Asthma
A new study shows that asthma rates are much higher for Blacks in an urban area of Boston than for Blacks in Africa. Similar studies have shown similar comparison rates among Hispanics and Asians. From what the study reports the difference seems to primarily be living in an urban environment. Poverty is also a factor--but poverty is common to both so it seems as if the main difference would be poverty combined with overcrowded urban living.
"Our precious bodily fluids"
Okay isn't that kind of weird that the paranoid guy in Dr. Strangelove was onto something?
Of course it's not fluoride, but still. We have to think of ourselves, our bodies as part of the same system. We don't just live in the environment--we are the environment.
A couple recent asthma studies
Folic Acid May Help Treat Allergies, Asthma
Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known
to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic
reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
Insufficient vitamin D may boost asthma risk
Children with insufficient vitamin D levels may be at higher risk of
developing asthma, suggests a new study. Vitamin D levels were also
associated with increased frequency of hospitalization, according to a study
with 616 Costa Rican children with asthma published in the American Journal
of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
suggested dosage on folic acid
:o)
Well, it's one of those water soluble vitamins so it's pretty hard to get too much for sure.
Folic acid may have direct ties to allergies and asthma response
Folic Acid May Prevent and Treat Allergies, Asthma. -
Vitamin B9, usually called folic acid, has long been known to reduce the risk
of spinal birth defects. It is also necessary for healthy red blood cells.
Now, in what is believed to be the first study of its kind in humans,
scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Center have found it may also be an
effective way to suppress allergic reactions.
Folic acid is found in many fortified cereals. It can also be obtained from totally natural sources including green, leafy vegetables, beans and nuts.
The John's Hopkins article reports more...
Folic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
People with higher blood levels of folate had fewer IgE antibodies, fewer reported allergies, less wheezing and lower likelihood of asthma, researchers report.
"Our findings are a clear indication that folic acid may indeed help regulate immune response to allergens, and may reduce allergy and asthma symptoms," says lead investigator Elizabeth Matsui, M.D., M.H.S., pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins Children's. "But we still need to figure out the exact mechanism behind it, and to do so we need studies that follow people receiving treatment with folic acid, before we even consider supplementation with folic acid to treat or prevent allergies and asthma."
The current recommendation for daily dietary intake of folic acid is 400 micrograms for healthy men and non-pregnant women. Many cereals and grain products are already fortified with folate, and folate is found naturally in green, leafy vegetables, beans and nuts.
Enzyme And Vitamin Define The Yin And Yang Of Asthma
Enzyme And Vitamin Define The Yin And Yang Of Asthma
This particular article is a little bit technical, but in plain english researchers have identified a form of vitamin A that is "critical for dampening the inflammatory effect" that is the cause of asthmatic breathing troubles.
In the future researchers intend to specifically investigate on a genetic level the relationship between the body's ability to synthesize vitamin A and the repression of this asthmatic inflammatory response.
How fruits and veggies help ease asthma symptoms
The study adds to a growing body of science linking fish consumption and fruit and vegetable intakes to a reduction in the risk or asthma, or improvements in the symptoms associated with the condition.
Here's the rub...
If you're poisoning fruits and vegetables with pollutants that our bodies can't handle either, won't this just come to a point where none of us are going to be able to survive it? Or do we seriously think we can find pills to cure this all? Pills for breakfast... from the companies you trust. Hmmm.
Cases of oral allergies to fruit and vegetables are rapidly increasing, according to a British specialist.
This affects people who are actually allergic to pollen - such as birch pollen.
"There is a cross-reactivity between the protein in that pollen with those in fruit and vegetables, so people start getting a reaction to fruits such as apples and pears.
Now we are seeing people who are getting really severe throat closure, a significant swelling at the back of the throat which can impede breathing
Dr Pamela Ewan, allergies expert
Rise in multiple allergies
"Normally we would see this among young adults as they start to develop hay fever but we are starting to see more of it among young children.
"As there is more allergy, the severity seems to be increasing and the patterns are changing."
Childhood asthma linked to chemical cleaning products
Alternatives to chemical cleaners
(These excerpts are from an article by Linda Penkala C.M.T. )
There is now a clear link between childhood asthma and household cleaning products such as bleach, window cleaner, aerosols, carpet cleaner, chlorine, pesticides and insecticides. In this day and age of indoor allergies, when pet dander, mold, dust and cleaning chemicals routinely affect our health, our awareness of the causative effects will undoubtedly empower us to change.
Essential oils have strong anti-viral effects, and even when diluted kill bacteria that antibiotics do not. They have been used for centuries as antiseptics, and are still used today in oral antiseptics. A mouth rinse with essential oils of thyme, peppermint, wintergreen and eucalyptus is more effective in improving oral health than a fluoride-based antiseptic, according to the 1999 Journal of Clinical Periodontology.
- The history of modern antiseptics reveals that Dr. Joseph Lister, a British surgeon, was the first to disinfect surgical rooms with eucalyptus oil vapors to stop deaths from infection. His surgical antiseptic that reduced the death rate from 50% to less than 3% during major surgeries contained phenols and other compounds from common essential oils - thymol from thyme, eucalyptol from eucalyptus, methyl salicylate from wintergreen and menthol from peppermint.
- Another historical essential oil testimonial is the Legend of the Four Thieves. When the bubonic plague struck Europe, more than 25 million people were wiped out in five years. During this time four thieves (somehow resistant to infection) circulated among the dead and dying to loot and rob their homes. When finally apprehended, and by threat of death, they were forced to reveal the recipe that kept them immunized. A copy is in the museum of Old Marseille of the "four thieves vinegar" recipe, consisting of white wine vinegar, wormwood, meadowsweet, wild marjoram, 50 cloves, rosemary, horehound and camphor. After 15 days they would rub it on their hands, ears and temples when approaching the plague victims.
- Dr. Diane Horne of Weber State University confirms the above historical references through her research mentioned in the Journal of Essential Oil Research. She found that the longer the essential oil blend was diffused into the air, the greater the reduction in microbes. The blend was clove, cinnamon, lemon, eucalyptus and rosemary, which killed over 99% of Staphylococcus (Staph) bacteria in only 12 minutes of diffusion.
The effectiveness of alternative cleaners...
I've always wondered how soap is just as effective as triclosan without causeing the same antibiotic resistance. I found a partial answer in this article:
"Dodecenal (a component found in cilantro) also shows promise in side-stepping the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The researchers believe the compound works by destroying the cell membrane of bacteria, similar to the way soap kills bacteria. As the compound does not appear to interfere with any of the protein-manufacturing machinery of the cell, as occurs with many commercial antibiotics, bacteria are less likely to develop resistance to it, Kubo says."
The same is being said about essential oils, but these articles don't state why. I'm guessing it's similar to the above.
Almost every essential oil contains natural chemicals that act as antimicrobial agents, protecting their native plants and acting as the key ingredients in human medicine for millennia.
Read more: http://naturalmedicine.suite101.com/article.cfm/essential_oils_versus_mrsa#ixzz0RHr5lMbA
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/278873
This article discusses the effectiveness of essential oils:
In studies conducted at Weber State University, the essential oils of cinnamon, geranium, lemongrass, melalueca, mt. savory, oregano and rosewood all proved 100% effective against strepococcus and staplylococcus. In studies completed in Europe, the essential oil of thyme proved 100% effective against anthrax, thyphoid, diptheria, and Koch's bacillus...as well as meningococcus. The essence of lemon oil proved 100% effective against pneumococcus, staphylococcus and diptheric bacillus. It is the staphlococcus bacteria that infects and kills 000's of people who contract infections while staying in hospitals. All of the above named organisms kill thousands of people yearly. So why hasn't our American health community turned to this proven and readily available aromatherapy solution? Perhaps this is a question you should ask your doctor.
I aslo stumbled across this cool product listing:
Thieves household cleaner
Thanks...
Treating wheezing in children with cortical steroids
These studies were not about asthma, per se, but about treating wheezing with the same kind of cortical steroid that's used for kids with asthma. One study showed no effect on length of hospital stay. The second found that steroids seemed to help but also affected children's growth rate.
Antacids taken in pregnancy linked to Asthma in offspring
And you have to imagine there is a lot of antacid ingestion in pregnancy.
Wow...
Let's learn something from Sweden and do something about the traceability of data.
I have to admit the title took me off guard a bit... as I was thinking along the lines of "Tums" and "Rolaids" when you say 'antacid', but the antacids the story talks about are those pill type "proton pump inhibitors as Prilosec or Nexium and such histamine 2 receptor antagonists as Pepcid or Zantac". The article wasn't clear about whether the study on mice was for these same types of drugs or whether the "antacids" they took were along other lines.
All in all, very interesting. I'd love to do more research on this and how antacids drugs work on the body. Thanks for the info!!!
Pollution Causes Genetic Changes that Lead to Asthma
First I keep seeing how in vitro a child is effected by the mother's environment during the pregnancy.
Also if you tie this to the article below about how cleaning products have also been linked to asthma, it makes me wonder if there is a connection. I'm not sure if there is a common factor or not, but it's clear that the cleaning products connected are considered pollutants by our own bodies.
I speculate that humans need to find a way to obtain balance with the system that supports them. It's not just global warming, that's just the end result of a long line of trespasses that we've known about since shortly after the industrial age started.