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Now there are all sorts of ifs and buts about this, and somebody needs to do studies on lots of different allergies, different genomic variations and so on. But my practice deals with a lot of sufferers from chemical sensitivity, and hardly any of them do not have these kinds of polymorphisms; so I believe (can’t yet say it’s proven) that this mechanism works for chemical sensitivities as well as for classical allergies. I mean how could it not? And at least half of us have some sort of genomic alteration in this area (for the technically-minded, particularly in the genes CYP1A2, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1). We are now able to, and need to, look at health problems in a much more holistic way. For instance, when anybody, but particularly a child, gets lots of low-grade fevers, it’s no longer sensible to view them simply as repeated invasions by evil bugs; they may have just as much to do with the effects of toxic exposures on the system in general, and the immune system in particular. I have come to think that fevers, and sweating in particular, may often be a natural attempt by the body to remove toxins. I’m not saying that you should never relieve symptoms (and small children in particular can get febrile convulsions which can be seriously damaging), but shouldn’t we listen to, respect and support the body and its natural defenses? In tackling any problem in life, the thing you have to do first, without which nothing will really alleviate it, is remove the cause. |
In this circumstance, where you can’t change your genes, this means removing the chemicals from your life. Of course, you can’t do that perfectly, but you can and probably should (this goes even more for kids);
While vegetarians and vegans tend to have better intakes of most essential nutrients than the average person, two potential problems for vegans are intakes of essential fats/oils (which all cells but especially the immune system need), and of vitamin D. Flax seed and hemp seed oils both have a good balance of omega-6 and omega-3, and you might want to think about a supplement. Vitamin D is trickier; you can get enough from the sun in summer provided the weather is reasonable and you get out in the sunshine in the middle of the day, but in winter deficiency is rife. Vitamin D2, ergocalciferol, is the vegan option for supplementation, but it’s a poor substitute for the real thing, vitamin D3, and you would need to take a lot. All the sources of D3 are animal-derived, and if you can’t, or wouldn’t, take a winter sunshine break I’m not sure what to recommend. Perhaps some readers have found solutions to this? |