Mother’s milk, delayed solids: Food allergy prevention standards, but we can always learn from new data

Mother’s milk, delayed solids: Food allergy prevention standards, but we can always learn from new data

 This month’s issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology has a symposium on food allergy. Until recently it has been recommended that a good strategy to reduce risk of children developing food allergy was to promote exclusive nursing as a food source, to have the mother avoid highly allergenic foods and to delay weaning with introduction of solid foods. However, despite the implementation of this approach in a number of countries in Asia, Europe and North and South…

Read More Read More

Vaccine Research addresses serious worldwide uptick in food allergy

Vaccine Research addresses serious worldwide uptick in food allergy

Another part of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology’s food allergy symposium addressed European research on food vaccines. Impetus for this research is the worldwide increase in food allergy and also the increasing frequency of anaphylactic shock from food allergy. Since vaccine therapy has proven successful in treating respiratory allergies and has also worked to prevent recurrent anaphylaxis from insects, it stands to reason that it could help eliminate food allergy and prevent food-related anaphylaxis. Four types of vaccines…

Read More Read More

Quick Tips – local honey

Quick Tips – local honey

The use of local honey has been recommended as a non-medicinal way of treating allergy.  As it turns out, it can either help or hurt. In order for “local honey” to actually help, it has to be taken in incrementally increasing doses, much the same way an allergy shot is built up. The benefit is extremely modest.  Remember, bees carry entomophilous pollen, whereas anemophilous (airborne) pollen accounts for most allergies. Just using regular amounts of honey on cereal or in…

Read More Read More

Vitamin E really not a ‘bad guy,’ but choose wisely

Vitamin E really not a ‘bad guy,’ but choose wisely

 Do you ever get confused over scientific advice about vitamins and supplements? Join the crowd.Vitamin E is probably a good example of good vitamins that have fallen into disfavor.Actually, vitamin E is still a very important vitamin and we should try to have replete dietary intakes of this vitamin. It turns out that the source of vitamin E is the confounding variable. Vitamin E in supplements is mostly alpha-tocophenol, which blocks the effects of gamma-tocophenol. The alpha-tocophenol vitamin E is…

Read More Read More

Celiac disease control helps thyroid patients absorb meds

Celiac disease control helps thyroid patients absorb meds

 The American Journal of Medicine had an intriguing article about people with difficult-to-regulate thyroid disease. Researchers at the University of Vermont studied patients with hypothyroidism (low-functioning thyroid) who were on thyroid replacement therapy. In many people it is easy to dial in the proper thyroid hormone regimen, but in some this can be very difficult. When the Vermont researchers looked at this latter group they discovered a large number had previously undiagnosed celiac disease. Since celiac disease alters absorption of…

Read More Read More

Dear Doc: Conference topics relate environment to children’s allergies, plus’ traffic cop Tregs’

Dear Doc: Conference topics relate environment to children’s allergies, plus’ traffic cop Tregs’

Dr. Patrick Klemawesch had the opportunity to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology (AAAAI) this month. This is the largest annual allergy conference — four days of lectures, seminars, and presentation of data from researchers and clinicians around the world. Some of the most interesting research presented came from the Cincinnati Allergy and Air Pollution Study. Many studies are currently looking at the effects of people’s surroundings on their development of allergies and…

Read More Read More

Food choices vs. kids’ allergy/asthma:

Food choices vs. kids’ allergy/asthma:

The British Medical Journal recently published the results of a huge international study on allergy termed ISAAC (International Study of Allergies and Asthma in Children). The study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of dietary choices on asthma and allergy. The findings were rather startling. Basically, a healthy diet prevented problems and an unhealthy diet led to problems. There was a very strong preventive benefit from regular consumption of fruits and green vegetables. Both are a rich source of antioxidants…

Read More Read More

Bird Flu Research

Bird Flu Research

Maelstrom in scientific media prompts concernwith precipitous release of bird flu research   Despite warnings from many medical and scientific groups, “New Scientist” recently published the article, “Five easy mutations to make bird flu a lethal pandemic.” Two different research groups have engineered the H5N1 virus which is highly communicable between ferrets (the most reliable animal surrogate for human flu). Should this avian virus “get loose,” it would probably kill 20 percent of the world’s population. Medical and scientific groups had…

Read More Read More

Quick Tips – Pollen and dogs

Quick Tips – Pollen and dogs

Remember that if you open your windows, even briefly, during our clement spring days, it takes 24-36 hours of HVAC circulation to filter the air back to “indoor quality.” To reduce the tracking in of pollen on dog feet, have them dip their paws in a pan of water and dry them off as they return from their “potty sorties.”