Thomson Healthcare, Inc.
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 Dizziness, headache, skin irritation, or allergic reactions are possible; rashes, itching, occasional swelling of the face, breathing difficulties, dizziness and a drop in blood pressure have been observed after administration of preparations containing Echinacea.
Dermatological: Erythema, exanthema, and pruritus have been reported in isolated cases following topical application of Echinacea (Fachinfo Resistan, 1996; Taylor et al, 2003). |
Dr Ron Roberts
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 A full blood examination (FBE) will reveal possible allergic reactions (if a particular type of white blood cell is present in greater than normal numbers) and further RAST blood tests (radio-allergosorbent test or radio-allergenic sensitivity test) identify individual allergies. RAST measures the specific antibodies in the blood serum to a particular allergen and is often used in place of skin testing. Sputum discoloration can be caused by asthma or be the result of an infection or allergy so a sputum analysis may be carried out. |
| An essential fatty acid deficiency can cause an imbalance of prostaglandins, substances that regulate immune cell activity and thus control inflammation and allergic reactions, both of which play a part in asthma. Disorders such as depressed immunity, eczema, poor healing of wounds, cardiovascular abnormalities and PMT have all been associated with EFA deficiencies.
Cold-pressed sunflower, safflower, linseed and soya oils, salmon, herring and mackerel or fish oil supplements and evening primrose oil are good dietary sources of EFAs. |
| Although evidence is not yet clear, it appears that some people can have severe allergic reactions to it and several deaths have been reported. Asthmatics tend to be allergic. Be extremely cautious if considering royal jelly as a supplement and introduce it slowly.
Royal jelly is mainly prepared in a liquid form within a small capsule and taken daily.
Food Allergies and Additives
Asthma can be triggered by what you eat, so be careful, and be aware of the ingredients in your food.
Why do substances cause allergy, and asthma, in some people, but others are unharmed by eating them? |
| Severe illnesses such as allergic reactions, hay fever, asthma attacks and repeated respiratory infections plague employees of badly ventilated offices, and absenteeism impairs productivity for the employer and industry in general.
In many situations, the major culprit is inefficient air conditioning. Poorly planned installations do not allow effective access to areas that need to be kept clean and dry to prevent them becoming a breeding ground for fungi and bacteria. Often the air is contaminated due to badly situated intakes being affected by car emissions from the carpark. |
| All the stress of fighting asthma can increase the frequency and severity of allergic reactions.
Every asthmatic has individual triggers which they need to clearly identify so they can be eliminated, treated or just avoided. You can track down your own allergies by simply keeping a diary of how substances, environments or activities influence your asthma. Most trigger factors will cause symptoms almost immediately?within 30 minutes or so. You might, for instance, start to wheeze shortly after vacuuming the house, gardening, exercising, wearing a particular perfume or drinking a glass of wine. |
| Kinesiologists believe that allergic reactions to nutrients and chemicals affect, among other things, the way our muscles work and their response to testing. Various allergies respond extremely well to applied kinesiology (and asthma has an allergic basis in many cases), but you should take into account that the kinesi-ologist may be recommending changes in lifestyle, such as reducing stress, improving your diet or taking supplements, that will also be having an effect on the allergy.
The muscle testing is painless. |
Lester A. Mitscher and Victoria Toews
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 Although symptoms can manifest in many parts of the body; skin irritations, rashes, and swelling are common indications of allergic reactions. Green tea can help alleviate such allergy symptoms in several ways: by reducing inflammation, inhibiting the release of histamine from cells, and lessening the release of other allergy-mediated chemicals in the body.8
Some women may recall hosting "tea parties" as young girls. The research indicates that continuing this tradition—with green tea—might be a good idea for supporting the health and beauty of most adult women. |
Paula Begoun and Bryan Barron
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 The main fragrance component of this oil is Iinalool, which can cause allergic reactions and make skin more sensitive to sunlight (Source: Herbal Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Medpharm GmbH Scientific Publishers, 1994).
© Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 15 ($35 for 1.7 ounces) lacks the UVA-protecting ingredients of titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, avobenzone, Tinosotb, or Mexoryl SX, and is not recommended.
© Eight Hour Cream Skin Protectant ($16for 1.7ounces) lands on many fashion magazines' "best of beauty" lists for its long-standing history and versatility. |
J. Douglas Bremner
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 More serious but more rare side effects include blurred vision, ringing in the ears, difficulty hearing, seizures, mood changes, bruising, and allergic reactions.
MEFLOQUINE
Mefloquine (Lariam), a drug commonly used for malaria prophylaxis, has a number of neurological side effects, including dizziness (96%), nausea (82%), and headache (73%). This drug has also been associated with an increase in psychiatric symptoms in 11% to 35% of patients. |
Jeffrey M. Smith
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 Filipinos in at least five villages fell sick when nearby Bt corn was pollinating and hundreds of laborers in India report allergic reactions from handling Bt cotton. Soy allergies skyrocketed by 50% in the United Kingdom, soon after genetically engineered soy was introduced; and one human subject out of the few tested showed a skin prick allergic-type reaction to GM soy, but not to natural soy. In the 1980s, a GM food supplement killed about one hundred Americans and caused sickness and disability in another five to ten thousand people. |
Stacy Malkan
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 Once sensitized to an ingredient, a person can remain so for a lifetime, enduring allergic reactions with every subsequent exposure.
As far back as 1986, the US National Academy of Sciences identified fragrance ingredients as one of six categories of neurotoxins (chemicals
Sick of Scents
People tell her fragrance is a personal choice, but Carolyn Wysocki doesn't buy it. "They used to say smoking was a personal choice too. But if someone is smoking next to you or wearing fragrance next to you, you don't have a choice," said the psychologist and mother of four. |
Craig Pepin-Donat
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 Allergic reactions are also a major consideration for people who take supplements.
Even with common vitamins where positive empirical evidence exists, proper dosage is impossible to gauge because of the food industry fortification program where vitamins and minerals are added to processed foods like cereals, milk products and thousands of other non-organic foodstuffs. You never really know how much of a vitamin or supplement you are getting. |
Donna Jackson Nakazawa
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 IgE allergic reactions are immediate; after being exposed to the food, your body quickly overproduces what is called immunoglobulin E antibodies, or IgE. You begin to experience fairly immediate symptoms—tingling of the extremities, wheezing, coughing, tightening of the throat, nausea, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea—within hours of having ingested the food. |
| THE ALLERGY CONNECTION—AND WHY EVEN THOSE WITHOUT A GENETIC PREDISPOSTION TO AUTOIMMUNITY ARE NOW AT RISK
Ironically the Tim-3 gene turns out to sit in a location where no scientist would ever have dreamed to look: smack on the chromosome that determines certain types of allergic reactions. Finding the Tim-3 gene on this spot completely shocked researchers, says Fair-weather. "At first they were confused; what was the Tim-3 gene, involved in autoimmunity, doing on the allergy gene?"
As it turns out, this makes complete sense. |
| In fact, in one new study at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center and the University of Washington, researchers found that allergic reactions may contribute to the triggering of autoimmune diseases, though they are not yet sure of the mechanism by which this occurs. Studies confirm that for some patients with rheumatoid arthritis, food sensitivities worsen their symptoms, and avoidance of these foods helps their symptoms to abate. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Some release skin-damaging free radicals in sunlight, some act like estrogen and could disrupt hormone systems, several are strongly linked to allergic reactions, and still others may build up in the body or the environment. FDA has not established rigorous safety standards for sunscreen ingredients.
After 29 years of debate, the government has failed to set mandatory sunscreen safety standards. Companies are free to make their own decisions on everything from advertising claims to product quality. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Anti-inflammatory anthocyanins can help dampen allergic reactions as well as help protect against the damage to connective tissue and blood vessel walls that inflammation can cause.
Sauerkraut is also a high-fiber food with a ridiculously low number of calories—1 cup of undrained sauerkraut provides almost 6 g of fiber for only 45 calories. It also has 150 percent of the Daily Value for the vitally important bone-building nutrient vitamin K, not to mention generous amounts of calcium, vitamin C, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Inflammation is common in allergic reactions, and MSM can help with both environmental allergens like hay fever and food allergies.
A 2002 study in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine posted impressive results—upper and total respiratory symptoms were reduced significantly with the use of MSM. Lower respiratory symptoms were also significantly improved. And as a bonus, energy levels increased.
Sulfur is also a constituent of glutathione, arguably the most important and abundant intracellular antioxidant in the body. This makes MSM a great detoxifier. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| Anti-inflammatory anthocyanins can help dampen allergic reactions as well as help protect against the damage to connective tissue and blood vessel walls that inflammation can cause.
On top of all its phytochemical power, cabbage is a darn good source of everyday vitamins and minerals. It contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin K, beta-carotene, and even a little of the eye-healthy carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin. And let's not forget the fiber. One cup of the cooked stuff gives you almost 4 g of fiber (one cup raw gives you 2 g). |
Paula Begoun and Bryan Barron
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| Hypoallergenic or Good for Sensitive Skin: These terms suggest to the consumer that the product is less likely to cause allergic reactions or skin sensitivities. However, there are no standard testing restrictions or regulations for determining whether a product qualifies as meeting this claim. A company can label their product as "hypoallergenic" or "good for sensitive skin" without providing any substantiation for the claim. This is also true for terms such as "dermatologist-tested," "sensitivity tested," "allergy tested," or "nonirritating. |
Jeffrey M. Smith
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| The concern was that the properties of StarLink's GM protein may trigger allergic reactions. But even with a recall affecting more than three hundred brands and a major disruption of US corn exports, the investigation mounted by the FDA to determine whether the food was allergenic was miserable.
The agency established only a passive monitoring system, contacting and testing only the tiny percentage of affected people who filed formal complaints with them. |
| Measure
Function
Might indicate
Comments
Increased basophil
counts
Creates histamine
Allergic reaction
Other Bt corn studies suggest possible allergic reactions.
Increased lymphocytes and white blood cells
Immune reactions to fight infections, etc.
Infections, various toxins, and diseases
Researchers omitted tests to see if the spleen, which creates lymphocytes, was affected.
Decreased reticulocytes
Becomes
mature erythrocytes (red blood cells)
Anemia
5% variability is allowable. Astoundingly, Monsanto claimed a 52% decrease was "attributable to normal biological variability. |
| If protein digestion is inhibited, (which may occur with reduced zymogens), it may increase the chance of allergic reactions to protein fragments. The pancreas may also be forced to produce and excrete more protein digesting enzymes, which might put undue pressure on the organ.
CC T n the testes of young and JL adult mice fed on GM soybeans, both spermatocytes (precursors of sperm cells) and Sertoli cells (their nurse cells) show reduced nuclear activity, especially RNA production. Structures involved in lipid metabolism and detoxification are also enlarged in Sertoli cells. |
| This suggests, for example, that 5/-toxin might make a person more susceptible to allergic reactions from a wide range of substances. These studies administered the 5/-toxin (CrylAc protoxin and toxin) by injection (intraperitoneally) and ingestion (intragastrically). In another study, Bt exposure via the nose and rectum induced antibody responses ("IgM, IgG, and IgA in all the mucosal surfaces analyzed").40
Expert advisors to the EPA said that the mouse and farm worker studies above "suggest that Bt proteins could act as antigenic and allergenic sources.... |
Hyla Cass, M.D.
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 Cautions: It may cause allergic reactions, rashes, gastrointestinal upset, or sun sensitivity in some people. It can cause anxiety or insomnia if taken too close to bedtime. It can reduce the potency of digoxin (a heart medication, see Chapter 8), protease inhibitors (taken as treatment for AIDS, see Chapter 8) or cyclosporin (an immunosuppressant taken by organ transplant patients), or even birth control pills (see also, Chapter 8). Not recommended for use during pregnancy or nursing. |
| They can be used short-term for acute conditions such as poison ivy or other allergic reactions, and this doesn't pose risk of nutrient depletions. Long-term use is another story.
These medications, when truly needed, can be lifesaving, but taking them over long periods does pose substantial risk. They are used long-term for autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and lupus to reduce inflammation. |
Dr. Edward F. Group III, DC, ND, DACBN
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| EXAMPLES OF BULK-FORMING LAXATIVES Psyllium: Metamucil® Psyllium Fiber66 Guar Gum: Benefiber®67 Methyl Cellulose: Citrucel®68
There have been numerous reports of serious allergic reactions following the ingestion of psyllium products. These reactions include labored breathing, skin irritations or hives, and potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis.69 Long-term use of products containing psyllium may also negatively affect absorption of certain essential vitamins and minerals such as iron. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| Note: allergic reactions to bee pollen have been reported. All bee products are contraindicated in anyone allergic or hypersensitive to pollens.
In fact, they even figured out the risk-reduction contribution of each of the individual foods; the actual percentage of reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease from eating 100 g a day of cocoa-rich chocolate (about which more in a moment) turned out to be a pretty impressive 21 percent. |
Andreas Moritz
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 It may also trigger unforeseeable, life-threatening allergic reactions. In patients undergoing major abdominal surgery, blood transfusion is the dominant contributing factor to organ system failure. It is more and more obvious that neither a blood transfusion nor "pure" foreign blood is safe.
The Alternatives
Clear evidence has shown that a person's red blood cell count is not as important as his total circulating volume of fluid. With a high volume, your body can speed up the flow of even a low red blood cell count. |
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