Allergy & Asthma Related Articles & Blog Posts

Petasites is a shrub with incredibly huge leaves, up to 3 feet in diameter, usually found in low-lying wet areas and marshes. The plant is sometimes called butterbur, perhaps because the large, soft leaves were used to wrap butter when trying to keep it cool. Other colorful names for the plant include butterfly dock, butter-dock, [...]

Most people think of specific allergies as black and white — something you either have or you don’t. A study published in the January 2002 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine emphasizes that the truth is much more complex. Being allergic to something is a continuum – and that continuum [...]

Wheezing in children before their second birthdays does not appear to make them any more likely than others to have asthma as adults – even among children who are at high risk for asthma and allergies – according to a study published in the January 2002 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical [...]

We know that children who live in areas with excess air pollution have higher rates of asthma and other lung diseases. A study presented at the November 2001 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America’s suggests that some children who appear in perfect health have measurable lung damage from exposure to air pollution.

Children who are raised on a farm have a significantly reduced risk of asthma, eczema, and hayfever, according to a study in the October 6, 2001 issue of The Lancet. Non-farm children who were exposed to stables during their first year also showed this protective effect, with the degree of protection depending on the duration [...]

At the year 2000 annual meeting of the American College of Asthma, Allergy, and Immunology in Seattle an interesting cat-hair study was presented. People with dark-colored cats were 2 to 4 times more likely to experience moderate or severe allergic symptoms than people with no cats or with light-colored cats.

While inhaled steroids can reduce inflammation, improve airway function, decrease the amount of asthma medication required, and prevent asthma flare-ups, we’ve known for some time that these strong medicines also slow children’s rate of growth in height. What we have not known is whether these children eventually reach normal adult height or end up shorter.

Kids’ changing diets may be, in part, responsible for the worldwide increase in asthma. A study published in the September 2000 issue of Thorax looked at the demographics and skin test results of children with and without asthma. They found that the more vegetables, fiber, and other nutrients (including vitamin E, calcium, and magnesium) consumed [...]

Parents often ask me whether their children’s constantly runny noses are the result of allergies, sinus infections, or of one cold after another.