Debunking Five Common Amish Health Claims

I chipped in ideas for a recent USA Today article challenging some of the wilder health claims you see out there about the Amish. This is the social media post they were responding to:

I’m not sure why this particular post was chosen, as these sorts of claims are pretty commonplace. I imagine because it manages to put so many of the more common misbeliefs into one post.

5 Incorrect Claims on the Amish & Health

In summary, the person’s claims are:

1. The Amish live longer than the rest of us
2. They only drink raw milk
3. They don’t get vaccinated
4. There have never been outbreaks of pathogens in Amish communities
5. They have no cases of autism

More on why these are incorrect below.

How do “the Amish” really do things?

In response to the USA Today reporter I wrote a pretty long email answering questions. Here’s one bit that made it into the article, which covers a couple of the key points to keep in mind:

“When people talk about what ‘the Amish’ do to achieve health, they tend to apply certain positive-seeming traits across ‘the Amish’ as a whole,” Erik Wesner, the author of multiple books on Amish communities and operator of the website Amish America, told USA TODAY. “This is how ‘the Amish’ do things.’

But with close to 700 different communities, there is a lot of variety within Amish society. They also tend to ignore any negatives within the Amish.”

If you’ve visited more than one or two Amish communities, you’ve probably observed this firsthand. There’s usually not a single “Amish way” to do things.

And not all things about health practices among Amish people are necessarily positive, just because some Amish people somewhere do them.

“When people talk about what ‘the Amish’ do to achieve health, they tend to apply certain positive-seeming traits across ‘the Amish’ as a whole,” Erik Wesner told USA TODAY… “They also tend to ignore any negatives within the Amish.” https://t.co/LafU6ecLyu

— Amish America (@amishamerica) December 12, 2024

The USA Today article does a good job going through each of the five claims above and demonstrating evidence to the contrary for each claim.

Here are my brief responses to each, I recommend checking out the full article by Nate Trela for more, and further links to contrary evidence to each of these claims.

1. Amish people live longer than the rest of us?

Back in 2017, a gene mutation study found that Amish in one Indiana community showed significantly greater longevity – about 10 years longer than others in their community without the mutation.

This probably has much to do with this idea being popular – the story went viral and the idea that “Amish live longer” spread far and wide.

But this was just one community. A 2001 study, for example, showed a 71-year mean lifespan for Amish in Lancaster County. But as far as I know, there haven’t been really comprehensive studies on Amish lifespan, taking in many groups.

2. They only drink raw milk?

Dairy farming remains common among Amish. That said, most Amish people are not dairy farmers. They have many other occupations, including furniture making and other businesses.

So not all Amish have their own easy source of raw milk. Some will get it from neighboring farms. And the Amish as a whole do tend to drink a lot of raw milk.

But some Amish people out of necessity or convenience would also drink store bought, pasteurized milk. It’s hazardous to make any claims which say “the Amish only” do this or that.

3. They don’t get vaccinated

There is generally no formal prohibition on things like vaccines. Similar to something like voting, it’s a matter of personal choice.

But Amish culture has tendencies, and they tend to avoid vaccines. Based on studies, there are reasons for this, including not understanding the benefits, or safety, of common vaccines, and (in some, not all, cases) wanting to rely on God’s protection.

However, Amish people who generally decline vaccines can be moved to change their mind. A good example of this was a measles outbreak that happened in Ohio about 10 years ago.

Thousands of Amish people decided to take the measles vaccine in the immediate response to that public health situation.

In another community, hundreds of Amish got vaccinated against Hepatitis A after it showed up in one Amish boy.

4. There have never been outbreaks of pathogens in Amish communities?

This is a nonsense claim. Measles, whooping cough, COVID, even polio on two separate occasions have all happened.

These sorts of claims attempt to describe the Amish as having some special protection from ailments which affect all of us.

There is an element of wishful thinking in them – that we have found a group of people who have “figured out” health. And if we only copy what we imagine they do, we can have perfect health too.

We want to believe there is a model community that we can copy-paste health practices from. But it’s not so cut-and-dry.

At the same time, that’s not to say that Amish people don’t have healthy practices that we can also adopt.

5. They have no cases of autism?

They didn’t ask me about this one, so I’ll just quote from their article:

The autism claim is also demonstrably false, as USA TODAY previously reported on the existence of autism in Amish communities. The condition was documented in 2009 and 2010 studies.

Again, check out their full article for more.

I’ll end with two more excerpts of my thoughts on the Amish and health:

“Amish ways” can vary…and they’re not all healthy

Amish practices and habits can vary. “The Amish” do many general things in common, pretty much across the board (eg, wearing plain clothing, horse-and-buggy travel, restricting tech to various degrees, religious beliefs and church practices).

But the Amish come from different backgrounds and there are many different groups within their 400,000+ population. Some are more progressive and open to change and modernity, others more conservative.</div>

Some Amish use tobacco regularly and consume alcohol. Some Amish are overweight or even obese, and consume large amounts of sugar and processed foods.

You may be aware of examples of tobacco and alcohol usage in Amish communities. And Amish people also eat “unhealthy” foods as well.

“I believe ‘the Amish’ do things this way…so it must be good?”

I think any time you hold up a group’s practices as being universally wise and appropriate, you run into potential risks.

For example, most of us don’t live Amish-style lifestyles. If each day I eat a typical Amish farmer’s diet, but then fail to burn calories like he does, I will eventually develop weight problems and other health issues.

Also, while Amish (to varying degrees) do make use of conventional doctors and other types of modern medical care, unconventional remedies are also popular in Amish circles.

If you ask my opinion, I do believe at least some unconventional remedies can have value. And many Amish families depend on them – for minor ailments, and even for things that would send most of us to the doctor or hospital.

But sole reliance on what we believe are “Amish ways” can lead to potentially more effective treatments being ignored – because “the Amish” do it this way, and so it must be good.

Each person should make their own health decisions. But you can potentially end up in a bad place if you put blind faith in what you believe are one group’s set of practices.

Especially if you base your assumptions on incorrect beliefs, or create a blanket belief based on limited examples.

What do you think?

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