The Volcanic dust and ash cloud currently drifting over western Europe from Iceland is unlikely to cause any acute health risk or exacerbate allergies and asthma in the United Kingdom. Volcanic ash contains fine grains that may irritate the airways, as well as associated sulphur gas, but the amount that falls to earth and reaches ambient air [...]
The grass pollen hay fever season is fast approaching and those of you prescribed oral immunotherapy should have now commenced treatment at least 2 months before the summer season kicks off in May. For the rest of us, make sure you start taking antihistamine medication at least for a week before those innocent looking lawns [...]
The Sunday Times newspaper has again produced a masterpiece of investigative journalism (Sunday 21st February 2010) highlighting the frightening number of nonsense allergy and food intolerance tests available in central London. It is amazing that there is no public watchdog to prevent these unvalidated and unscientific allergy tests from being promoted to unsuspecting members of the public [...]
Lactose Intolerance is a deficiency of the digestive enzyme B-galactosidase (Lactase) in the human intestine and a meal containing the cow‘s milk disaccharide sugar lactose (galactose bound to glucose) will induce frothy diarrhoea, flatulence and abdominal cramps. This is caused by undigested lactose passing into the colon where it is hydrolysed by bowel bacteria producing organic [...]
The Staphylococcus Aureus (Staph) skin germ plays a pivotal role in aggravating moderate to severe atopic eczema especially in children. Eczema first occurs in infancy but may persist through childhood into adulthood. Many factors have been implicated in causing and promoting eczema such as our gene makeup (atopy), skin allergy (to dust mites, pet dander [...]
Irritable bowel syndrome otherwise called IBS is a common medical condition affecting the lower bowel in 1 in 5 young adults. Females are especially prone to IBS which presents with one or more of 3 cardinal symptoms: A. Abdominal pain and spasm which eases when emptying the bowels. B. Bloating, fullness on eating and abdominal distension [...]
Although some people have a general aversion to all things Christmas, this is not truly an allergy. But for those genuinely allergic people, the festive season can be a frankly dangerous period. Unprecedented numbers of children have developed nut, fruit and general food allergies in recent years as the allergy pandemic takes hold of our [...]
In the Cincinnati study into Childhood Allergy and Air Pollution, 624 babies and toddlers of allergic parents were assessed and when exposured to a combination of high levels of indoor allergens (such as bacteria from throat infections, house dust mites and mould spores) plus traffic air pollution, this increased their risk of developing wheezing and [...]
Even if allergic to the same food, not all people react to the same protein in the food. There a number of potential allergy provoking proteins found in each food. Cow’s milk allergy sufferers may react to one of five different casein or whey proteins in milk. Hence most casein allergic children react to cheese [...]
More than five million individuals in the UK receive regular treatment for chronic asthma. Many are unsure about when or how to use inhalers, which reduces the effectiveness of their medication and can be a health risk. A leading pharmacy group has developed a service, designed to help patients use long-term prescription drugs correctly. They [...]