I was watching a show about the human body on tv last night and there was one segment on asthma. Now they were talking about the extremely high rate of asthma in children in 'developed countries'. That's the term they used.

Now I'm wondering whether that is caused by the types of foods we eat and general diet which include foods which are not good for us generally but also foods to which we too often become allergic. Does it mean that the children in the "undeveloped" countries don't have asthma for that reason or what?

There's also been a lot in our news in Australia this past week about our trend towards over cleanliness and how that's actually seriously impacting the health of our children.

Any thoughts from you all about this trend regarding cleanliness and the asthma rates in some of our nations? Are the two connected and what else is there in the mix (like immunisations or other things) to make our rate of asthma so high.

thanks...

I don't think that is a weird question at all. I have thought for sometime, prior to my research here, that Asthma and allergies were more than likely caused by these foods that are questionable.

I think that low essential fatty acid intake during pregnancy and high consumption of trans fats leads to more asthma.

The phosholipids that line the airways come from good fats.

Second hand smoke is also implicated before and after birth.
It was very depressing for me to work for several years at an HMO clinic and
see 2 month old infants with severe asthma already.

And now there are hints that high glucose/high index carb intakes by pregnant women lead to impaired fatty acid utilization in the fetus.

It is a pretty complex situation. There are probably several poor life style habits responsible.

Thanks Robin and mrsd.

Yes, diet makes sense totally and smoking is a being shown more and more with various conditions to be a huge factor.

I can understand the diet more than I can with the over-cleanliness I guess. It's such an automatic (isn't it?) reaction to keep house spotless when there's a baby or toddler.

I think the ratio a few years ago here in Australia was 1 in 3 with childhood asthma. I think a bit of it here is to do with the terrain, where we mostly live on the green coastal belt of our nation but the winds blow in from the dry arid outback bringing not just dust but all that pollen as well. We're all really so overfed yet undernourished

Thanks for your replies.

Good to see you back, mrsd!

I got rid of both my asthma meds by eliminating *all* gluten from my diet.

Eliminating dairy got rid of that last bit of chest tightness I was experiencing (though it wasn't bad enough to require medication or stop me from running or anything).

Hi Lara I am also both Australian and asthmatic. I have various allergies and I think your question is valid.
Asthma is a inflammatory disease that affects the airways. However I have noticed that during the acute stages, mine is also triggered by intestinal distress. My husband also noticed that an attack was followed by a massive bowel elimination following a period of constipation. I get migraines too, which are triggered by foods and bright lights.
Asthma has been linked with food disorders and I had my first allergy test over 50 years ago. Now with the constant tinkering with the food chain we are seeing more cases than ever before.