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Asthma Sufferers at Greater Risk for Allergic Shock
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ASTHMA ALLERGIES HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL
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Asthma, even a mild form, is the single most important factor that
increases the risk of death from anaphylaxis (allergic shock), says a
new report from Harvard Medical School, What To Do About Allergies.
Newswise - Asthma, even a mild form, is the single most important
factor that increases the risk of death from anaphylaxis (allergic
shock), says a new report from Harvard Medical School, What To Do
About Allergies.
Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction affecting the entire body. It
ranges from relatively mild to life-threatening. In the United States,
anaphylaxis is responsible for somewhere between 500 and 1,000 deaths
each year, mainly of children and adolescents. Peanuts and tree nuts
(such as walnuts) appear to be the prime culprits and account for most
of the deaths from anaphylaxis in children.
A person experiencing anaphylaxis may first feel flushed, sneeze,
itch, and develop hives, nasal congestion, and watery red eyes.
Symptoms then progress to difficulty breathing and swelling of the
throat and tongue, which is sometimes associated with nausea,
vomiting, and diarrhea. Next blood pressure may drop, followed by
fainting or loss of consciousness, shock, and-without swift treatment-
death.
Those at risk for anaphylaxis should carry epinephrine (adrenaline)
with them at all times. This advice is especially true for people who
have both asthma and a food allergy. Epinephrine is available by
prescription in an autoinjector device. In one study, anaphylaxis
deaths in children were associated with late administration of
epinephrine and coexisting asthma.
If you treat anaphylaxis symptoms with epinephrine, you still need to
go immediately to the emergency room. A systemic (bodywide) reaction
may repeat several times. An autoinjector device is only a stopgap
measure.
What To Do About Allergies was edited by Mariana C. Castells, M.D.,
Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and
Associate Director of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology Training
Program at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Also covered in this 48-page report:
· What is an allergic reaction?
· How to pinpoint your allergic triggers
· New allergy treatments
· What you can do to help your allergies
What To Do About Allergies is available for $16 from Harvard Health
Publications, the publishing division of Harvard Medical School. Order
it online at http://www.health.harvard.edu/ALL or by calling 1-877-649-
9457 (toll free).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allergies, Autism Linked To Excess Dietary Iron
U. Padhye
Abstract
Autism and other closely related disorders under Pervasive
Developmental
Disorder (PDD) umbrella have grown exponentially in past 30 years in
the
United States. During the same period of time Iron consumed by
infants
rose exponentially. This research sheds the light on connection
between
increased iron consumption and autoimmune disorders such as
Allergies,
Eczema, Asthma, Autism and PDD disorders.
Introduction
Autism is a profoundly and poorly understood developmental disorder
that
impairs a person's social and communication abilities. Autism and
other
closely related disorders under Pervasive Developmental Disorder
(PDD)
umbrella have grown exponentially in past 30 years. California alone
has
reported 273% increase in the number of persons with autism between
1987
and 1998 and nearly 2000% percent increase in the PDD category.1
Other
childhood disorders such as asthma and allergies are also on rise.
During
the same period of time Iron consumed by infants rose exponentially.
Excess iron can produce differing symptoms ranging from colic,
constipation, diarrhea, eczema to PDD disorders. Following case study
reports results of growth and development of our son from birth to 4
years of age and our daughter from birth to 2 years of age. Previous
study by Singh et al have shown connection between autoimmunity and
autism.2 In this study we have tried to explain the critical role of
iron
in immune response and its implications on nervous system.
Case Study
At one month of age my son was extremely irritable, itchy, could not
sleep well and had rash all over his body and woke up at night with
extremely laud cry. Since birth he was breast and formula fed. As he
grew
older his skin became extremely dry and itchy and was diagnosed with
atopic dermatitis at the age of 2 months. By the age of one year his
eczema was limited to hands and legs and dark itchy circles under the
eyes. His stools were semi-solid till the age on 3 years and then he
started having irritable-bowel syndrome. By three years of age he had
several incidences of viral infections, had mild asthma and had two
incidences of febrile seizures with high fever. His immune system
reacted
violently to infections with very high rising fever. He had above
normal
language and motor skill development but had obsessive behavior, was
withdrawn with poor eye contact, aversion to touch and poor social
skills.
My daughter was exclusively breast fed until 4 months of age after
and
then we started giving her combination of breast milk and whey based
infant formula. Just within a week of starting this formula she
started
developing atopic dermatitis. She was extremely itchy and irritated
and
would bleed herself if left unattended. Her skin was dry and inflamed
and
she would scratched continuously all day. We tried several different
of
formula that exists in the market (soy based, lactose free,
hydrolyzed)
without any results. By the age of six months she was fed iron
fortified
rice cereal and whey based infant formula. By the age of 2 years she
had
delayed development and speech.
In our quest to cure the children we started experimenting with their
diet and nutrients. We found out that both of them had undetected
food
allergies, they were allergic to most protein rich food (milk, wheat,
peas, peanuts, eggs. etc). Whenever my daughter touched any allergic
food
the part of the body, which came in contact, got hot and
inflamed.
Nearing age of one year, I gave her a single dose of 5mg of Iron.
This
aggravated her symptoms and made life miserable for several days.
After
trying the experiment several times on both kids, we found out that
excess iron in their diet was the root cause behind these allergies
and
intense immune responses. The hypothesis is that the allergic
individuals
have a fragile iron metabolism that gets easily overloaded by excess
dietary iron. This excess iron increases the immune response to very
intense levels and the immune system starts vigorously attacking food
protein and in the process damages the surrounding tissue. The blood
gets
warm since the immune system is continuously attacking food protein.
Without excess iron these immune responses to allergens would have
gone
unnoticed. Once the immune system is hyperactive, it is difficult to
calm
it down to normal levels. The treatment should include reducing
dietary
iron and eliminating allergens at the same time over several months.
It
is interesting to note that both the children have low blood
hemoglobin
(less than 10 gm/dl). It has also been reported that autistic
individuals
have low levels of ferritin 3, this suggests that the excess iron is
not
getting stored as hemoglobin or ferritin.
We learned that vitamin B6 was very effective in calming this immune
response. Nearing age of two years I gave a single dose of 25mg of
vitamin B6 to my daughter, this aggravated the symptoms but with in
few
days her symptoms improved and she started talking few words. I
started
giving vitamin B6 (10mg) dose once in two weeks to both children.
After
few days of giving B6 they would typically catch a respiratory
infection,
this was because B6 suppressed their immune system and made them more
susceptible to infections. We noticed that vitamin B6 affects the
immune
system in opposing way to iron, and suppresses the immune system.
Overloading the fragile metabolism with excess B6 proved to a bad
idea.
After experimentation I reduced the dose to 1mg and after a single
dose I
allowed several weeks for body to catch up and heal before repeating
the
dose. Several other studies have shown that vitamin B6 has positive
results in autistic individual and helps calming violent behavior.4
At present both the children are on low iron (3mg/day) and low
allergen
diet. We eliminated protein rich food and only allow rice, fruits and
vegetables and hydrolyzed formula. The allergies and other symptoms
have
improved dramatically, they are more energetic and less irritable and
my
daughter has started speaking sentences.
Discussion
Mothers milk contains 0.3 to 0.5mg/L of iron, assuming that 50% of
this
iron gets absorbed, a typical breast fed infant would get 0.15 to
0.25mg
of iron. It has been observed that some term infants who are
exclusively
breast-fed may remain iron-sufficient until 9 months of age.5 Typical
infant formulas contain 12mg/L of iron and Iron-fortified cereals
contain
approximately 30 to 50 mg per 100 g of cereal. Allergic infants have
more
permeable gut and absorption rates could be much higher than
previously
estimated. Most of the readily available fruit juices are fortified
with
Vitamin C, which further helps Iron absorption. Thus a typical infant
gets several times more iron than what mother nature intended it to
be
for optimum development. In addition parents give supplemental
vitamins
and iron. Previous studies have shown that 50% of children less than
two
years of age in the United States receive multivitamins and mineral
supplementation.6 PARENTS magazine advises parents that it is
reasonable
to give children a vitamin and mineral supplement three or four times
weekly, particularly if they are finicky eaters.7
The decreased incidence of iron deficiency anemia in the United
States
since 1969 has been attributed to the increased and longer use of
iron-fortified formulas, an increase in breast-feeding and the use of
iron-fortified infant cereals.8,9 Per capita consumption of iron
in
the U.S. has been on the rise ever since 1960's and has increased
nearly
90% in past 30 years.10 This excess Iron produces intense autoimmune
reactions that responsible for variety of developmental
disorders.
The relationship between iron, Vitamin B6, Allergic food and brain
function is shown in figure 1. The hypothesis is that in genetically
predisposed individuals, the immune system is continuously attacking
allergic proteins mostly from food sources. At low levels of iron the
immune response is low and the immune system takes its time to remove
the
allergic protein that migrate into various organs including brain.
This
is the classic anemic condition and mind is feeble and less
confidant.
The mind gets easily confused and dizzy especially after eating
gluten,
casein and other protein rich foods. As the levels of dietary iron
increases, the immune function starts vigorously attacking food
protein
and the confusion, dizziness goes away and mind becomes more alert
and
confident. This is the optimum level of performance for that
individual.
As the iron levels go up even more the immune reactions get more
violent
and the mind gets angry, violent and hyperactive. These violent
reactions
are the root cause of nerve damage. Once the levels of stored iron
are
high eliminating dietary Iron anole will not show immediate results.
In
order to see any significant results the person should be on low iron
and
low allergen diet for several months along with Vitamin B6 to
suppress
the immune reactions. We recommend that mass medication of the
population
with excessive nutrients in not suitable to all individuals and the
practice for fortification of infant food should be immediately
stopped.
Referances
1. Changes in the population of persons with Autism and Pervasive
Developmental Disorders in California's Developmental Service System:
1987 through 1998: A report to legislature, 1999, Department of
developmental services.
2. Vijendra K. Singh, Sheren X. Lin, and Victor C. Yang,
"Serological Association of Measles Virus and Human
Herpesvirus-6
with Brain Autoantibodies in Autism," Clinical Immunology and
Immunopathology, Oct 1998, Vol. 89, No. 1, p 105-108.
3. A. Latif, P. Heinz, R. Cook et al: Iron deficiency in autism and
Asperger syndrome. The International Journal of Research and
Practice,
Volume 06 Issue 01, 2002.
4. Bernard Rimland: Vitamin B6 (and magnesium) in the treatment of
autism. Autism Research Review International, Vol. 1 (4), 1987.
5. Siimes MA, Salmenpera L, Perheentupa J: Exclusive breast feeding
for
nine months: a risk
of iron deficiency. J Pediatr 1984; 104:
196-199
6.Looker AC, Sempos CT, Johnson CL et al. Comparison of dietary
intakes
and iron status of vitamin-mineral supplement users and nonusers,
aged
1-19 years. Am J Clin Nutr 1987;46:665-72.
7. Anon. Parents Magazine. July 1995.
8.Yip R, Binkin NJ, Fleshood L et al: Declining prevalence of anemia
among low-income
children in the United States. JAMA 1987;
258:
1619-1623
9.Yip R, Walsh KM, Goldfarb MG et al: Declining prevalence of anemia
in
childhood in a
middle-class setting: A pediatric success
story?
Pediatrics 1987; 80: 330-334
10. Nutrition Insight: The U.S. Food supply series and dietary
guidance,
Nov. 1998
[IMAGE]
Treatment
Remove wheat, milk products from diet. We suggest a low Allergen and
low
Iron (1mg/day) diet. A strict diet of rice and vegetable for several
months gives the best results. Give Vitamin B6 (2mg/day) dose once a
week.
Suggestions
In order to prevent the epidemic of Autism/Allergies and other immune
related disorders FDA should ban fortification of food with Iron
[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
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