Allergies in todays society

[Francis2004]

Why in opinion is there so many allergies in our children and people..

Do you think our food alteration ( mutations and frankenfoods ) have anything to do with this ?

Perhaps it's our environment ( pollutions of Earth ) such as water filtration that does not get done as well.. I heard recently that many medications, chemicals are as high a dosage in our water ( such as prozac ) then many doctors would prescribe to patients.. This is caused by people throwing them in the sink, toilet and water system in many cities that recycle the water they use..

What about just just finding these allergies because we didn't know better in the past, or lived with them not knowing better..

Give us your thoughts..

 

[TenPenny]

Some allergies and sensitivities are more common because we have better hygiene, and therefore kids aren't exposed to things at an early age.

 

[Francis2004]

Some allergies and sensitivities are more common because we have better hygiene, and therefore kids aren't exposed to things at an early age.

But how can one be more or less exposed to things like ragweed or hay and grass when it has been in the air forever ?

Can one be catch a Cat / Dog ( any animals ) allergy ( of course not ).. But how does Hygiene affect these allergies ?

Does that only apply to foods in your opinion ?

 

[Spade]

There are many more chemicals today not part of the natural world in which we as a species evolved that act as triggers.

 

[Cliffy]

The products of our civilization are our smoking guns.

 

[Spade]

Gregg Mitman - Allergy: The History of a Modern Malady (review) - Bulletin of the History of Medicine 82:1

 

[Francis2004]

There are many more chemicals today not part of the natural world in which we as a species evolved that act as triggers.

A Naturopath once told me there are no such things as unnatural chemicals. He said all chemicals came from "plants" or "Earth natural source" and that nothing was man made and only recreated ( meaning copied ). Was he wrong ?

 

[Cliffy]

A Naturopath once told me there are no such things as unnatural chemicals. He said all chemicals came from "plants" or "Earth natural source" and that nothing was man made and only recreated ( meaning copied ). Was he wrong ?

A chemical copy of a living substance is not the same. Herbs contain a variety of compounds co-existing in harmony. They work in tandem to relieve symptoms or cure them. Isolating a compound and synthesizing it doesn't work as good and becomes a foreign body in your body. That is why there are so many side effects from using pharmaceutical drugs compared to using natural remedies.

 

[Spade]

He was wrong. All the elements in the periodic table occur in nature. however, all their combinations do not, The combining of elements into compounds is "natural" in the sense it is not alchemy, but many of the products, and their concentrations in the environment is "artificial."
The death of trout streams and of amphibians is but one example.

 

[Cliffy]

He was wrong. All the elements the periodic table occur in nature. however, all their combinations do not, The combining of elements into compounds is "natural" in the sense it is not alchemy, but many of the products, and their concentrations in the environment is "artificial."
The death of trout streams and of amphibians is but one example.

Prozac in a trout stream may cause them to forget to go forth and multiply?

 

[Spade]

Prozac in a trout stream may cause them to forget to go forth and multiply?

Especially those trout on the pill!

 

[Francis2004]

A chemical copy of a living substance is not the same. Herbs contain a variety of compounds co-existing in harmony. They work in tandem to relieve symptoms or cure them. Isolating a compound and synthesizing it doesn't work as good and becomes a foreign body in your body. That is why there are so many side effects from using pharmaceutical drugs compared to using natural remedies.

I guess it depends on who you talk too..

If you discuss this topic with a lab tech, they will tell you that an exact copy of a natural chemical is exactly that whether lab made or natural.. It cannot be an exact copy if it does not match up..

But then again is a natural product always the same ?

Different companies make different derivatives of "natural chemicals" due to pattens.. It amazes me that someone can patten a flower for its "natural" chemical properties..

That said, how can something be an exact match if it is not exactly the same ?

 

[countryboy]

A Naturopath once told me there are no such things as unnatural chemicals. He said all chemicals came from "plants" or "Earth natural source" and that nothing was man made and only recreated ( meaning copied ). Was he wrong ?

Yes, it's true it all comes from the Earth (where else? :smile: ). I think the problems begin with the combinations of "things" and the processes to which they're subjected to get them into the form desired. Example might be cooking oil - canola is a popular choice for cooking these days ("vegetable oil"). If it's cold-pressed, it's pretty good stuff. But, most of the commercial stuff on the store shelves is run through a process which involves pretty high amounts of heat. This gets rid of anything that might shorten its shelf life, but it also changed the chemical composition to something that is now not so great for the body to deal with. The trade-off is that it lasts a long time, can be shipped far and wide with no "spoilage", and of course, none is lost due to shelf life problems. In other words, it's more profitable to screw it up than it is to leave it natural. Oh yeah, all the above helps to keep the price down too, which is another consumer attraction.

Of course, one way to combat that would be to buy the pure stuff in smaller quantities, pay perhaps twice as much per 100 ml, and then figure out how to use half as much of it (one splash instead of two), and end up with the same net cost and all the healthy benefits instead of the unhealthy results.

They say that corn is used to make over 100 food additives used these days processed foods. Corn itself is no big threat, but when it's heated and processed (literally to death) a hundred different ways to extract usable amounts of these additives, we're talking a horse of a different color. Example would be hydrolized plant protein, which is a long way to say MSG (Monosodium Glutumate). And "pure" MSG is not good for you as it can - among other things - impair brain function. It's also addictive, and many people have reported reactions (allergic?) to eating MSG. Yet, it's in lots and lots and lots of processed foods, under many different (legal) names. But, it all started with simple corn.

 

[AnnaG]

Do aborigines in South America's Amazon Basin have more allergies than we do? I doubt it. Wait till they get chemical factories "improving" their food, shelter, etc.

 

[Francis2004]

He was wrong. All the elements in the periodic table occur in nature. however, all their combinations do not, The combining of elements into compounds is "natural" in the sense it is not alchemy, but many of the products, and their concentrations in the environment is "artificial."
The death of trout streams and of amphibians is but one example.

I agree with you Spade..

Personally I think he took to many of those combines chemicals he kept in his office.. :lol:

 

[Cliffy]

I guess it depends on who you talk too..

If you discuss this topic with a lab tech, they will tell you that an exact copy of a natural chemical is exactly that whether lab made or natural.. It cannot be an exact copy if it does not match up..

But then again is a natural product always the same ?

Different companies make different derivatives of "natural chemicals" due to pattens.. It amazes me that someone can patten a flower for its "natural" chemical properties..

That said, how can something be an exact match if it is not exactly the same ?

Not sure if you are familiar with Kirlian photography but you might look it up. Natural, living substances give off an "aura" of light where as un-natural substances to not. A natural vitamin will display an aura while synthetic ascorbic acid does not.

 

[AnnaG]

Quoting Spade He was wrong. All the elements in the periodic table occur in nature.

Nooooope. There are a few man-made elements.

however, all their combinations do not, The combining of elements into compounds is "natural" in the sense it is not alchemy, but many of the products, and their concentrations in the environment is "artificial."
The death of trout streams and of amphibians is but one example.

Yup.

Um, here's a list of synthetic elements (names, symbols, and atomic numbers):


technetium (Tc), 43
promethium (Pm), 61
neptunium (Np), 93
plutonium (Pu), 94
americium (Am), 95
curium (Cm), 96
berkelium (Bk), 97
californium (Cf), 98
einsteinium (Es), 99
fermium (Fm), 100
mendelevium (Md), 101
nobelium (No), 102
lawrencium (Lr), 103
unnilquadium (Unq), 104
unnilpentium (Unp), 105
unnilhexium (Unh), 106
unnilseptium (Uns), 107
unniloctium (Uno), 108
unnilennium (Une), 109
unununium (Uun), 110

 

[Spade]

I knew someone would reference those. But, they are not un-natural.

 

[Francis2004]

Not sure if you are familiar with Kirlian photography but you might look it up. Natural, living substances give off an "aura" of light where as un-natural substances to not. A natural vitamin will display an aura while synthetic ascorbic acid does not.

I am not disagreeing with you Cliff.. I am just stating what a Leb Tech has discussed with me..

Also you must admit what the word "Exact" describes.. If one was to legally argue the point, one could win a case. Being careful of reproducing a chemical, whether natural or not, most companies do not make that claim I suspect..

 

[AnnaG]

I knew someone would reference those. But, they are not un-natural.

Well, in that sense, anything we can do is natural. When we reference supernatural forces doing stuff, then can we call it unnatural? lol
To me, anything that does not occur naturally (as opposed to synthetically) is unnatural, in the chemical sense of course. We can apply physics pretty well when we manufacture or process cotton to make a pair of jeans and stuff, but when we apply Scotchguard and other things, that makes the jeans unnatural, IMO.