6 of 2006: Asthma
There is a desperate need (see article below on antibiotics for a start!) for more motivated people to encourage and guide others on the road to health and as much as we have over 600 students who have signed up for the Natural Health (NHN) course many of them are not using the information to help others. If you feel you would like to make a living doing something really worthwhile like helping people dramatically improve the quality of the lives contact Melissa at the details below to do the Natural Health Consulting course.
Why do this course?
The Natural Health & Nutrition course is for people who want to have a solid non commercial foundation in natural health & nutrition
This course does not encourage the use of supplements, drugs or any commercial products; it is not based on what the food industry would like us to consume either. Rather it focuses on how lifestyle and diet can encourage the body to repair and heal itself.
It is our strong belief that you should not have to be wealthy to be healthy and these principles can be applied to the rich and poor alike.
The NHN course will enable you to take responsibility for your health by giving you a basic understanding of nutrition from carbohydrates to vitamins, minerals, proteins, the immune system and the effect food has on emotions and behaviour.
This course is based on the most comprehensive study of nutrition ever conducted, the China Study. (Headed by Dr. T, Colin Campbell Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University) The foundation is scientifically sound with a foundation of independent research and physiology.
Is the course recognized?
This course has been previously approved by both the Technikon Witwatersrand and Tech SA academic boards now part of RAU University and Unisa respectively. The certificate is issued by The Academy of Natural Health.
There is however no world wide governing body that recognizes or approves any non university nutrition or lifestyle course. Anyone telling you their course is recognized needs to be asked, ‘by whom?’
Can you consult with this course?
You can do whatever you like with this course, it is up to you. The law in most countries state that you may not diagnose or prescribe unless you are a medical doctor.
This course is not designed to do either. It is designed to help you pinpoint diet and lifestyle errors they may be affecting your health.
You will however only be recognized as an affiliated “Natural Way” consultant when you have completed the Natural Health Consulting course which is the practical application of the theory in the NHN course.
This is to make sure The Natural Way consultants are all on the same page and committed to a healthy lifestyle. It is essential that these consultants live the lifestyle as we cannot condone hypocrisy.
If you would like a detailed prospectus emailed or faxed to you, contact Barbra on academy@intacademynaturalhealth.com or 021 856 2500
If you have not done the NHN course previously you can now do both at the same time and we have been able to work in a substantial reduction if both are ordered at the same time. Contact Barbara for more details
Interesting stuff
Asthma & antibiotics
Children given antibiotics during the first six months of life are up to 11 times more likely to develop allergies and asthma, warn experts.
Early exposure to the drugs dramatically increases the risk of triggering common allergies including pets, dust mites and hay fever, a study found.
Experts discovered the threat rose with each course of antibiotics given to an infant and for those whose mothers had allergies.
Link: having antibiotics as a baby can trigger asthma
The highest risk was for babies given a broad-spectrum antibiotic, which includes penicillin, while breastfeeding for more than four months also heightened the chances of allergic reaction.
Because antibiotics wipe out both good and bad bugs in the gut, it is thought they may disturb the body's immune programming in the crucial early months of life.
The findings by a team at the Henry Ford Hospital, in Detroit, are unveiled as scientists and child health experts become increasingly concerned over the rising level of medical problems linked to allergic reactions over the last 25 years.
More than a million British children have been diagnosed with asthma, while many thousands more have wheezing problems, allergies and skin rashes caused by eczema.
Senior researcher Dr Christine Cole Johnson said the latest findings were a 'new warning' over the need to restrict the use of antibiotics.
Doctors were now aware of the hazards of antibiotic resistance in fuelling the growth of superbugs, and were cutting down on their use.
'I'm not suggesting children shouldn't receive antibiotics,' said Dr Johnson.
'But I believe we need to be more prudent in prescribing them at such an early age.
'In the past many of the drugs were prescribed unnecessarily, especially for viral infections such as colds or flu when they would have had no effect anyway.'
Researchers studied 448 children from birth to the age of seven - 50 per cent of whom had received antibiotics in the first six months of life. Half had been given more than one course.
The team took into account the type of antibiotic prescribed, whether the children had pets, the period of breastfeeding and the mother's history of allergies.
They found that by the age of seven, youngsters who had been given at least one antibiotic in the first six months of life were 1.5 times more likely to develop allergies than those who did not have drugs and 2.5 times more likely to develop asthma.
The risk was even higher for children who lived with fewer than two pets - thought to protect youngsters against developing allergies.
Children on antibiotics whose mothers suffered from allergies had double the risk of developing them, and those breast-fed for more than four months were three times more at risk.
The risk was a massive 11-fold for children who received broad-spectrum antibiotics, were breast-fed for four months and did not have any pets, Dr Johnson told the European Respiratory Society's annual conference in Vienna yesterday.
She said 'The results of our prospective birth study suggest that antibiotic use is a risk factor for allergy in children, particularly those who already have other risk factors.
'What's more, the increased risk is proportionate to the number of courses of antibiotics given.
'Three courses in the first six months mean that the risk is multiplied by five for a child who did not have much contact with animals and was breast-fed for a long time.'
Antibiotics had an extra damaging effect in children who had inherited a predisposition to allergies or had not benefited from protective factors.
Dr Johnson, a senior epidemiologist, said the most likely reason was changes in bacteria in the gut.
A spokesman for the National Asthma Campaign said: 'Studies looking at the relationship between the development of asthma and allergies in children who have received antibiotics at an early age, as well as the effects of when women have taken antibiotics while pregnant, have been inconclusive.
'Whilst this is an interesting study, further research is needed to understand the complexities of the relationship between these factors.'
Modern eating habits may be one of the main causes of the huge rise in asthma that has left one in five children with the disease.
The wrong diet, including those with low amounts of fresh fruit and vegetables, can lead to an eightfold increase in the risk of asthma, say researchers.
Britain has some of the highest rates of asthma in Europe, and latest research shows that teenagers here have the highest rates of severe wheezing in the world.
But although asthma has reached epidemic proportions, doctors are still not sure what causes it or why it is increasing at such an alarming rate.
For years, pollution took much of the blame, and a huge number of suspects ranging from car exhausts, the weather and cigarettes, to dust mites, antibiotics, and homes that are too clean, have been investigated.
But our children's eating habits are now fast emerging as a prime suspect. Increasing evidence suggests that a poor diet, especially one low in antioxidant and vitamin content, could be implicated.
'I think diet is the factor that has made the biggest contribution to increased asthma in wealthier countries. I can't see anything else that has changed that could have had this effect,' says Professor Anthony Seaton, of the University of Aberdeen, who has been carrying out diet and asthma research work with 2,000 pregnant women and their babies.
Each year in Britain there are 1,500 deaths from asthma and 74,000 hospital casualty attendances. Over the past three years the number of asthma sufferers has increased from 3.7 million to 5.1 million.
Asthma is a disease of the lungs and of the air tubes leading to them. It causes the walls of the bronchioles, the tiny airways in the lungs, to swell and produce mucus so that it becomes difficult to breathe.
It is thought some people have a genetic susceptibility but that environmental triggers are also needed to turn the inherited risk into real disease.
The European Community Respiratory Health Survey of 22 countries shows that the highest rates are in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., while the lowest are in the Mediterranean countries, Eastern Europe, and India.
'The fact that we can show geographical variations suggests differences are due to environmental factors, not only pollution, but also the food people eat and the way they live,' says Dr Christer Janson who led the study.
How a Chinese silkworm has the power to ease my asthma
by MARTYN HALLE, Daily Mail 16:04pm 12th November 2002.
When keen athlete Stephen Kershaw was laid low by a bad bout of asthma he sought help from a treatment using the Chinese silkworm.
Scientists have recently discovered that the tiny creature produces a unique enzyme which has an anti-inflammatory action.
Despite taking antibiotics and oral steroids, the 18-year-old A-level student was unable to shake off a bug that had exacerbated his asthma and had been forced to abandon his regular visits to the gym.
And in case you all think I have totally lost my mind; I do not think a silk worm can help you! This type of article is just so typical as people are desperate for a cure and looking to take something instead of changing their lifestyles and diet. My personal observation is that parents that give children antibiotics are unaware of the roll diet plays in asthma and that when the diet is changed and the parents are made aware of the side effects on the immune system of antibiotics, that the child gets well and stays well until the offending foods are re introduced.
The main dietary causes which would encourage the use of antibiotics are
1. Preservatives (especially Sulphur dioxide and sodium benzoate)
2. Dairy products (including yoghurt and cheese)
3. Gluten intolerance
4. Lack of essential fatty acids in particularly Omega 3 found in dark green leafy vegetables (taking Barleylife is very convenient here) and flax oil (like Millbrook and Aimega)
5. Lack of fresh fruit and vegetables
Following The Natural Way 5 steps would cover the fruit and veg base and taking Barleylife and flax oil daily with maybe fresh carrot juice or Just Carrots (dried carrot juice) excluding preservatives and dairy and possibly gluten would go a long way to getting rid of asthma or breathing problems.
For more info on this read ‘The Natural Way” and “Healthy Kids” Or order Digimag # 8 where I discuss this issue in great detail.
Digimag
The Digimag is a monthly DVD sent out directly to you which is designed to encourage and help you in your quest for a healthier lifestyle.
Every month we do 2-4 recipes showing just how much fun and how easy it is to eat healthier, we interview someone who has befitted from a change in diet, we cover a talk topic and we have one other article of interest. This is designed in such a way that it answers many of your questions and some that you had not even thought about.
We would love to focus on what you want so please feel free to send us the recipes or topics you would like us to cover in 2006. We are trying to make it more fun and easier to help you get healthy.
If you want to find out more about subscribing to our monthly DVD “Digimag” go to www.mary-anns.com) You can always share the cost with a friend and it makes a great gift to a health conscious friend.
P.S. Remember that that as a DVD subscriber you are entitled to a discount on our products if you order directly from our warehouse.
Thought for the week
Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth and sell it not; not only that, but also get discernment and judgement, instruction and understanding.
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