Food Allergies on the Rise in US kids

[Chemar]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_..._food_allergies

[lurker]

Cheri,

 

My kids go to the local public school. In my son's kindergarden class of 19, there are three asthmatics; 8 with dietary restrictions (three of which are kosher), leaving one vegan and four with food allergies, one of which carries an Epi-pen; three are on the "spectrum;" several more have obvious attention issues; and my son has occassional tics.

 

Was this always the case? You know, before we labeled everything. Were they just sniffly, odd, busy kids -- some with "little habits" or is it escalating? Sorry to rant, but I honestly can't decide if kids are getting more pathologic, or we are just more judgemental and willing to label?

 

Any thoughts?

[Caryn]

I think we are more educated now, for one thing, so kids are getting identified. Look at the increase in Autism, for example. It used to be 1 in what was it? 1,000? Now its, what, 100?

 

When I look back at my childhood I had a lot of the same digestive symptoms that my son had. I also had a histamine problem and the standard treatment was oral allergy tablets when it got bad and antibiotics when I got infected.

But my mom cooked dinner every night and we hardly ate out (70s, times were tough). We ate whole foods and drank either milk or water (mostly water, juice cost too much.) I never knew what pop tasted like until probably junior high. Seriously. Not because my parents were into healthy eating, because the cost of a case of Coke.

I think our food supply has gotten worse in the last 40 years, and this is causing folks to eat a diet much higher in acidic foods. We also eat a lot of restaurant fare and junk foods as snacks. The highly acidic stuff is less nutritious and can cause infections, etc.... to keep cropping up. Also, I think the genetically modified stuff is a problem too-- wheat now has a much higher gluten content then it once did. And of course we have become the corn nation too, since the sixties. Then there's the whole theory that a less than healthy mother will produce an unwell child.... so generationally, if this trend continues there should be more Autism in 20 years than there is now---

 

Just musings.

[guy123]

Cheri,

 

My kids go to the local public school. In my son's kindergarden class of 19, there are three asthmatics; 8 with dietary restrictions (three of which are kosher), leaving one vegan and four with food allergies, one of which carries an Epi-pen; three are on the "spectrum;" several more have obvious attention issues; and my son has occassional tics.

 

There's a vegan in your son's KINDERGARTEN CLASS?

 

That's child abuse.

 

Little kids are growing machines! They need protein like crazy!!! I mean real protein, not soy protein (especially if they are male), not incomplete pasta protein (which doesn't even count because your body doesn't use it unless you mix the right foods together), not low bioavailability peanut protein, but real, actual animal flesh protein and milk (unless they're lactose intolerant). And eggs.

 

It's one thing if adults want to be vegan, but there is no way a child, much less a kindergartener should be.

 

btw I've never met a healthy vegan. A lot of them think they're healthy, but they're not. They're all slowly starving themselves to death as they atrophy and waste away.

[EAMom]

One theory re. the rise of autism/allergies:

http://www.grc.nia.nih.gov/branches/rrb/dna/pubs/aaihh.pdf

 

guy123...I do agree that a vegan diet is too restrictive for a child, esp. if dairy (milk, cheese, eggs) is not allowed. And maybe someone should also explain to these people that all pacific salmon die after spawning anyway.