Lesson on TATAKalikasan, Ateneo de Manila University
87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, every Thursday 11 to 12 a.m.
Second session, September 21, 2023
In Observance of World Allergy Day, July 8, 2023
The theme for 2023 is managing allergic diseases amidst climate change, and focuses on educating people about the connection between worsening allergies and climate change.
ALLERGY - The Silent Pandemic in Our Times
Dedicated to Dr. Arturo B Rotor, the first Filipino Allergist
Part 1 - Allergy and our Changing
Environment (20 Scenarios)
Part 2 - All about ALLERGY you need to know
Part 3 - Balanced Environment is the Key
to Allergy Control
Part 4 - 35 Common Cases of Allergy
Part 5 - Monosodium Glutamate (MSG Allergy)
Dr Arturo B Rotor
Let me present twenty (20) scenarios of our changing environment.
Abercio V Rotor, PhD
Retired Professor, UST, DLSU-D, SPU-QC, UPH-LP
1. As the growth of industrialization increases, so with the amount of pollution. Pollution is the by-product of industrialization. Industrialization is key to modern living; pollution is its scourge. Pollution has no boundaries; it rides on water and wind, it moves on land. It contributes to global warming, stirs climatic change and severe weather disturbances, not to mention the thinning of the ozone layer, worsening effect of acid rain and many others. Pollution allergy cases arise directly from garbage, smoke from factories and vehicles, acid rain contact, sudden changes in temperature and humidity, ultraviolet rays below and near ozone hole.
2. Modernization brought about affluence, first in industrialized countries, now in countries, which followed the path of development of Western economic formula. People want goods and services beyond what they actually need. Living above and beyond necessity has tremendous impact on the environment in the form of depletion of natural resources and pollution. Affluence is wasteful living.
3. Population increases geometrically. The world's population is now 8 billion. At its present trend, another billion people will be added in the next 10 years. New settlements, crowded cities, increasing population density predispose people to various forms of allergy.
3. Population increases geometrically. The world's population is now 8 billion. At its present trend, another billion people will be added in the next 10 years. New settlements, crowded cities, increasing population density predispose people to various forms of allergy. 4. As exodus to cities continues, the ratio of city dwellers to rural dwellers will soon reach equal proportion, and will favor the former thereafter. Already there are metropolises and megapolises, each containing as many as 20 million people ensconced under crowded condition. Meantime villages grow into towns and towns into cities. People crowd subdivisions, condominiums, malls, schools, churches, parks, in great numbers sharing common lifestyles and socio-economic conditions. Thus predisposing them to common health problems and vulnerability to disruptions (brownout, water interruptions, force majeure).
5. Destruction of the environment as a consequence of increasing population and affluence, leads to loss of not only the productivity of farms, but loss of farmlands to industry and settlements, ultimately resulting in the irreversible destruction of ecosystems like lakes, rivers, forest, and coral reefs. Loss of health of environment is loss of health of living things. Loss of environment is loss of life itself.
6. The ecosystems bear the brunt of development and progress. Wildlife is reduced in size and in biodiversity. Species are threatened to extinction as they are driven out of their natural habitats. The worse is when their habitats are lost forever. Our existence and quality of our life depends on a complex interrelationship of the living world. Disturbing the balance of this interrelationship also disturbs the balance of biotic and abiotic components of the biosphere, thus affecting not only humans, but all members of the living world.
7. As wildlife shrinks, species are threatened or endangered. They need shelter, a new home. We are adopting wildlife species, sharing with our homes, backyards and farms. Unaware they are transmitting deadly diseases like SARS, HIV-AIDS, Mad-Cow, FMDE, Ebola, Bird Flu, and possibly COVID and its variants, which can now infect humans, transmitting allergies notwithstanding.
8. “Good Life” has spawned obesity and other overweight conditions to millions of people around the world with USA the most hit. The spawning ground of obesity is the city. Victims suffer of complications in their health and difficulty in adjusting to a different life style. Because of their conditions they are merely spectators, rather than being participants, in games and other physical activities. Many are virtually immobilized by their condition.
9. Global warming is changing the face of the earth. As sea level rises shorelines are pushed inland, islands sink, lowlands turn to swamps, icecaps disappear, polar ice melts. In fact, there is need to re-draw local maps, and the map of the world as sea level continues to rise, and glaciers are disappearing. More importantly, there will be need to review and modify land use policy, settlement plans and relocation. Adaptation is key to allergy resistance and immunity. Displacement of settlements and change in living conditions predispose people to ailments and allergies.
10. Globalization is the name of the game in practically all aspects of human activity – trade, commerce and industry, agriculture, the arts, education, politics, religion and the like. The world travels on two feet- communications and transportation. The world has shrunk, so to speak. Traveling from one place to another across latitudes and longitudes predispose one to unimaginable kinds of ailments, allergies, and discomforts.
11. Homogenization involves pooling of genes through inter-racial and inter-cultural marriages resulting in various “mestizos” like Eurasian, Afro-Asian, Afro-American, Amerasian, and the like. Mélange of races is fast increasing in complexity as East and West continue to weld genetically. Native genes provide resistance to pest diseases, adverse conditions of the environment. Native genes through intermarriage is beneficial, but the benefit they carry may be thinned out in the gene pool. Mestizos of subsequent generations are likely affected.
12. Science and Technology as the prime mover of progress and development has also brought doubt and fear to human’s future. The first breakthrough created the nuclear bomb, the second brought the globe to the size of a village with the microchip, and the third, Genetic Engineering now enables man to tinker with life itself.
A. Splitting of the atom - nuclear energy and nuclear bomb
B. Microchip - modern communication and transportationC. Genetic Engineering – Genetically Modified Organisms,
cloning, Gene Therapy, biological warfare.
Human conditions too, have vastly changed. Radiation related death still occurs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, more time is spent by our children with the computer than with nature, Gene Therapy – curing gene-link diseases before they are expressed – will revolutionized medicine. Naturally all these have repercussions on human health and welfare.
13. Pioneer industries are born out of these breakthroughs and related discoveries linking them with the business world and society, giving rise to in vitro fertilization or test tube babies, surrogate motherhood, Human Genome Project (HGP or gene mapping), multiple childbirth, DNA mapping, etc. The prototype human robot is born, and he is not defect-free. In fact he is more dependent on medicine and could not possibly withstand the conditions of the natural environment as we do to the extent of pampering him. Indeed he will lead a very dependent life.
15. Green Revolution opened up non-conventional frontiers intruding the seas, deserts, watersheds, highlands, swamps. GR pioneered in Genetic Engineering, the splicing of genetic materials between and among organisms that may not be at all related, pooling desired traits.
14. Globalization is changing the concept of nationalism dissolving rigid walls to give way to regional and international cooperation such as European Union, ASEAN, APEC, CGIAR with seven members such as ICRISAT, CYMMIT, IRRI and the expansion of the United Nations to include WTO, ILO, and others. Fighting global diseases – so with asthma and allergy - needs cooperation on all levels. In the same way a community fights Dengue, so with whole continents arresting the spread of COVID, HIV-AIDS, SARS, Bird’s Flu, and others.
Greening the Earth in acrylic by the author (30" x 48")
Thus the growth of GMOs and Frankenfood, and cloning experiments. Aeroponics (farming rooftops), hydroponics, urban greening, reforestation, organic farming, are among the measures to bring nature nearer to settlements, and insuring people the bounty of nature.
16. Agriculture today depends heavily on Post Harvest Technology. To bridge the production source with the consumption end, the farm and the market, is no easy task, especially with perishable goods. Thus the proliferation of processed goods, supermarket, fast food chains, ready-to-eat packs, sophisticated culinary art. Many food additives and adjuncts are allergenic, from salitre in longganiza to pesticide residue in vegetables, MSG in noodles to Aspartame in fruit juice, formalin in fish to dioxin in plastics.
17. Modern medical science is responsible in reducing mortality and in increasing longevity. But it is also responsible for many ills today, from genetically linked abnormalities to senility related ailments. It made possible the exchange of organs and tissues through transplantation, and soon tissue cloning. Evolution culls out the unfit in any stage of life. This is true to all organisms. Only man, or his influence on other living things, can modify Darwinism.
18. Sweeping reform in the Arab world, from North Africa to the Middle East, Russia to Ukraine, which is likely to spread to other regions of the world is changing world politics. While reform means liberating people to exercise their rights, subsequent results, as history tells us (with reference to the 1848 revolutions in Europe) to gear toward a new social order that is akin either to socialism or reverting to authoritarian rule.
19. A series of major disasters, such as hurricane PHOTO), apparently due to global warming and man-induced calamities - including the earth's normal cycle - has caused untold deaths, sufferings, and loss of properties worldwide. Japan was devastated by 9.0 earthquake, with an estimated loss that runs to not less than $300 billion. Radiation fallout from its destroyed nuclear reactor has prompted many countries to ban Japan food products for some time.
20. Meantime, man has been toying at the idea to seek ultimate shelter - or to escape his planet the Earth as the solar system gets closer to its demise. Exploration has brought man into the fringes of our world – the depth of the sea and expanse of our Solar System, ushering the birth of inner and outer space science, and preparation of man for interplanetary travel. We are learning to live outside the confines of our planet earth. We have substantially succeeded in probing the bottom of the ocean. We have put up a city in space - the Skylab. Now we are aiming at conquering another planet – a long distant goal of assuring the continuity of mankind after the demise of the earth. ~
Part 2 - All about ALLERGY you need to know
- and overcome the Pandemic
Dr. Abe V Rotor
What is Allergy? Our body reacts to substances it can’t tolerate, such as pollen and dust. These environmental antigens or allergens are normally harmless, but the immune system of certain persons views them as harmful. There are many types of allergies, such as skin and food allergies, and many different types of allergic reactions, which can range from skin rash to vomiting and diarrhea. - avr
Evolutionarily our immune system is adapted to combat pathogens – viruses, bacteria, fungi – but modern living and modern medicine have greatly eliminated much of these threats on one hand, and rendered our immune system idle on the other. The immune system isn’t challenged in the same way. Instead of developing to target real threats, such as bacteria, the immune system may dysfunction and begins to trigger allergies.
In fact it has become maverick that it attacks substances, including those secreted by our body, so that by attacking non-harmful substances, it creates more harm, and even death. Thus the hygiene hypothesis explains why there are much more allergy cases in affluent societies than in marginal societies. A case in point is that West Germany where people lived with high standard of living were suffering allergies much, much more than their counterparts living a simple life style in East Germany.
Allergies are a worldwide problem. They are often overlooked by doctors and patients and can lead to serious health problems. It means also needless suffering. Allergies disturbs sleep, adversely affect active life and good disposition. Kids and adults alike are more likely to develop asthma, sinus and ear infections, especially if their allergies go untreated.
Evolutionarily our immune system is adapted to combat pathogens – viruses, bacteria, fungi – but modern living and modern medicine have greatly eliminated much of these threats on one hand, and rendered our immune system idle on the other. The immune system isn’t challenged in the same way. Instead of developing to target real threats, such as bacteria, the immune system may dysfunction and begins to trigger allergies.
In fact it has become maverick that it attacks substances, including those secreted by our body, so that by attacking non-harmful substances, it creates more harm, and even death. Thus the hygiene hypothesis explains why there are much more allergy cases in affluent societies than in marginal societies. A case in point is that West Germany where people lived with high standard of living were suffering allergies much, much more than their counterparts living a simple life style in East Germany.
Allergies are a worldwide problem. They are often overlooked by doctors and patients and can lead to serious health problems. It means also needless suffering. Allergies disturbs sleep, adversely affect active life and good disposition. Kids and adults alike are more likely to develop asthma, sinus and ear infections, especially if their allergies go untreated.
Here is an example. People who develop allergic rhinitis have an excess of a certain class of antibodies, called IgE, which makes them unusually sensitive to these otherwise harmless substances. All the symptoms of allergic rhinitis are really part of the immune response.
So what really happens in an allergic person? Medically it is explained this way.
So what really happens in an allergic person? Medically it is explained this way.
“Following the body's first exposure to the allergen, the white blood cells produce antibodies, specifically IgE antibodies, that prepare the immune system for the next encounter with that same allergen. This first exposure to pollen will not produce any outward allergic symptoms, but inside, the IgE antibodies attach themselves to mast cells. Mast cells are cells that can be found in the respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, and skin.
During the second and subsequent exposures to pollen, this allergen will combine with the IgE antibody and release chemicals, such as histamine, in the mast cells, thus producing the allergy symptoms of a runny nose, watery eyes, and sneezing.”
Anaphylaxis – Fatal Allergy
Anaphylaxis is systemic reaction, during which exposure to an allergen triggers an allergic response throughout the body rather than just near the site.
Anaphylaxis can strike within seconds or minutes of exposure to an allergen. Or it may sneak up slowly, with symptoms delayed up to 2 hours from the time of exposure. Initial symptoms may even disappear, then return full-force within 4 to 12 hours.
It’s a terrifying feeling, you may become flushed, and your skin may become quite itchy and red. The frightening thing is, you begin to feel you’re having difficulty taking a full breath, that you are suffocating. As your blood pressure drops, you feel dizzy and sweaty and become pale. You body is not kidding. Anaphylaxis can kill by suffocation.
It doesn’t take much to trigger this body-wide allergic response – a single peanut or tiny paper wasp can set off the reaction. Egyptian Pharaoh Menes, 3000 years BC, is the first reported victim of Anaphylaxis. During an anaphylactic attack, a rush of chemicals – histamines, leukotrienes, and prostaglandins – is released in an attempt by the body to defend itself. These chemicals are produced by basophiles found in the blood, mast cells found throughout the body, including eyes, noise skin and gastrointestinal tract.
Anaphylaxis may affect many organs, such as the throat, lungs, blood vessels, and intestines. Histamine and other chemicals released by the body may
1. Produce widespread itching, welts, and hives on your skin
2. Cause blood vessels to become leaky, resulting in a drop in blood pressure, swelling of the skin, and fluid in your lungs
3. Bring circulation of your blood and oxygen to a near-standstill as your blood pressure drops
4. Trigger nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea as your gastrointestinal system goes haywire.
5. Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction that can trigger reactions all over your body, affecting the various systems in the body
6. Cardiovascular: Light-headedness, feeling faint, loss of consciousness (syncope), heart palpitations.
7. Upper respiratory : nasal congestion, sneezing, difficulty swallowing
8. Lower airway obstruction: coughing, wheezing
9. Skin: welts or hives, swelling of the skin (particularly on face and around lips and tongue), flushing
10. Gastrointestinal: bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, cramps
11. Make it difficult or impossible to breathe as your tongue and throat swell up and your lungs go into asthmatic spasms
12. Metallic taste in the mouth, cramping of the uterus during pregnancy, sudden need to urinate.
Causes of Anaphylaxis: food – peanut, shellfish, crustaceans; insects – fire ant, honeybee, bugs; drugs - more than ½ million serious allergic reaction occur in hospitals (Penicillin); latex – condoms, balloons, gloves; exercise – eating 3-4 hours before exercising increases risk; narcotics; aspirin; blood transfusions; food additives
Is there a cure for allergy?
Immunotherapy is the only treatment that alters the immune system, restoring the same response to allergens like pollen in normal nonallergic people. Unlike pills and nasal sprays, immunotherapy holds out the possibility of something far better: a cure. The treatment involves identifying the specific culprit that’s causing the problem through a series of skin tests or blood test. Tiny doses of allergen are then injected under the skin in a weekly series of allergy shots to desensitize the immune system.
Is there a cure for allergy?
Immunotherapy is the only treatment that alters the immune system, restoring the same response to allergens like pollen in normal nonallergic people. Unlike pills and nasal sprays, immunotherapy holds out the possibility of something far better: a cure. The treatment involves identifying the specific culprit that’s causing the problem through a series of skin tests or blood test. Tiny doses of allergen are then injected under the skin in a weekly series of allergy shots to desensitize the immune system.
There are many promising avenues of research. Purified antigens are being tested that can lead to a more rapid desensitization in immunotherapy. There’s interest in putting specific antigens onto viral vectors that will carry them directly to mast cells. Ultimately that could mean that one injection would render people nonallergic, instead of the years of immunotherapy now often required.
And before long, there will be sublingual immunotherapy, which uses antigens that dissolve under the tongue instead of injections. It offers two important advantages. It’s believed to be safe, and one won’t be visiting his doctor. Immunotherapy can be done at home - soon.
Does allergy run in the family?
To a certain extent, yes. If both parents have allergies, a child stands a 75 percent chance of developing them. If neither parent is allergic, the risk drops to 25 percent. The genetic aspects are numerous and overlapping, which means we’re not going to find a single gene that accounts for allergies. And as the percentages suggest, environmental factors also play a role.
Allergy symptoms
Breathing problems Fact or Myth?
1.Children who grow up on the farm are at much lower risk to allergy than children in the city.
2. Infants on the farm have fewer allergies than those who grow up in sterile environments.
3. Children who grow up with a cat in the house are less likely to develop allergies or asthma.
4. Very few pet owners are allergic to the animals they love.
5. Children who have been breastfed are less likely to have allergies.
6.Milk, soy, wheat, egg, peanut, fish and meat comprise the most common food allergies.
7. Most reactions to food are not allergic in nature, but rather intolerance, that is, there is no allergic antibody involved.
8.Babies exposed late to cereal grains have higher risk to cereal allergy, especially wheat.
9.Regular use of “foreign” materials (e.g. nail polish remover, contact lens, metals) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to these materials.
10.Allergy can induce strong and unwelcome mental and emotional reactions, such as altered perception or inappropriate changes of mood.
NOTE: The ten items are based on facts.
NOTE: The ten items are based on facts.
Both are mediated by an excess of IgE, a class of antibodies. Twenty years ago we thought asthma was caused by bronchial constriction. Now we know the main cause is allergic inflammation. Inflammation needs to be controlled in order to prevent more serious problems from asthma. Allergists now use the term “unified airway” to describe a new understanding that the nose, sinuses and lungs aren’t separate systems but part of the same system.
What goes on in the upper respiratory tract can exacerbate problems in the lower respiratory tract. And it’s now clear that treating inflammation in the upper respiratory tract can help prevent development of asthma. If you have a cough along with congestion and itchy eyes, it’s wise to see a doctor. A cough can be a sign of asthma. If you try over-the-counter drugs and they aren’t helping, see your doctor. That’s especially important for children with symptoms of allergic rhinitis, since we know that treating the condition can greatly lessen the risk of going on to develop asthma. Asthma is caused by inflammation in the airways. When an asthma attack occurs, the muscles surrounding the airways become tight and the lining of the air passages swell. This reduces the amount of air that can pass by, and can lead to wheezing sounds. Approximately 20.5 million Americans currently have asthma. Many people with asthma have an individual or family history of allergies.
What goes on in the upper respiratory tract can exacerbate problems in the lower respiratory tract. And it’s now clear that treating inflammation in the upper respiratory tract can help prevent development of asthma. If you have a cough along with congestion and itchy eyes, it’s wise to see a doctor. A cough can be a sign of asthma. If you try over-the-counter drugs and they aren’t helping, see your doctor. That’s especially important for children with symptoms of allergic rhinitis, since we know that treating the condition can greatly lessen the risk of going on to develop asthma. Asthma is caused by inflammation in the airways. When an asthma attack occurs, the muscles surrounding the airways become tight and the lining of the air passages swell. This reduces the amount of air that can pass by, and can lead to wheezing sounds. Approximately 20.5 million Americans currently have asthma. Many people with asthma have an individual or family history of allergies.
Contact dermatitis
It may involve a reaction to a substance that you are exposed to, or use repeatedly. Although there may be no initial reaction, regular use (for example, nail polish remover, preservatives in contact lens solutions, or repeated contact with metals in earring posts and the metal backs of watches) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to the product.
Some products cause a reaction only when they contact the skin and are exposed to sunlight (photosensitivity). These include shaving lotions, sunscreens, sulfa ointments, some perfumes, coal tar products, and oil from the skin of a lime. A few airborne allergens, such as insecticide spray, can cause contact dermatitis. Here are allergens that cause contact dermatitis: Poison ivy, lipang kalabaw plant, Nickel, other metals, antibiotics (topical), topical anesthetics, rubber, cosmetics, fabrics and clothing, detergents, solvents, adhesives, fragrances, perfumes, many chemicals and substances
It may involve a reaction to a substance that you are exposed to, or use repeatedly. Although there may be no initial reaction, regular use (for example, nail polish remover, preservatives in contact lens solutions, or repeated contact with metals in earring posts and the metal backs of watches) can eventually cause sensitivity and reaction to the product.
Some products cause a reaction only when they contact the skin and are exposed to sunlight (photosensitivity). These include shaving lotions, sunscreens, sulfa ointments, some perfumes, coal tar products, and oil from the skin of a lime. A few airborne allergens, such as insecticide spray, can cause contact dermatitis. Here are allergens that cause contact dermatitis: Poison ivy, lipang kalabaw plant, Nickel, other metals, antibiotics (topical), topical anesthetics, rubber, cosmetics, fabrics and clothing, detergents, solvents, adhesives, fragrances, perfumes, many chemicals and substances
A Quiz (Yes or No) Simply add up the number of points that apply to each question to which you answer YES.
1. Do you have hay fever symptoms such as sneezing, watery nasal drainage, and nasal itchiness? (4 pts)
2. Do you have chronic nasal congestion, postnasal drip, or both? (3 pts)
3. Do you have sinus problems – frequent “colds” or headaches? (2 pts)
4. Do your eyes itch, water, get red, or swell? (4 pts)
5. Do you have asthma (wheezing), a tight chest, or a chronic cough? (1 pt)
6. Do you have skin problems such as eczema, hives, or itching? (2 pts)
7. Do you have indigestion, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation? (1 pt)
8. Do you have chronic fatigue or tiredness? (4 pts)
9. Are your symptoms seasonal only – or worse seasonally? (4 pts)
10. Do your symptoms change when you go indoors or outdoors? (3 pts)
11. Are your symptoms worse in parks or grassy areas? (4 pts)
12. Are your symptoms worse in the bedroom, after going to bed, or in the morning when you get up? (2pts)
13.Are your symptoms worse when you come into contact with dust when vacuuming or cleaning around thick carpeting, heavy drapes, and so on? (4 pts)
14. Are your symptoms worse around animals? (2 pts)
15. Do you have any blood relatives with allergies: one or both parents, brothers or sisters, or children? (6 pts)
SCORES (Are you allergic?)
If you scored less than 7, it’s unlikely you have allergies.
If you scored between 8 and 12, it’s possible you have allergies.
If you scored between 13 to 30, it’s probable you have allergies.
If you scored more than 31, it’s very likely you have allergies.
Key to Allergy Management.
The key to prevention is avoidance, which is easier said than done. You can eradicate the disease by getting rid of the allergen that’s causing problems. For dust mites, which live in the bedroom, wash sheets regularly and keep humidity down to below 50 percent, which drives down dust mite populations. Remove carpeting and any stuffed animals from the bedroom, which are also home to dust mites. If you’re allergic to cats or dogs, don’t let them share the bedroom. Since we spend one-third of our lives sleeping, reduce your exposure somewhat by targeting the bedroom.
Be prepared for Food Allergies
1. Be prepared and treat the reaction immediately:
2. Avoid the culprit foods: Have a checklist at fingertips.
3. Read food labels: Ask questions about the ingredients of the food you order in restaurants.
4. Patients with food allergies should always be prepared to recognize and treat their reaction, should one occur. Emergency medical care should always be sought if an allergic reaction to food occurs.
5. Communicate with others: Communicate with members of the family, office mates, school staff, and friends, about your medical condition and knowledge of how to handle allergy cases.
Managing Pollen Allergy
Sounds that make us sick or irritable
Accordingly, a good idea is to supplement the environment with negatively changed ions with ionizers. One study showed a remarkable drop in the incidence of headaches and other minor symptoms. There’s really nothing better than living in a pristine environment.
1. Ansorge R and E Metcalf et al (2001) Allergy Free Naturally Rodale Inc NY,
SCORES (Are you allergic?)
If you scored less than 7, it’s unlikely you have allergies.
If you scored between 8 and 12, it’s possible you have allergies.
If you scored between 13 to 30, it’s probable you have allergies.
If you scored more than 31, it’s very likely you have allergies.
Smoke belching, most common cause of air pollution in cities
The key to prevention is avoidance, which is easier said than done. You can eradicate the disease by getting rid of the allergen that’s causing problems. For dust mites, which live in the bedroom, wash sheets regularly and keep humidity down to below 50 percent, which drives down dust mite populations. Remove carpeting and any stuffed animals from the bedroom, which are also home to dust mites. If you’re allergic to cats or dogs, don’t let them share the bedroom. Since we spend one-third of our lives sleeping, reduce your exposure somewhat by targeting the bedroom.
Be prepared for Food Allergies
1. Be prepared and treat the reaction immediately:
Be familiar with the signs and symptom of food allergies: Earliest detection and treatment is crucial.
2. Avoid the culprit foods: Have a checklist at fingertips.
Know the most common foods that cause allergy: These are milk, fish, egg, soy, wheat and peanut, and their various products.
3. Read food labels: Ask questions about the ingredients of the food you order in restaurants.
4. Patients with food allergies should always be prepared to recognize and treat their reaction, should one occur. Emergency medical care should always be sought if an allergic reaction to food occurs.
5. Communicate with others: Communicate with members of the family, office mates, school staff, and friends, about your medical condition and knowledge of how to handle allergy cases.
Managing Pollen Allergy
- If you have allergic asthma, take reliever medications (asthma inhaler) with you in case of a breathing emergency.
- Stay indoors and keep your windows closed, especially during heavy pollen times.
- Avoid outdoor activities during peak pollen time (5 a.m. to 10 a.m.)
- After going outdoors in pollen, shower, wash your hair, and change your clothes immediately.
- Close car windows when traveling to avoid pollen.
- Wear sunglasses when outdoors to protect your eyes from pollen irritation.
- Brush your dog down when returning indoors, and bathe your dog weekly. Pollen hitches a ride on animal fur and can easily come inside your house.
- Use Facemasks. There are situations where a multiple sensitive person may want to wear a protective mask.
- Once you’ve shed your clothes, hop into the shower and thoroughly wash off any allergens cling on the skin and hair.
- Consult the Pollen Calendar. The late Filipino palynologist (specialist in pollen), Dr. Lolita Bulalacao developed a pollen calendar indicating what (species), when (season), where (location) pollen is likely to be encountered.
- Design your home in unity and harmony with natural environment, not the other way around.
- These are fairly quick, simple, and inexpensive methods of making your home friendlier to your asthma and allergies.
- Build house on spacious lot and surroundings
- Free house of carpet and wall paper
- Knock on wood
- Prefer shiny floors, materials of low-gas ingredients
- Provide good natural ventilation
- Let sunshine in, façade towards the east
- Integrate house plan with garden
- Screen out plants that are allergen potential
1. Install proper air-con and exhaust fans corresponding to the number people, and nature of work.
2. Avoid blocking the air supply and return vents.
3. Clean up water spills and damp places to get rid of molds.
4. Store food properly, and empty the garbage daily.
5. Observe if symptoms are experienced by co-workers, other occupants, visitors.
6. Check equipment and supplies – they may be the source of irritating odor and fumes.
7. Strictly no smoking allowed.
8. Divide area into independent units – office, manufacturing, kitchen or storeroom.
9. Report problem to concerned persons/authorities.
10. Have a regular building maintenance program
Allergy-Free Yard
2. Avoid blocking the air supply and return vents.
3. Clean up water spills and damp places to get rid of molds.
4. Store food properly, and empty the garbage daily.
5. Observe if symptoms are experienced by co-workers, other occupants, visitors.
6. Check equipment and supplies – they may be the source of irritating odor and fumes.
7. Strictly no smoking allowed.
8. Divide area into independent units – office, manufacturing, kitchen or storeroom.
9. Report problem to concerned persons/authorities.
10. Have a regular building maintenance program
Allergy-Free Yard
1. Fix your yard to bring down allergies.
2. Go for plants native to the place (save allergy misery and labor)
3. Maintain a pest-free lawn, naturally (biological control)
4. Plant ground plants (and minimize mowing of grass lawn –
2. Go for plants native to the place (save allergy misery and labor)
3. Maintain a pest-free lawn, naturally (biological control)
4. Plant ground plants (and minimize mowing of grass lawn –
source of allergen)
5. Be a creature of the evening (or early morning when there are
5. Be a creature of the evening (or early morning when there are
fewer allergens)
6. Keep problems outdoors (like pollen)
7. Be vigilant (weed out allergen-causing plants like lipang kalabaw,
6. Keep problems outdoors (like pollen)
7. Be vigilant (weed out allergen-causing plants like lipang kalabaw,
sabawil
8. Minimize the mold (remove anything that traps moisture)
Allergy-proofing the bedroom
8. Minimize the mold (remove anything that traps moisture)
1.Keep pets out.
2. Encase sleeping place
3. Clean sheets with lots of heat
4. Run your air through filter
5. Banish the blinds
6. Steer clear of soft seats
7. Filter the vents
8. Pluck pillows and comforters wisely
9. Stow gewgaws away
10.Wash away the pollen
11.Debunk the mites
12.Give Teddy a bath
Allergy-proofing the Kitchen and Dining Room
1. Roach-proof your food.
2. Put a lid on your trash.
3. Get crumbs where they hide.
4. Don’t let dishes get crusty.
5. Scrub those floors and cupboards.
6. Battle roaches with smarts.
7. Call the pros.
8. Be a fan of your fan.
9. Avoid the cold mold.
10. Choose your cleaners wisely.
11. Cook your food, don’t gas it.
Allergy-Proofing the Bathroom, Laundry Room, and Closets
1. Turn on the fan.
2. Harvest piles of damp stuff.
3. Pick a natural freshener.
4. Bring down the curtain on mold
5. Bleach the mold away.
6. Be the squeegee man.
7. Take your washer’s temperature.
8. Wash permanent-press clothes before you wear them.
9. Opt for smell-free products.
10. Be sure the clothes dryer blows outside.
11. Leave the light on.
12. Air out dry-cleaned clothes.
13. Use wire shelves.
Allergy-Free Garage and Workshop
1. Start the engines outside.
2. Ditch your damp possessions.
3. Store chemicals safely.
4. Moldy rags on the floor
5. Old chemicals stored on table
6. Paint can not closed tightly
7. Car engine should not be left running in garage
8. Room should have a window or exhaust fan
9. Tools should be cleaned outside
10. Insure good ventilation
Allergy-Free Workplace
1. Carpenters – acrylate (adhesives), amines (lacquers), isocyanates (paint, foam),
anhydrides (plastic), wood dust
2. Farmers, gardeners – pesticides, insects, molds
3. Veterinarians, petshop owners – animal allergens, feeds, disinfectants
4. Hospital and healthcare workers – antibiotics, formaldehyde, latex,
5. Bakers, millers – cereal grain, flour dust, hay, silicates, insects
6. Beauticians – persulfates, ethylenediamine
7.Janitors, cleaners – Chloramine-T, detergents, dyes
8. Office workers, market vendors, musicians – wide range of allergens
Allergy-Friendly Exercise Program
1.Avoid exercise if you have an upper-respiratory viral infection.
2.Premeditate.
3.Drink plenty of fluids.
4.Perform warm-up exercises.
5.Breathe through your nose.
6.Cool down.
7.Know your limits.
8.Avoid exercising near busy roads.
9.Judge exercise intensity with a “talk test”.
10.Slow down if you feel weak, dizzy.
11.Don a dust mask when necessary.
12.Stay inside during high-pollen days.
A Meal-to-Meal Plan for Fighting Allergies
2. Encase sleeping place
3. Clean sheets with lots of heat
4. Run your air through filter
5. Banish the blinds
6. Steer clear of soft seats
7. Filter the vents
8. Pluck pillows and comforters wisely
9. Stow gewgaws away
10.Wash away the pollen
11.Debunk the mites
12.Give Teddy a bath
Allergy-proofing the Kitchen and Dining Room
1. Roach-proof your food.
2. Put a lid on your trash.
3. Get crumbs where they hide.
4. Don’t let dishes get crusty.
5. Scrub those floors and cupboards.
6. Battle roaches with smarts.
7. Call the pros.
8. Be a fan of your fan.
9. Avoid the cold mold.
10. Choose your cleaners wisely.
11. Cook your food, don’t gas it.
Allergy-Proofing the Bathroom, Laundry Room, and Closets
1. Turn on the fan.
2. Harvest piles of damp stuff.
3. Pick a natural freshener.
4. Bring down the curtain on mold
5. Bleach the mold away.
6. Be the squeegee man.
7. Take your washer’s temperature.
8. Wash permanent-press clothes before you wear them.
9. Opt for smell-free products.
10. Be sure the clothes dryer blows outside.
11. Leave the light on.
12. Air out dry-cleaned clothes.
13. Use wire shelves.
Allergy-Free Garage and Workshop
1. Start the engines outside.
2. Ditch your damp possessions.
3. Store chemicals safely.
4. Moldy rags on the floor
5. Old chemicals stored on table
6. Paint can not closed tightly
7. Car engine should not be left running in garage
8. Room should have a window or exhaust fan
9. Tools should be cleaned outside
10. Insure good ventilation
Allergy-Free Workplace
1. Carpenters – acrylate (adhesives), amines (lacquers), isocyanates (paint, foam),
anhydrides (plastic), wood dust
2. Farmers, gardeners – pesticides, insects, molds
3. Veterinarians, petshop owners – animal allergens, feeds, disinfectants
4. Hospital and healthcare workers – antibiotics, formaldehyde, latex,
5. Bakers, millers – cereal grain, flour dust, hay, silicates, insects
6. Beauticians – persulfates, ethylenediamine
7.Janitors, cleaners – Chloramine-T, detergents, dyes
8. Office workers, market vendors, musicians – wide range of allergens
Allergy-Friendly Exercise Program
1.Avoid exercise if you have an upper-respiratory viral infection.
2.Premeditate.
3.Drink plenty of fluids.
4.Perform warm-up exercises.
5.Breathe through your nose.
6.Cool down.
7.Know your limits.
8.Avoid exercising near busy roads.
9.Judge exercise intensity with a “talk test”.
10.Slow down if you feel weak, dizzy.
11.Don a dust mask when necessary.
12.Stay inside during high-pollen days.
A Meal-to-Meal Plan for Fighting Allergies
No single diet is right for everyone. Your nutritional needs are unique to you, because no one else has the same combination of genetic and acquired traits of metabolism, nutrition, and immune status.
1. Breakfast – build your breakfast around fresh fruits and whole grains. Instant breakfast may be loaded with syrup and preservatives. If you wish to drink milk, restrict to fat-free.
2. Lunch – Build around fruits, vegetables and grains, unless you are growing up or pregnant. If you eat meat, choose the leanest. Most fat-food burgers contain fat as high as 35%.
3. Dinner – Build around grains, cooked or raw vegetables, and protein from meat, fish or legumes. Trim off fats. Avoid oils and fats in sauces and dressing. If you drink, have a glass of red wine rather than beer or liquor.
4. Snacks – Don’t indulge in snacking at all, but if you must, take a fruit like mango or pineapple.
Clean Your Home Naturally
1. Biofeedback (internal memo)
2. Cognitive Reframing (handling an experience)
3. Guided Visualization (imagination)
4. Humor Therapy (healthy laugh)
5. Hypnosis (hypnotherapy)
6. Journaling (diary, autobiography, literary)
7. Massage, sauna
8. Social Involvement (clubs, parties)
9. Yoga, Tai-chi
10.The Humanities (drawing, singing, drama)
11.Meditation (prayer, communion with nature)
12.Proper grooming.
- Instead of disinfectant, use borax (1 cup to 1 gal of warm water) or grapefruit seed extract (10%)
- Instead of fabric softener, use ¼ cup of vinegar added to the rinse water.
- Instead of furniture polish, use olive oil with 1 tbsp vinegar poured in 1 liter of warm water. Keep in spray bottle.
- Instead of glass cleaner, use ½ cup vinegar mixed with 1 gal warm water, place in spray bottle.
- Borax instead of laundry whitener; Baking powder on sponge instead of scouring powder.
- Hydrogen peroxide as stain remover; borax + vinegar as toilet bowl cleaner.
1. Biofeedback (internal memo)
2. Cognitive Reframing (handling an experience)
3. Guided Visualization (imagination)
4. Humor Therapy (healthy laugh)
5. Hypnosis (hypnotherapy)
6. Journaling (diary, autobiography, literary)
7. Massage, sauna
8. Social Involvement (clubs, parties)
9. Yoga, Tai-chi
10.The Humanities (drawing, singing, drama)
11.Meditation (prayer, communion with nature)
12.Proper grooming.
Sounds that make us sick or irritable Sounds activate not only the senses but affect bodily functions.
o Pavlov’s Principle on conditioned learning.
o Adrenaline shoots up, increases blood pressure, challenges us – fight or flight.
o Nausea, headache, other forms of irritation.
o Interrupts present activity, interferes with trends of events.
o Destroys relationship, creates personal impressions.
Worst Sounds
1. Scratching the blackboard with fingernail, similar to a hard chalk creating a grating sound.
2. Air escaping like releasing air from a balloon.
3. Productive coughing
4. Throwing out is the worst.
o Pavlov’s Principle on conditioned learning.
o Adrenaline shoots up, increases blood pressure, challenges us – fight or flight.
o Nausea, headache, other forms of irritation.
o Interrupts present activity, interferes with trends of events.
o Destroys relationship, creates personal impressions.
Worst Sounds
1. Scratching the blackboard with fingernail, similar to a hard chalk creating a grating sound.
2. Air escaping like releasing air from a balloon.
3. Productive coughing
4. Throwing out is the worst.
Why are people healthier and happier in the countryside?
People feel better and more zestful when they are near mountain streams or beside the sea. It is the presence of excess negatively charged ions in these places, which tend to be diminished in buildings, homes and offices. The average negative ion concentration near a waterfall is 50,000 per cubic centimeters, in mountain air 5,000 and in the countryside 1500 or so; yet in a modern office, this figure can fall to as low as 50. What happens to the ions in buildings? They are electrically precipitated by particles in the air, notably dust, cigarette smoke and fabrics such as synthetic carpet fibers. Modern closed ventilation systems and of course the ubiquitous office computer make the problems many times worse because of the static build-ups. Accordingly, a good idea is to supplement the environment with negatively changed ions with ionizers. One study showed a remarkable drop in the incidence of headaches and other minor symptoms. There’s really nothing better than living in a pristine environment.
No period in history has man influenced the environment as much as what he is doing today in his pursuit for a higher standard of living, and affluence. Instead of “tailoring man’s lifestyle to the environment” which his ancestor did for centuries, man today is “changing the environment to cope up with affluence.”
References
1. Ansorge R and E Metcalf et al (2001) Allergy Free Naturally Rodale Inc NY,
2. Miller GT Jr (2004) Living in the Environment 7th Edition, Wadsworth Publishing, California
3. Radyo ng Bayan Lecture Series (May 2003 to July 2008) Towards Functional Literacy, DZRB 738 KHz. Philippine Broadcasting System, Bureau of Broadcast, QC
4. Raven PH, Berg LR and GB Johnson (2003) Environment 2nd edition Saunders College Publishing NY
5. Rotor AB (1983) The Men Who Play God: A Collection of Short Stories Ateneo de Manila University Press
Rotor AB (1983) The Wound and the Scar Cacho Hermanos, National Book Store
7. Rotor AV (2000) Light from the Old Arch UST Publishing House
8. Rotor AV (2003) The Living with Nature Handbook. UST Publishing House
Rotor A V (2007) Living With Nature in Our Times, UST Publishing House
10. Time (2007) Global Warming (The Causes. The Perils. The Solutions. Then Actions: 51 Things You Can Do) Time Inc.
11. wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy
12. www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/allergy
13.www.medicinenet.com/allergy
14. www.allergyuk.org/
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This paper is part of a lecture Allergy and the Environment presented by Dr Abe V Rotor before the members of Philippine Society of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology on its 11th Biennial Convention, September 9, 2008 at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza in honor of the late Dr. Arturo B. Rotor, first Filipino allergist.
Part 3 - Balanced Environment is the Key to Allergy Control
Dr. Abe V. Rotor
Everyone of us has allergies - there is no exception. But many are not aware of this fact. Allergy comes from land, water and air. The food we eat, medicine and drugs we take, clothes we wear, cosmetics we apply, chemical sprays and fumigants, farm and industrial chemicals, plastics and other synthetics, and a lot more. By knowing those that cause us allergy, we would be in a better position to institute prevention and immediate remedy, and not become a victim of of this silent epidemic.
Are you allergic to marine fish, like talakitok, and crabs?
Allergy, the Silent Epidemic of our times is masked by the Good Life. It is surreptitiously leading millions of people all over the world into various complications and diseases that may even lead to death.
To bring medicine to the understanding of the people, to make themselves well in their own capacity is perhaps the biggest challenge of medicine today. Thus, the three contending areas of medicine should work together like a tripod.
1. Conventional medicine from which modern medicine grew and developed well into computerization and genetic engineering.
2. Alternative medicine, being part of Filipino culture and closest to local remedies, time-tested and practical remedies - the mainstay of folk medicine which caters to the grassroots.
3. Environmental Medicine, the most practical and original to the point of being primeval, if I may say so. Its rules are universal and as natural as Nature’s laws. It is dependent on ecological principles in the conservation of a clean and balance environment
Environmental medicine was born out of the rush of modernization and apparent lack of concern on our deteriorating environment. As we prosper economically we seem to have forgotten a basic equation of weighing the deleterious by-products of progress, and keeping them out of harm’s way. Basic as it is, we have forgotten the equation of oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange that keep the biosphere in balance, energy-matter relationship that maintains steady energy supply, organism-habitat balance that protects species and ecosystems, acid-alkaline balance that prevents formation of acid rain, and the like.
In fact we have grown too progressive – we call our era Postmodernism, as if we are living in the future. It has become difficult for us to distinguish – much more to separate – our needs from our wants. There seems to be no end of affluence. We want power, wealth, pleasure, in a materialistic way. But we have homogenized them too, with pollution, allergy, acid rain, AIDS, diabetes and many other sources that destroy our health and our environment. Through globalization we heat the atmosphere a frying pan, warming it up to spawn hurricanes, floods, cyclones – even tsunamis. We pierced a hole through the ozone layer as if the amount of sunlight entering the earth is not enough.
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How little would one give importance to ailments and discomforts, while fighting for survival, and loneliness and despair. People who are placed in such a dilemma may not even care, and they may not even know the difference between being healthy or sick, much less between colds and allergy rhinitis, simple indigestion from candidiasis, rashes developed from different causes. Phobia, anxiety, disease, malnutrition, loneliness, are difficult to decipher and separate when one is suffering of physical, mental and emotional distress. AVR
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Indeed our world has changed a lot in the past century, and continues to accelerate as towns grow into cities, cities into megapolises, opening settlements to an exponentially growing population. There could be no better conditions for allergy to flourish - modern living in the city. It is Pandora’s box.
It is the microcosm of many other cases, perhaps in lesser degree or worst, older or more recent, that prevail in many cities around the world where the same recipe of allergy is supplied by the by-products of industrialization, high-rise buildings, affluent living style, that characterize progress, and exacerbated by lack or inefficient Governance.
But this is the pulse beat of trade and commerce that has taken over the healthy and vigorous biological clock; it is the signature of modernity that capitalism has brought into the life of modern man. This is the circulatory flow of money and goods, men and ideas, survival and affluence reaching all levels, nurturing the organism, determining what we gauge as growth and development.
At this point allow me to cite the case of Germany, considered a classical case about allergy. For 45 years Germany was divided by a wall. Economic wise, West Germany was very progressive, while East Germany was poor. The West Germans enjoyed one of the world’s highest standards of living. They live in luxurious homes, drive Mercedes-Benz as they pleased. The East Germans on the other hand, were living under extreme poor living condition, with housing and consumer goods always in short supply. They had to wait years to be able to buy a second hand automobile. In short West Germany was a capitalist Utopia, while East Germany was a socialist Third World country. It was a case of one people living on separate and unequal planets. Then in 1990 Germany was reunited. The Cold War was over.
Now, what has this historical event to do with allergy?
Scientists compared the two extreme environments and came up with startling results.
The Robert Koch Institute came up with a revealing finding: allergies were far more common among Germans from the affluent West. West German baby boomers were up to 83 % more likely than their East German counterparts to have allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and asthma. Since there was no such differences in allergy rates were found in German born before World War II, the researches suspected that West Germany’s postwar lifestyles had somehow sensitized its children to pollen, mold, dust mites, and other types of allergens.
West Germany represents a microcosm of a global Silent Epidemic, and countries that adopted the same lifestyle have more allergy cases than countries, which like East Germany, have remained, for one reason or another, underdeveloped.
What makes an affluent society have more allergy cases as compared to a marginal society?
Which of these fall under West Germany’s condition? And which ones fit East Germany’s?
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Dr. Arturo B. Rotor, the first Filipino Allergist, tells us that the human being should be regarded holistically, therefore too, when it comes to attending to his health – body and spirit, psyche and intellect. And we realize that man is truly divine with these attributes: Man the Thinker (Homo sapiens), Man the Maker (Homo faber), Man the Player (Homo ludens) and the Man the Reverent (Homo spiritus).
Dr Arturo B. Rotor (1907-1988) served as Executive Secretary of the Philippine government-in-exile and member of the Cabinet, first under President Quezon, then President Osmeña. After the second World War he became Director the UP Postgraduate School of Medicine, and founded allergology as a field of medicine in the Philippines
Dr. Rotor wrote several short stories, which earned him the Republic Heritage Award. His stories are still used today in high school and college literature, among them Dahong Palay, Twilight’s Convict, The Wound and Scar and Zita. Ateneo de Manila University Press compiled ten other stories into a handy book with the title, The Men Who Play God. On the back cover is a curious brief description about the author. (5)
To wit: In the Philippine Journal of Science, a new orchid, Vanda Merrillii variety Rotorii is described by Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing. In Cecil Loeb’s Practice of Medicine, a new disease, “Rotor’s Syndrome,” is recognized. Both the disease and the flower refer to Arturo B. Rotor and highlight the disparate, often incongruous activities that marked his career. The other side of Dr. Rotor’s life was one equally rich and fulfilling through the expression of the wonders of the right brain – as a naturalist, an ardent lover of nature; and creativity through the art of music, demonstrating mastery of some of the world’s best compositions as a celebrated pianist. (He graduated at the UP Conservatory of Music and UP College of Medicine
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35 Common Cases of Allergy
Dr. Abe V Rotor
Corn pollen is a common cause
1. Smoking. Drivers, office workers, mechanics, farmers, writers, teachers, name it, and the habit is widespread. I know one whose only bisyo is paninigarillo. He didn’t live long.
2. “Canned entertainment” such as parties in fast foods predisposes kids to various ailments and psychological trauma, and to certain kinds of allergy. It is devoid of the natural environment that builds resistance to allergy as the children grow up.
3. Some common allergens are pollen from flowers of trees and annuals - kasoy, kupkupyes, macopa, and tapilan. Lipang Kalabao, a very itchy plant that grows into a tree. The sap of aldelfa and yellow bell may cause paralysis of the pharynx leading to asphyxiation.
5. Mushroom Allergy. There are spores of fungi like Auricularia or “tainga ng daga” and wild tree mushroom even when they have dried up.
6. Fowls and wild birds are common causes of allergy, from their feathers and parasites, to their droppings. The filthiest bird second to the vulture is the crow carries vermin from carcasses of animals and garbage. Allergy from reptiles – from skin casting to vermin attracted by their food and droppings.
7. Don’t play with spiders. Spiders cause allergy with the hair coverings of their body, and web or silk of certain species. The Black Widow is one of the few poisonous species.
8. Allergic to trees like Ipil-ipil? It’s due to “plant lice” like Psylla, a minute insect pest that wiped out ipil-ipil plantations in the seventies and eighties. They build dense colonies on a single tree, sapping its vitality until it dies.
9. Mealybugs and scale insects (Order Homoptera) produce waxy covering layer for protection and camouflage, as well as casing of their eggs and young. Cottony mealybug (Pseudococcos) on guava leaf; the insect without waxy covering.
10. Pesticide Residue in fruits. Fruits may carry pesticide residues of dangerous chemicals like Folidol, BHC and Malathion. Pesticide residues on vegetables, particularly on crucifers – cabbage, lettuce, pechay, cauliflower – register above allowable levels. Lack of monitoring may predispose consumers to the effects of pesticides.
12. Kapok or Cotton Tree (Ceiba pentandra L) releases seeds covered with lint from the mature pod The fiber is gathered mainly for pillow. It is cool and preferred over synthetic fills. Dehiscence period is towards the end of the year.
13. Fire Tree (Delonix regia) Both flowers and caterpillars attacking the tree may cause allergy. Higad or the hairy caterpillar of Tussock moth causes irritation of the skin which may last for days. A common remedy is to apply vinegar on the affected skin. If the sharp hairs are imbedded, apply candle drops and allow to solidify. Then peel off with the encased hair. Mosses, algae, ferns and short growing annuals may cause allergy, including their substrates that undergo transformation by weathering.
14. Allergic to Termites? It may be the termite or the mushroom in farms in its chamber - or both - that cause the allergy. Termites work with lignin-breaking fungi that soften the wood. Inside their guts are protozoa that break up cellulose, aiding digestion – a classical case of symbiosis.
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Global Warming and Climate Change increase incidence of Asthma and Allergy cases around the world.
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15. Pesticide Residues. Poisonous hydrocarbon and phosphate compounds find their way through the food chain – in the case of frog from sprayed insects that serve as its prey. Pesticide residues accumulate in its tissues and transferred to the its predators, including man.
16. Are you allergic to native delicacies? Sinanglaw is a favorite Ilocano dish from internal organs of carabao or cattle cooked in slow fire and heavily spiced with hot pepper, paminta and ginger.
18. Tulingan or Tanggigi is a common cause of allergy to many people. It is a practice to drain the blood by cutting the tail, and carefully removing the entrails before the fish is cut and served raw or cooked. The danger worsens when the fish is no longer fresh. There People who are also allergic to tuna.
19. Shellfish – tahong, talaba and halaan may harbor the red tide dinoflagellate is large quantity that may lead to Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) in man. PSP symptoms may first appear as allergy, and may be lethal if not treated immediately. (Read article on Red Tide in this Blog)
21. Allergy is caused by insects Banana and mabolo are attacked by fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Dacus dorsalis/cucurbitae) PHOTO. It attacks dozens of popular fruits and vegetables, including mango, citrus, guava, macopa, cucumber, ampalaya.
23. The domesticated honeybee (Apis melifera) normally does not sting unless provoked, unlike the notorious African honeybee which threatens the US honeybee industry today. There are as many deaths due to bee sting as snake bites. People vary in reaction to bee sting, from swelling to difficulty in breathing.
24. Millipedes (Class Diplopods) exude Cyanide gas to stun their prey as well as repel their predators. Thus children should warned not to play with the “diken-diken,” PHOTO playing possum by curling its body into a tight ring.
25. Skin repellants. Avoid obnoxious and annoying insects - all kinds of bugs, plant lice, aggressive Insects such as wasp and hantik ant. Hemipterans- the bugs – exude an obnoxious odor which is caustic to the skin and eyes, a chemical offensive that wards off would-be predators attracted by their brilliant colors and attractive designs.
26. Perfectly camouflaged, these insects lie surreptitious to their prey and predator and people may be unwary of them. Lepidopterans – butterflies, moths and skippers – are covered with scales of of chitin, a very resistant cellulose-like compound. The practice of releasing butterflies in place of throwing rice on a newly married couple has been discouraged because of the danger the chitinous scales cause such as irritation of the skin and eyes.
27. There are various allergic reactions to fowls and birds, not only for their feathers, but mites and lice belonging to two Orders Anoplura (sucling lice) and Mallophaga (chewing lice) - that reside in their bodies and nests.
28. Ngarasangas is a very small bivalve that occurs in colonies in estuaries. The shells are gathered for food and for ducks in raising balot. Allergy cases have been reported by eating this favorite soup of the Ilocanos. Below, increasing lead pollution has forced the shutdown of many salt beds in the country. Salt made near cities and industrial sites may pose danger to health.
29. Does radiation cause allergy? Radiation emitted by radio transmitters have been found to be the cause of a number of ailments from insomnia to sterility. It is also associated with cancer, abnormal blood levels and heart conditions which may be related to allergy or allergy symptoms.
30. Danger lurks in murky water – diseases, vermin, etc. Heavily polluted waterways such as the Pasig River contain high levels of Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia, Methane, other gases, and toxic metals.
31. Allergy to plastics and other synthetic materials. Stuffed toys may cause allergy, so with many things put into the mouth.
32. Aflatoxin in peanut, corn and others go unnoticed with the preserved food.
33. Believe it or not – kapre lives in old balete tree. Naan-annongan (Ilk) is different from nakasagsagid (Ilk), but the symptoms are quite similar - profuse sweating and feeling of general weakness.
34. Allergy from yeast and young wine.
35. Are you allergic to fireworks, and on New Year’s Eve?
To what extent does nature provide immunity? Fortunately as children grow to maturity, particularly so under natural environment, they acquire the defense the body systems need against a host of health problems from allergy to physiologic and pathological diseases, albeit adaptation to emotional and psychological stress.
Homogenization is likened to Globalization – one economy, one media, one culture, one car, one MRT, one computer, one bank. There’s one thing we are missing – the environment. In fact we are missing Nature in our lives. Our children are now spending more and more waking hours with the computer as if it were man’s best friend.
Come to think of the computer as the root of allergy and many ailments. Spending more time with the computer deprives millions especially children of participating in health promoting games and resistance-building exposure to nature.
It is a scenario that we see everywhere, a scenario of our own making. And yet, like artists before the canvas we have the power to create one that is beautiful and conducive to our well being. But we do not or we refuse to do so, although we are aware that a healthy environment is primordial to good health and a happy life.
Ever wonder what it means to enjoy childhood outside of the confines of air conditioned room? Many children look forward to the first rain in May. Boy scouts and girl scouts do. To the athlete, the naturalist. And many boys and girls wishing to play outdoor.
But our children are no longer children of nature; they are captives of education and media, of malls and cafes. They like to think that the mind is like the computer, that the more information it acquires the better of is the individual. This is not so. Not when it pertains to health, not with the ability to arrive at correct decisions, not when and where survival is the name of the game. And not when it comes to matters of love.
Which reminds me a story of a young man who was in love. So he asked the computer, What love is.
Whereupon, came a prompt answer – not one or two, but in many definitions, technical and literary.
“How does it feel to be in love?” the young man continued.
This time the computer did not respond. He entered his query once more, and again, but still there was no response. After several attempts, the computer finally gave up. “I cannot feel.”
And here are our children spending most of their waking hours with an “intelligent” thing in the shape of a box, a thing that has no feeling at all! Even when the computer can tell us of all kinds of the sickness in the world, it cannot comfort you. Because a robot has no feeling. ~
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On April 4, 1968, a biomedical researcher wrote a letter that would forever change how America eats. In it, Robert Ho Man Kwok described a strange illness he contracted at Chinese restaurants -- specifically those that cooked with the flavoring MSG.
MSG was popular in the United States at the time. But when Kwok’s letter hit the New England Journal of Medicine, the ingredient's fortunes reversed: Consumers spurned it. Food-makers axed it. Scientists threw themselves into critical MSG research.
Fifty years later, 4 in 10 U.S. consumers still say they actively avoid MSG, according to the International Food Information Council, an industry-funded nonprofit that advocates for science in nutrition. That's despite repeat studies that have shown MSG does not produce numbness, weakness or heart palpitations, the symptoms Kwok experienced.
In hindsight, analysts say, the mania has proven both a rare glimpse into consumer biases -- and a prediction of the “clean eating” age. Many food companies now find themselves exorcising unpopular artificial or chemical ingredients, just as they did with MSG in the late 1960s and '70s.
Let me present some cases of allergy that are commonly encountered. These were gathered from our radio listeners on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid. (People's School-on-Air)
Corn pollen is a common cause
of allergy rhinitis.
2. “Canned entertainment” such as parties in fast foods predisposes kids to various ailments and psychological trauma, and to certain kinds of allergy. It is devoid of the natural environment that builds resistance to allergy as the children grow up.
3. Some common allergens are pollen from flowers of trees and annuals - kasoy, kupkupyes, macopa, and tapilan. Lipang Kalabao, a very itchy plant that grows into a tree. The sap of aldelfa and yellow bell may cause paralysis of the pharynx leading to asphyxiation.
5. Mushroom Allergy. There are spores of fungi like Auricularia or “tainga ng daga” and wild tree mushroom even when they have dried up.
Red mushroom does not only cause allergy, it is poisonous.
7. Don’t play with spiders. Spiders cause allergy with the hair coverings of their body, and web or silk of certain species. The Black Widow is one of the few poisonous species.
8. Allergic to trees like Ipil-ipil? It’s due to “plant lice” like Psylla, a minute insect pest that wiped out ipil-ipil plantations in the seventies and eighties. They build dense colonies on a single tree, sapping its vitality until it dies.
9. Mealybugs and scale insects (Order Homoptera) produce waxy covering layer for protection and camouflage, as well as casing of their eggs and young. Cottony mealybug (Pseudococcos) on guava leaf; the insect without waxy covering.
10. Pesticide Residue in fruits. Fruits may carry pesticide residues of dangerous chemicals like Folidol, BHC and Malathion. Pesticide residues on vegetables, particularly on crucifers – cabbage, lettuce, pechay, cauliflower – register above allowable levels. Lack of monitoring may predispose consumers to the effects of pesticides.
12. Kapok or Cotton Tree (Ceiba pentandra L) releases seeds covered with lint from the mature pod The fiber is gathered mainly for pillow. It is cool and preferred over synthetic fills. Dehiscence period is towards the end of the year.
13. Fire Tree (Delonix regia) Both flowers and caterpillars attacking the tree may cause allergy. Higad or the hairy caterpillar of Tussock moth causes irritation of the skin which may last for days. A common remedy is to apply vinegar on the affected skin. If the sharp hairs are imbedded, apply candle drops and allow to solidify. Then peel off with the encased hair. Mosses, algae, ferns and short growing annuals may cause allergy, including their substrates that undergo transformation by weathering.
14. Allergic to Termites? It may be the termite or the mushroom in farms in its chamber - or both - that cause the allergy. Termites work with lignin-breaking fungi that soften the wood. Inside their guts are protozoa that break up cellulose, aiding digestion – a classical case of symbiosis.
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Global Warming and Climate Change increase incidence of Asthma and Allergy cases around the world.
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15. Pesticide Residues. Poisonous hydrocarbon and phosphate compounds find their way through the food chain – in the case of frog from sprayed insects that serve as its prey. Pesticide residues accumulate in its tissues and transferred to the its predators, including man.
16. Are you allergic to native delicacies? Sinanglaw is a favorite Ilocano dish from internal organs of carabao or cattle cooked in slow fire and heavily spiced with hot pepper, paminta and ginger.
Pinapaitan and kilawin prepared from goat’s meat are a native delicacy in many parts of the country. Other delicacies include kaldereta and soup “number 5.”
18. Tulingan or Tanggigi is a common cause of allergy to many people. It is a practice to drain the blood by cutting the tail, and carefully removing the entrails before the fish is cut and served raw or cooked. The danger worsens when the fish is no longer fresh. There People who are also allergic to tuna.
19. Shellfish – tahong, talaba and halaan may harbor the red tide dinoflagellate is large quantity that may lead to Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) in man. PSP symptoms may first appear as allergy, and may be lethal if not treated immediately. (Read article on Red Tide in this Blog)
21. Allergy is caused by insects Banana and mabolo are attacked by fruit fly Bactrocera cucurbitae (Dacus dorsalis/cucurbitae) PHOTO. It attacks dozens of popular fruits and vegetables, including mango, citrus, guava, macopa, cucumber, ampalaya.
24. Millipedes (Class Diplopods) exude Cyanide gas to stun their prey as well as repel their predators. Thus children should warned not to play with the “diken-diken,” PHOTO playing possum by curling its body into a tight ring.
26. Perfectly camouflaged, these insects lie surreptitious to their prey and predator and people may be unwary of them. Lepidopterans – butterflies, moths and skippers – are covered with scales of of chitin, a very resistant cellulose-like compound. The practice of releasing butterflies in place of throwing rice on a newly married couple has been discouraged because of the danger the chitinous scales cause such as irritation of the skin and eyes.
27. There are various allergic reactions to fowls and birds, not only for their feathers, but mites and lice belonging to two Orders Anoplura (sucling lice) and Mallophaga (chewing lice) - that reside in their bodies and nests.
28. Ngarasangas is a very small bivalve that occurs in colonies in estuaries. The shells are gathered for food and for ducks in raising balot. Allergy cases have been reported by eating this favorite soup of the Ilocanos. Below, increasing lead pollution has forced the shutdown of many salt beds in the country. Salt made near cities and industrial sites may pose danger to health.
29. Does radiation cause allergy? Radiation emitted by radio transmitters have been found to be the cause of a number of ailments from insomnia to sterility. It is also associated with cancer, abnormal blood levels and heart conditions which may be related to allergy or allergy symptoms.
30. Danger lurks in murky water – diseases, vermin, etc. Heavily polluted waterways such as the Pasig River contain high levels of Hydrogen Sulfide, Ammonia, Methane, other gases, and toxic metals.
31. Allergy to plastics and other synthetic materials. Stuffed toys may cause allergy, so with many things put into the mouth.
32. Aflatoxin in peanut, corn and others go unnoticed with the preserved food.
33. Believe it or not – kapre lives in old balete tree. Naan-annongan (Ilk) is different from nakasagsagid (Ilk), but the symptoms are quite similar - profuse sweating and feeling of general weakness.
34. Allergy from yeast and young wine.
To what extent does nature provide immunity? Fortunately as children grow to maturity, particularly so under natural environment, they acquire the defense the body systems need against a host of health problems from allergy to physiologic and pathological diseases, albeit adaptation to emotional and psychological stress.
Homogenization is likened to Globalization – one economy, one media, one culture, one car, one MRT, one computer, one bank. There’s one thing we are missing – the environment. In fact we are missing Nature in our lives. Our children are now spending more and more waking hours with the computer as if it were man’s best friend.
Come to think of the computer as the root of allergy and many ailments. Spending more time with the computer deprives millions especially children of participating in health promoting games and resistance-building exposure to nature.
It is a scenario that we see everywhere, a scenario of our own making. And yet, like artists before the canvas we have the power to create one that is beautiful and conducive to our well being. But we do not or we refuse to do so, although we are aware that a healthy environment is primordial to good health and a happy life.
Ever wonder what it means to enjoy childhood outside of the confines of air conditioned room? Many children look forward to the first rain in May. Boy scouts and girl scouts do. To the athlete, the naturalist. And many boys and girls wishing to play outdoor.
But our children are no longer children of nature; they are captives of education and media, of malls and cafes. They like to think that the mind is like the computer, that the more information it acquires the better of is the individual. This is not so. Not when it pertains to health, not with the ability to arrive at correct decisions, not when and where survival is the name of the game. And not when it comes to matters of love.
Which reminds me a story of a young man who was in love. So he asked the computer, What love is.
Whereupon, came a prompt answer – not one or two, but in many definitions, technical and literary.
“How does it feel to be in love?” the young man continued.
This time the computer did not respond. He entered his query once more, and again, but still there was no response. After several attempts, the computer finally gave up. “I cannot feel.”
And here are our children spending most of their waking hours with an “intelligent” thing in the shape of a box, a thing that has no feeling at all! Even when the computer can tell us of all kinds of the sickness in the world, it cannot comfort you. Because a robot has no feeling. ~
Part 5
MSG (Monosodium glutamate) Allergy
Taste vs Health
If you personally experience or observe in your family these signs and symptoms, give serious attention to a likely culprit - MSG. Sometimes children are unusually quiet and drowsy after a sumptuous meal. This may happen at home and in school. Call the attention of parents and teachers concerned. In my personal experience I drink a lot of water and fight drowsiness until I feel normal. Repeated experience may lead to habit forming dependence on MSG enhanced food. This may be observed also in pets. There's even an unkind way to silence a barking dog by tossing a piece of bread laced with vetsin. The "successful" result is likely a side effect of MSG.
He died in his sleep in his car after a sumptuous lunch in Chinatown. Suspect: MSG overdose. Plus health complication. I lost a very good friend.
For whatever reason, that incident changed my life when it comes to food. No MSG. No to any of its aliases.
No MSG at home. No! intones my wife, children and grandchildren; their health, happiness, and future are definitely the most precious investment in life. We have joined the fast growing number of MSG liberated people around the world.
Here are proven grave effects of MSG: cancer, high blood pressure, obesity.
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On April 4, 1968, a biomedical researcher wrote a letter that would forever change how America eats. In it, Robert Ho Man Kwok described a strange illness he contracted at Chinese restaurants -- specifically those that cooked with the flavoring MSG.
MSG was popular in the United States at the time. But when Kwok’s letter hit the New England Journal of Medicine, the ingredient's fortunes reversed: Consumers spurned it. Food-makers axed it. Scientists threw themselves into critical MSG research.
Fifty years later, 4 in 10 U.S. consumers still say they actively avoid MSG, according to the International Food Information Council, an industry-funded nonprofit that advocates for science in nutrition. That's despite repeat studies that have shown MSG does not produce numbness, weakness or heart palpitations, the symptoms Kwok experienced.
In hindsight, analysts say, the mania has proven both a rare glimpse into consumer biases -- and a prediction of the “clean eating” age. Many food companies now find themselves exorcising unpopular artificial or chemical ingredients, just as they did with MSG in the late 1960s and '70s.
Why Americans still avoid MSG, even though its ‘health effects’ have been debunkedAnalysis by Caitlin DeweyMarch 20, 2018 Internet
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Stay healthy and happy: Avoid junk food. Go for fresh, natural food. Commercially processed food is likely an MSG carrier. Read the label carefully. Don't be deceived by advertisement and product promotion.
Cook and eat at home. Do the marketing and cooking of your favorite recipes. Why don't you raise on your backyard fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish - and even process them for home consumption and the community market? But No MSG and other artificial additives, please. ~
Reference: Living with Nature Series, AVRotor
Posted by Abe V. Rotor at 5:32 AM
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1 comment:
Maria Ruth said...
This blog is actually topic of my paper. The blog talks about Hygiene hypothesis, which was first proposed by David Strachan in 1989. He proposed that exposure to microorganisms protect an individual against other diseases like allergies and autoimmune diseases. However, until now, there is not exact mechanism on how this protection is conferred. Children not exposed to the environment "nature" is more prone to develop allergies. Let your children experience the joy of being close to nature. April 16, 2011 at 4:40 PM
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Cook and eat at home. Do the marketing and cooking of your favorite recipes. Why don't you raise on your backyard fruits, vegetables, poultry, fish - and even process them for home consumption and the community market? But No MSG and other artificial additives, please. ~
Posted by Abe V. Rotor at 5:32 AM
Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
1 comment:
Maria Ruth said...This blog is actually topic of my paper. The blog talks about Hygiene hypothesis, which was first proposed by David Strachan in 1989. He proposed that exposure to microorganisms protect an individual against other diseases like allergies and autoimmune diseases. However, until now, there is not exact mechanism on how this protection is conferred. Children not exposed to the environment "nature" is more prone to develop allergies. Let your children experience the joy of being close to nature. April 16, 2011 at 4:40 PM
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