic acid is a synthetic form of folate, or vitamin B9, a nutrient that helps the body make red blood cells and is essential for “healthy cell growth and function”, according to the Mayo Clinic. Fola…
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/sep/26/what-is-leu…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Leucovorin is a form of folic acid, which is a synthetic form of folate (vitamin B9). Folic acid is important for helping the body make DNA and red blood cells, hair and nail cells, skin cells, and ot…
https://www.aol.com/articles/know-leucovorin-old-drug-rebran…
info
“The body can activate about 400 micrograms of folic acid a day, but leucovorin doses are in milligrams”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the provided evidence discusses leucovorin doses in milligrams, there is no specific evidence in the provided search results confirming the 400 microgram activation limit for folic acid.
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web search NEUTRAL — The word person is often used interchangeably with human, but philosophical debate exists as to whether personhood applies to all humans or all sentient beings, and further if a human can lose personh…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human
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web search NEUTRAL — The discovery of Neanderthal brought the first addition. The genus Homo was given its taxonomic name to suggest that its member species can be classified as human. And, over the decades of the 20th ce…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo
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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago · The meaning of HUMAN is of, relating to, or characteristic of humans. How to use human in a sentence.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/human
help
“Too much folic acid can overwhelm the body’s conversion process, leaving unmetabolized folic acid in the blood.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the claim about unmetabolized folic acid in the blood.
help
“While leucovorin was approved by the FDA for cerebral folate deficiency in March 2026, it is not approved for autism spectrum disorder.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding an FDA approval date of March 2026 for cerebral folate deficiency.
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.