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The Amish Are Not Evidence Against Modern Medicine
They are evidence of what happens if you stay healthy.
The Amish are invoked a lot in arguments against vaccines, pharmaceuticals, or anything else you might see in a modern doctor’s office. The claim usually goes something like: “The Amish don’t vaccinate, don’t use modern medicine, and they’re healthier than everyone else.” That’s a great line if you’re trying to win an argument on Twitter. But if you want to understand what’s actually happening with health outcomes in that community vs the rest of the population, you need to do better, because the claim is not true, but it’s not black and white either.
The real story is more interesting — and more useful.
The Health Profile: Strong, but Not Magic
There’s no question that the Amish are, on average, healthier than the general U.S. population. They have lower rates of obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even some cancers. A 2022 review paper in Health Education Research went deep into this — looking at everything from physical activity and diet to disease incidence — and the picture is consistent: more movement, less processed food, lower alcohol and tobacco use, and fewer of the lifestyle diseases that dominate American health statistics.
