Acetaminophen Linked to Asthma
March 10, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
The common painkiller acetaminophen may increase the risk of asthma and other allergies in both children and adults, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of British Columbia-Vancouver and published in the journal CHEST.
Acetaminophen, also known as paracetamol, is the active ingredient in the painkillers Tylenol, Anacin, Panadol, and others. Because it does not increase the risk of gastrointestinal bleeding the way aspirin, ibuprofen or other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) do, it has become the favored analgesic and fever-reducer used in young children.
Researchers reviewed 19 prior studies on a total of 425,000 children and adults. They found that children who had been treated with the drug in the past year were 60 percent more likely to suffer from asthma than children who had not, while adults who had used the drug in the past year were 75 percent more likely to suffer from the condition. People who had taken higher doses of the drug had a higher risk of asthma than people who had taken lower doses. The data also showed a connection between acetaminophen use and wheezing, eczema, runny nose and itchy eyes.
The study was not designed to prove cause and effect, however.
Researchers have been looking for causes of the significant increase in asthma rates over the past 20 years. Suggested culprits have included air pollutants and overly sterile living environments, but the current study points to another potential contributor.
According to co-author Mark FitzGerald, it was roughly 20 years ago that doctors began to recommend acetaminophen rather than aspirin for the treatment of fevers and pain in children.
“There was a change in practice and in the succeeding 20 years or so the prevalence of asthma has increased also,” he said.
Although ibuprofen does not appear to increase the risk of asthma, it may cause liver and brain damage in some children.
“For adults, ibuprofen is probably the safer of the two in terms of asthma risk,” co-author Mahyar Etminan said. “For kids, pediatric guidelines still point to acetaminophen use — at least until we have a more definitive study.”
Click here for the full report.
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Charlie Rangel Steps Down
Anti-Depressant Scam
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The Pushing of Annual Flu Vaccinations
February 26, 2010
The Washington Post
By Mike Stobbe
A government panel is now recommending that virtually all Americans get a flu shot each year, starting this fall.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices had gradually been expanding its recommendation for flu shots – 85 percent of Americans were already included.
On Wednesday, the panel voted to recommend a seasonal flu vaccination for everyone except babies younger than 6 months and those with egg allergies or other unusual conditions.
The panel’s recommendation now goes to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC usually follows the panel’s advice and spreads the message to doctors and hospitals across the country.
“Now no one should say ‘Should I or shouldn’t I?’” said Dr. Anthony Fiore, a CDC flu specialist.
CDC vaccination recommendations tend to be influential with the doctors who give the shots and the health insurers who pay for them.
Flu shots are already recommended for 85 percent of the U.S. public, including pregnant women, children older than 6 months, adults 50 and older, people with certain chronic health conditions, health care workers and those who take care of people in a recommended group. The only people who weren’t specifically included were healthy people ages 19 to 49 who don’t have close contact with anyone at risk of flu and its complications.
But only about 33 percent of Americans actually get a flu shot, and unusually millions and millions of doses get thrown away annually.
The swine flu pandemic that hit last year caused a new momentum for flu vaccinations. Virtually all the 114 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine doses made were distributed, and more young adults and children got the swine flu vaccine than usually come out for seasonal flu.
The panel voted 11 to 0 – with one abstention – for the recommendation, prompting a short round of applause in the CDC auditorium where the meeting was held. Some public health experts and physicians had been pushing for a universal flu vaccination recommendation for more than 10 years.
Also on Wednesday, the panel gave its nod to a proposed formulation of next year’s seasonal flu vaccine. The vaccine will be built to protect against three strains of flu scientists think will be circulating next fall and winter. Swine flu is to be one of the strains incorporated into the vaccine.
At past meetings, the panel stopped short of recommending flu shots for everyone. Panel members were mindful of a history of temporary flu vaccine shortages in the United States. They worried a universal recommendation might cause demand to far surpass supply and endanger those at the highest risk of life-threatening flu complications.
Click here for the full report
Mom’s Diet Affects Health and Future Allergies of Baby
February 22, 2010
Reuters
By Joene Hendry
Greater intake of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruit, and veggies and fruits high in beta carotene (generally those colored red and orange) may lessen the risk of having a baby with eczema (itchy, dry, red patched skin), Dr. Yoshihiro Miyake at Fukuoka University and colleagues found.
Foods high in vitamin E, found in some green vegetables, similarly may lessen the risk of having a wheezy infant, they report in the journal Allergy.
Beta carotene and vitamin E are two of many vegetable and fruit antioxidants thought to benefit health. But prior investigations of maternal antioxidant intake and childhood allergies offered conflicting findings. This area of research “is still developing,” Miyake noted in an email to Reuters Health.
In the current study, Miyake’s team evaluated vegetable and fruit intake during pregnancy of 763 women and their offspring’s early-age eczema or allergic wheeze.
The women were 30 years old on average and about 17 weeks pregnant when they reported personal and medical history. When their babies were between 16 and 24 months old, the women provided birth and breastfeeding history, number of older siblings, and exposure to smoke.
The team found that 21 percent of the youngsters wheezed or had a “whistling in the chest in the last 12 months,” and fewer than 19 percent had eczema.
According to the investigators, moms who ate greater amounts of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, or beta carotene while pregnant were less apt to have an infant with eczema.
For example, after allowing for other eczema risk factors, eczema was more common among infants of moms who ate the least versus the most green and yellow vegetables – 54 and 32 infants, respectively.
Likewise, higher intake of vitamin E during pregnancy was associated a reduced likelihood of having a wheezy infant — a finding that supports previous investigations from the U.S. and
U.K.
Boosting intake of green and yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, and antioxidants such as beta-carotene and vitamin E among moms-to-be “deserves further investigation as measures that would possibly be effective in the prevention of allergic disorders in the offspring,” the researchers conclude.
Click here for the full report
Parasites In Your Body Can Help Your Immune System
February 11, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Humans and gastrointestinal parasites might have co-evolved in such a way that the parasites actually help regulate to human immune system to prevent against allergies, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Nottingham.
Researchers believe that over the course of millions of years, gastrointestinal parasites have evolved an ability to suppress the human immune system as a survival mechanism. Because parasitic infestation has been so common throughout human evolutionary history, the human immune system has in turn evolved to compensate for this effect.
This means that if the parasites are removed, the immune system may actually function too strongly, resulting in maladaptive immune responses such as asthma, eczema and other allergies.
To test this hypothesis, researchers used drugs to eliminate hookworm infection in a 1,500 children between the ages of six and 17 who were living in a rural village in central Vietnam. This region was selected for its very low rates of allergies and high parasitic infestation rate. Two-thirds of all children in the area are infested with hookworm or other gastrointestinal parasites.
The researchers found that once the children were no longer infected with parasites, their rates of dust mite allergies significantly increased. This supports the hypothesis that parasites help regulate immune responses.
“The next step is to understand exactly how and when gut parasites program the human immune system in a way that protects against allergies, and for such studies, follow-up from birth will be essential,” said researcher Carsten Flohr.
Researchers hope that understanding the relationship between parasites and the human immune system could lead to a better overall understanding of allergies.
“The prospects of further studies in this area are very exciting, as we could see groundbreaking treatments for asthma and other allergies developed as a result,” said Elaine Vickers of Asthma UK, which funded the study.
Click here for the full report
Organic Milk Linked to Lower Rates of Allergies, Asthma, and Eczema
December 28, 2009
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
Young children who consume exclusively organic dairy products are significantly less likely to develop allergies, asthma or eczema by the age of two, according to a study conducted by researchers from the Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands and published in the British Journal of Nutrition.
“This is the first example of a definite health impact of organic food consumption being published in a peer-reviewed journal,” said Carlo Leifert of Newcastle University, who is leading a study into the connection between organic food consumption and health.
Researchers followed 2,500 pregnant women until their children were two years old, recording information on their health and their lifestyle and dietary habits. They found that the rate of allergies was 36 percent lower among children who drank or ate organic milk, cheese and yogurt and whose mothers had consumed these products while breastfeeding than among children and mothers who had eaten either only non-organic dairy products or a mix of organic and non-organic products.
“There was a clear relationship between organic dairy use and less eczema,” said researcher Machteld Huber. “The difference was significant but only for children exclusively eating organic dairy products.”
“We didn’t find a relationship if they had [both] organic and conventional dairy products.”
Researchers do not know whether the increased allergy risk from non-organic dairy is caused by extra toxic ingredients, such as antibiotics, by lower levels of key nutrients, such as omega-3 fatty acids, by some combination of the two, or by some other factor.
“Organic milk doesn’t contain any pesticides, added hormones or antibiotics,” said Stuart Martin of the Scottish Organic Milk Producers Association. “When an organic cow becomes sick our farmers are encouraged to treat it homeopathically first and only use antibiotics as a last resort. Meanwhile, the milk from that cow is removed from the milk stream and is not used at all.”
Click here for the full report
Prison Food Soy Lawsuit
December 23, 2009
UPI.com
A prison in Danville, Ill., is endangering inmates’ health by serving meals made with soy, nine plaintiffs allege in a federal lawsuit.
The Chicago Tribune said the plaintiffs allege in the U.S. District Court lawsuit the menu items involving soy that are served at the Danville Correctional Center could negatively impact inmates with existing gastrointestinal and thyroid problems, allergies or sensitivities.
The Weston A. Price Foundation, which is helping fund the suit, alleges prison inmates in Illinois are being fed as much as 100 grams of soy protein daily. That offered number is well above the nearly 25 grams a day recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“Never before have we had a large population like this being served such a high level of soy with almost no other choice,” foundation president Sally Fallon said.
The plaintiffs want the court to issue an injunction against the Department of Corrections to stop soy products from being used in prison meals throughout the state. The plaintiffs are also seeking unspecified damages.
The Tribune said the Department of Corrections has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Click here for the full report.
Canadian Health Officials See Bad Reactions to Flu Shots
November 25, 2009
ON Deadline
By Michael Winter
Canadian health officials are investigating what caused six severe allergic reactions to the H1N1 vaccine earlier this month, which the World Health Organization calls “an unusual number.”
The report comes amid signs that the worst of the pandemic might be over in Canada.
The vaccine triggered anaphylaxis, which causes breathing problems, low blood pressure and swelling of the throat, tongue, lips and eyes. It can be fatal.
The inoculations came from a batch of 172,000 doses of the Arepanrix vaccine, made by GlaxoSmithKline, that was distributed across Canada. The unused batch was recalled and all six Canadians recovered.
Normally, one adverse reaction per 100,000 doses is expected. In several lots of vaccines, no adverse reactions have been reported.
“An unusual number of severe allergies to the vaccine have been detected in Canada,” World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham told AFP. “The Canadian authorities are conducting the appropriate investigations on the vaccines. … We need to understand what happened.”
How Many Chemicals Do You Put on Your Face Daily?
November 20, 2009
Telegraph
By Alastair Jamieson
A survey found women typically use up to 13 products, most of which contain more than 20 ingredients, including additives.
Perfumes contain an average cocktail of 250 ingredients, the study found, with some containing as many as 400.
The study, published by company Bionsen which makes deodorants it says are ‘aluminium free’, said some of the additive ingredients in other products have been linked to cancer, hormone problems, skin conditions and allergies.
Lipstick contains on average 33 ingredients, body lotion 32, mascara 29, and the purest product, hand moisturiser, 11, it found.
Charlotte Smith of Bionsen told The Sun: “Beauty regimes have changed dramatically from a simple ‘wash & go’ to daily fake tan applications, regular manicures, false lashes and hair extensions.
“The new ‘wonder treatments’ contain more chemicals to be able to achieve better results, which means that women are more at risk.”
Earlier research found one third of women under the age of 25 are regularly applying products meant for the over-40s, potentially exposing themselves to unnecessary damage through treatments designed for older skin.
Eczema patients who use products that are too greasy often suffer from a condition called occlusive folliculitis – sweat cannot escape from behind clogged pores, causing itchy red lumps.
Click here for the full report
How to Win Against Food and Skin Allergies with Probiotics
November 18, 2009
Natural News
By Paul Louis
Most health conscious people know of the positive effects on digestion from using probiotic supplements. Many take probiotic supplements after using antibiotics to replace the good intestinal flora bacteria indiscriminately killed by antibiotic use.
This practice is so well known that even many MD’s are recommending probiotics during and after antibiotics. But there is new evidence that probiotic benefits go beyond that. One area of investigative research concerns building the immune system’s resistance to allergies that affect the skin. An obvious example of a skin’s allergic reaction is eczema, which tends occur more often with infants and toddlers.
A recent Dutch study gathered over 150 pregnant women with allergic disease histories in their families. During the last six weeks of pregnancy, they were given either three strains of probiotics or an inactive placebo pill. Neither they nor the doctors involved knew who received what.
After those pregnant women gave birth, most of their children were still monitored by the Dutch researchers. The children continued to receive probiotics or placebos for 12 months. After three months, the rate of eczema occurring among the probiotic subjects was less than half of those given placebos.
There were no more probiotics or placebos administered to the children after 12 months. However, many were still observed up until age two. As they approached that age, the eczema occurrence gap between the two groups with eczema narrowed somewhat.
But there was still a substantial difference. The study results provided evidence that probiotics can have an effect on offspring from allergy prone mothers, and the report was written up in the Journal of Allergy.
Another recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition involved probiotics administered to mice, with a focus on food allergies. The mice all had whey intolerances, and they were fed probiotics and prebiotics while drinking milk.
