theories on rising food allergy rates

i've been wondering for a long time what is causing the drastic and sudden increase in food allergies we are seeing in our country -esp in our children. these are some of the most popular theories:

one is that we are eating so many things that are unnatural these days that our bodies are becoming confused and making blueprints to attack foods with strong proteins instead of the offending - and unidentifiable pseudo-food we ate - like seafood, nuts, dairy, etc.... it thinks these foods might be what is causing the harmful effects the other things not fit for human consumption are guilty of. mutating corn into the hundreds of variations it is turned into to preserve food (www.cornallergens.com), all the preservatives, emulsifiers, fillers, additives... these are all fairly new to the human digestive system and one of the things that has increased apace w/ food allergy diagnoses.

another is that we have become so antibacterial and antiseptic as a society in general that our immune systems have begun targeting strong food proteins we eat as the enemy b/c they don't have enough disease and germs to attack any more.

then there's the one that it basically comes from insufficient vitamin d. supposedly we now have more cases of rickets and scurvy than in times past b/c so many kids now have awesome video games and central air conditioning and stay inside on summer days that would have seen us older folk out riding our bikes and playing kick the can. it goes hand in hand w/ the sad statistic that an alarming number of our kids are also obese now - and therefore much less likely to be active. in addition, there's the fact that more people are using more effective sunscreen more often than at any time in history, too . so even if the kids get outside, parents may be hampering their ability to take in the sun's beneficial rays and convert it to vitamin d by slathering them up too frequently.

a final theory on the increase in multiple food allergies is that it's from all the vaccines we give our kids today. it's yet another thing that has increased exponentially alondside the rate of food allergies, obesity and autism in our kids.

so how do these theories hold up against the test of your kid(s) w/ food allergies ? i know most of them could apply to mine ... we certainly ate a lot of crap that could have made our children's immune systems rebel ...i can't imagine bombarding the developing immune system of a growing baby inside me with all the fast food and junk i used to eat, now that i know what i know. if i were an ob these days, i would recommend to any pregnant woman to only eat things her grandmother would have made at home. i would recommend drastically reducing the top 8 allergens in her diet. i would make fast food and junk food as taboo as alcohol and smoking.

as for the antibacterial theory, as soon as i read about it, i got rid of all the antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers i had all over the house . i quit sanitizing all the baby's toys w/ alcohol after other children came to visit. i quit being so paranoid about them playing w/ kids w/ mild snots and coughs. i draw the line at higher fevers and barfs now. i only keep one small bottle of hand sanitizer in my bag for when i get gas or have to touch shopping cart handles. otherwise, i use a shopping cart cover (and that's more out of fear of him touching food residue he's allergic to than germs) and let the germs fly as they may. i realize now they need to be exposed to germs and illness to build stronger immune systems - not to mention to keep up with the antibiotic resistant germs growing out there - how could they possibly fight off today's super bugs if i never let them get sick at all ? i never use antibiotics for them unless there's signs of the illness or infection having gone systemic (ie, an ear infection that is bulging, with pus and/or extreme pain and fever), i never interfere w/ a fever until it reaches 103.5. if i do treat illnesses, i use homeopathic remedies first and foremost for the other kids and it's all i can use for my allergy baby - there are no mainstream medications that he can take with his corn allergy. i also keep my kids healthy and their immune systems strong w/ natural supplements like acai barry extract and elderberry, which is especially effective at preventing swine flu. pomegranate molasses is another zingy favorite in our house as one of the most powerful antioxidants and cough and sore throat soothers known to man.

when it comes to the vitamin d theory, i also feel a twinge of guilt that this could have contributed to my littlest ones issues b/c we live in michigan. lots of grey days ! however, i've never used sunscreen on my kids b/c - believe it or not - bo had an anaphylactic reaction to being slathered from head to toe w/ it when he was 1 yr old. i've been scared of the stuff ever since! so my fairest babies get 10-20 mins of bright sun in the summer and then it's long light sleeves and floppy hats. my olive babies never needed any precautions and never burned. i also start giving them cod liver oil when they start solids as the most readily absorbable form of vitamin d i've researched. not only is it fabulous for the vitamin d, but also a great source of essential fatty acids. the naturopath we were seeing for elijah felt it was essential to use to protect his brain when he was diagnosed 'failure to thrive' and losing weight before we figured out why . i prefer carlson's norwegian brand for mercury concerns.

the vaccine theory is the one i'm least sure about . i know they wreak havoc on the immune system the way we are supposed to do them, what's in them to preserve them and how many we do at a time now, but luckily, i never went along w/ vaccine protocols right from the beginning w/ my 1st baby. it's just never made sense to me that the way they work is supposedly to trick the body into thinking it had been naturally exposed to a disease and then the body makes a blueprint for that disease...okay, so tell me when in nature your body could walk out and get exposed to tetanus, diptheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps and rubella all at once ? that's insane ! how on earth would the body even know how to make blueprints against so many disease at once w/out getting confused ? if the patient went into a severe anaphylactic reaction, how would the dr. even know which vax caused it ? i have friends who take their babies in for 4 and 6 shots at a time and i am just astounded at how little sense that makes. maybe that's why so many of them are 30% effective or less. my kids got chicken pox 2 springs ago and i was so glad we had obtained lifelong immunity w/ no need for boosters. know how they got it ? from a classmate who'd just had the shot a few days before and developed chicken pox himself. so not only was the vax ineffective, but it spread the illness it was meant to prevent - tho that child did get a very mild case, if i recall correctly, whereas a cpl of my kids had a doozy of a case... but now they have guaranteed lifelong immunity and will never have to do boosters as adults like kids who get the chicken pox vaccine do - and still not get complete immunity!

my kids get 1 vax per year and that's only if they're completely healthy and it's in the summer. we don't do MMR unless we can get it separated (which you can't anymore) or until they are 8 yrs old. and i only want it then for the protection from rubella for pregnant women they might expose should they ever contract it (boys) and for when they get pregnant themselves someday (my girl). i figure by 8, the chance of them developing autism from it is drastically reduced, in part because i'm also not giving them several other shots at the same time to add more thimerisol or formeldahyde to their brains. i also don't do any of the newer vaxes or ones i consider unnecessary like hepb. i doubt they are going to be sharing blood or body fluids with anyone as infants or toddlers, so why on earth would i want to expose them to the risks of the vax that young ? when they get old enough to play football or become sexually active, we'll revisit that one. we never do any of the flu vaccines. we seem to get the flu once ever few yrs whereas our friend who gets the flu shot w/ her kids every yr not only gets mild illness from the shot, but they usually end up getting the flu every yr, too !

one of my children has a seizure disorder, so he won't get any until i'm completely convinced he's grown out of it and elijah has never had any because it's taken so long just to get him thriving and healthy and of course with his egg allergy there are some he should never have. vaccines are being linked to so many health and neurological problems in our children today that i don't doubt they could have a role in the increase in food allergies... so i'm glad this is one area i've taken steps to prevent further damage to my children.

2 comments:

Nancy Cuevas Weimann said...

i think it's all the hidden things in our processed foods. there are so many subsidies for corn, soy, canola, etc. that they need to find places to hide them in. that's why diabetes is so high. solution? we must be hard on labeling. things must be labeled!! i think it's time to stand up for what we need. i think our generation finally has it's big crisis... past generations have had world wars, vietnam, the depression... we have this much, much bigger fight that just doesnt seem to be as catastrophic but this is the future of our precious children and earth!

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Nancy Cuevas Weimann said...

i feel that i have to follow up on what i said above... with labeling the consumer has the ultimate decision to purchase that item. if you are avoiding corn then you make the choice not the government and company in deciding not to label something. this pertains to GMO's as well as country of origin. as things stand now... most consumers are oblivious to what is in their food and don't know why they are becoming diabetic or developing allergies with the foods that they think are the same as what their parents ate.

in response to jack... i wonder if it was a combination of what i'm saying above and the antibacterial environment that you needed with the first kids AND that fact that they only got your milk and so when they starting eating the junk it became a double... actually triple whammy. but in elijah's that wouldn't really equate....but then again... i really think that the way your body metabolizes what you ingest might have something to do with it too!

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