There s no doubt about it. All of the major US health organizations and scientific groups confirm what understandably concerned parents are seeing.

Transcription

1 There s no doubt about it. All of the major US health organizations and scientific groups confirm what understandably concerned parents are seeing. We re in an epidemic. It s not measles, whooping cough, or any other infectious disease that is causing day-to-day problems in most of our children. It is what pediatrician and environmental scientist Philip Landrigan calls the new pediatric pathology and infectious disease specialist and microbiome expert Martin Blaser refers to as the modern plagues. They are emphasizing the problem of increasing numbers and rates of chronic diseases we - and our children especially - are facing in the forms of diagnosed - and undiagnosed allergies - to foods and the environment, eczema, asthma, and a growing number of children already struggling with autoimmune conditions even as young as age 2! In fact, some of the conditions our kids are facing were, until recently, only previously seen in adults - and rarely, if ever, in young children. Now our kids are facing obesity and type 2 diabetes, autoimmune conditions, and depression and anxiety as young as 2 and 3 years old. This course will focus on the underlying causes of what have come to be called The 4 A s: allergies, asthma, atopy (eczema), and autoimmune conditions. We ll discuss how to prevent food sensitivities and allergies, eczema, and asthma, and how to help your child be less reactive to so many foods (though true food allergies require a regular medical response!), how to use diet, herbs, and supplements to prevent asthma flares, and things you can do to restore healthy skin in your baby with eczema. We ll nip seasonal and environmental allergies in the bud! And what s amazing is that because these conditions are connected by common root causes, which we ll discuss, the side-effect of getting to the bottom of these is parents begin to see improvements in other related inflammatory conditions including ADHD, obesity, and mood and behavioral challenges which have also been linked to two basic underlying causes: immune system dysregulation and exposure to environmental toxins and the body s challenges in keeping up with detoxification.

2 We re going to get to the bottom of these in this course. Allergic disorders are a problem in the immune system. It s when the immune system is overreacting to triggers that it gets from the environment. These triggers, or antigens, that cause allergies are called allergens. The immune response can cause symptoms such as swelling, sneezing, watery eyes, but in severe cases - like, you ve heard of peanut allergies or people who are allergic to certain antibiotics or bee stings - that s called anaphylaxis. Asthma, eczema, and allergies are three different examples of allergic disorders, and these are called atopic conditions. Food allergies and food sensitivities are also signs of immune system dysregulation. Autoimmune disorders are also caused by immune dysregulation. In these cases, the immune system mistakenly attacks the body s healthy tissue and organs as though they were foreign invaders. Celiac disease, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis are examples of autoimmune disorders that can happen in young people. These are very preventable in most cases, and are sometimes even reversible. Food sensitivities and food allergies differ in the reactions happening in the immune system. A true food allergy causes an immune system reaction that affects numerous organs in the body. It can cause a range of symptoms and in some cases, can be severe or life threatening. While scientific data that we will look at later in this course is showing us that there are ways to prevent food allergies, a true food allergy reaction requires medical attention. While improving your child s overall health may help to lessen food allergies, it is not recommended to try to reintroduce foods to which your child is truly allergic at any time unless under the direct supervision of a medical professional qualified to perform an appropriate food challenge. This is different than the food reintroduction one can try with

3 food sensitivities, and should not be tried at home. Some allergists can work with you to desensitize your child to foods to which she or he might be truly allergic; this is not something I do in my medical practice, nor do I present information on that in this course. In contrast, food intolerances, also called food sensitivities, do not provoke the same massive IgE immunologic reactions, if at all, provoked by true food allergies. Symptoms are generally less serious, though they are now associated with a wide variety of general symptoms, including allergies, asthma, eczema, and other chronic inflammatory immune conditions, due to the role of the gut in health. Some foods, for example, gluten containing foods or dairy, in sensitive individuals, contribute to leaky gut syndrome, which you will learn about shortly, and some food sensitivities arise as a result of gut dysbiosis and or leaky gut, creating a vicious cycle that you ll learn how to break, in Unit 3. The rates of chronic children s health problems have been increasing at an alarming rate. In past centuries, most parents worried about potentially scary childhood diseases like measles, whooping cough, and pneumonia. Thanks to improved sanitation, clean water, and less crowded living conditions, most parents living in the US do not have to worry about infectious diseases very much, but as we ve shifted away from lifestyles that exposed us to a wide array of microorganisms, from those in the soil to infectious diseases, we ve experienced a shift toward an increase in chronic illnesses. Historically allergies, for example, hay fever, were considered rare. Even as a child in the early 1970s, I was one of the few kids I knew with allergies. In fact, allergies weren t really discussed in the medical literature until the 19 th century in England when urbanization led to hay fever becoming a known entity amongst the upper classes. At that time, the condition was estimated to affect at most about one in 30 people, and because it affected mostly the wealthy (because they didn t get dirty or have much contact with the soil or farm animals, and began to spend increasing amounts of time indoors), it was thus considered a status symbol to be affected! Now seasonal allergies, or hay fever is a household term throughout the US,. Allergic rhinitis is thought to affect as many as 40% of children.

4 The growing rate of allergic and inflammatory conditions in children is alarming. Food allergies now affect 1 in 12 children < 4 (or about 6-8%) with a true food allergy, and about 4% of all American children under 18 years old, or about 3 million kids, with a TRUE food allergy 1:3 with some food sensitivities The CDC reported an 18% increase in kids food allergies since 1990s Celiac disease affects 1 in 133 Americans, 1 in 80 children with celiac/gluten intolerance The rate of peanut allergies has doubled between in UK and US Picking my 3-year old granddaughter up from pre-school recently, I asked her what she had for lunch. She said, Pasta, Biba. I wanted peanut butter and jelly, but I can t have it in school because it can make my friends sick. I felt like crying that the condition is so common that my 3-year old granddaughter would be able to articulate this to me so clearly. It reminded me of when my husband worked as a high school principal. He told me that school nurses from elementary to high school spend about 3 hours per day dispensing medications to kids. And conditions along the allergic spectrum of immune conditions including affect Eczema - affects 1: 5 children; or about 15% of children, and has tripled in industrialized countries in the past 30 years. Asthma is now the most prevalent chronic disease affecting 1 in 8 American children, even more in African-American children, and in some communities, it affects up to 40% of children, leading to 15 million missed days of school per year. The rate in kids increased from 3.6% to 9.4% between 1980 to Autoimmunity has sharply increased in recent years. It s not just the number of kids affected, though this is astonishing, it is the rate of increase that is also concerning. Links between these conditions, for example, an association

5 between food allergies, eczema, and asthma, have been established by the Centers for Disease Control. Additionally, kids are getting sick more often with common infections. For example, the average child in the United States will have up to 20 rounds of antibiotics by the time he or she is 18 years old, mostly for ear infections, strep throat, and bronchitis. While most of this antibiotic use is due to overprescribing, the rate of many of these infections has also gone up. For example, by 2 years old, most kids will have had 2 episodes of otitis media, or a middle ear infection, compared to only 75% of kids having had at least one episode by age 6 just 15 years ago. Most of these infections are viral, however, and do not actually require the antibiotics that are prescribed. More coming on that, soon! Sadly many doctors are taught that this is the new normal A lot of doctors tell parents that their kids will just outgrow or they should just get used to it because there is no real cure Some parents are dismissed when they ask whether there is something more going on can they change their diet, is there something more they can do, can they give their child a supplement to help. But most pediatricians and family doctors are not trained in this kind of medicine and so just tell families, Nope, there s nothing more that can be done. Some doctors at least honestly say, I don t know and are willing to help families look for alternatives and resources, but sadly those are the exception and not the rule. What s common is to give kids medications, surgery for adenoids, tubes in their ears, and even things like steroids. But what s happening in our kids bodies? This is NOT the new normal other than the fact that the word normal means common. But it s definitely not healthy, and it s not normal even in the course of modern human history.

6 As an integrative and functional medicine doctor the number of kids I see with chronic allergic symptoms and immune dysregulation is staggering. Most kids come in these days with a history of allergies, eczema, reactive airway disease or asthma, and a long list of infections for which antibiotics were given - chronic belly aches, digestive system symptoms, sleep problems, and many other symptoms that tell me that something is going on with their mood. Many kids, and in fact a surprising number of them, are coming in with autoimmune conditions to the point that I now specialize in working with families with children who are struggling with chronic conditions. In this course we ll directly tackle the underlying causes of the all of the 4 A s that I mentioned, and through addressing these this may even have an impact on others your kid is struggling with. We ll also address natural strategies for preventing and even reversing these conditions in your children - whenever possible.