Childhood Allergies

Adults with a history of allergic disorders as well as asthma have an increased risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, finds a study. The study led by teams at Shenzhen Peking University in China showed that individuals with a history of allergic disorders between ages 18 and 57 had a higher risk of high blood pressure. A higher risk of coronary heart disease was seen in study participants who were between ages 39-57 and males. Asthma contributed most to the risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. "For patients with allergic disorders, routine evaluation of blood pressure and routine examination for coronary heart disease should be given by clinicians to ensure early treatments are given to those with hypertension or coronary heart disease," said Yang Guo, from the University's Department of Dermatology. Previous studies reported an association between allergic disorders and cardiovascular disease, which remain controversial findings, the team said. The current study aimed to determine whether adults with allergic disorders have increased cardiovascular risk. The team included 34,417 adults, over half of whom were women and averaged 48.5 years old. The allergic group, with 10,045 adults, had at least one allergic disorder, including asthma, respiratory allergy, digestive allergy, skin allergy and other allergy. "Further large cohort studies with long-term follow-up are needed to confirm our findings," Guo said. "Additionally, appreciating the underlying mechanism may help future management in such individuals." The study will be presented at ACC Asia 2022 together with the Korean Society of Cardiology Spring Conference on April 15-16. Read More► Not Just Lungs, Smoking Affects Every Cell of Human Body: AIIMS Professor

Motherhood comes with its own mixed bag of emotions; we want to save our child from every little peril that comes their way, including allergies. The most common allergen in India are milk, egg and peanuts. According to the IAP survey, 11.4 per cent children under the age of 14 years suffer from some form of allergies and they usually peak around the month of May. The symptoms of allergy range from runny nose, sneezing, coughing, rashes, watery and red eyes to swollen tongue and breathing difficulties. A child experiences serious discomfort and it leaves the parents hopeless at times. Allergies develop slowly over time; parents need to have patience and commitment towards managing them. However, there are certain ways in which we, as parents, can contribute in prevention and possible alleviation of the problems. Do Not Stress Staying stress-free and calm is very important during this time. Creating panic will only add to the misery. Once we know about the symptoms, our mandate must be to keep a first-aid antiallergic kit at home. We can make this kit with the help of our paediatrician. Let Them Get Dirty We are all kids of mother nature. Nature has its own way of strengthening our immunity. Being over-protective about children, not letting them get their hands dirty increases their sensitivity response. Let them play in the park and get dirty once in a while. Gut Microbiota Correction As claimed by ayurveda, all allergies develop from a leaky gut syndrome. Excessive use of antibiotics and MSG-laden packed foods has made microscopic holes in our intestine. These holes get bigger with time allowing more allergens to pass into the bloodstream, eventually a runny nose becomes asthma overtime. Full Research of the Allergen Once we know our child is experiencing allergy symptoms, parents need to work like Sherlock Holmes. They need to take down a detailed history about their food, clothes and skin care products. Anything can trigger the allergy response. Natural Aloe Vera-based Products As far as skin allergies are concerned, Aloe Vera aka the Plant of Immortality is a healer. We recommend using natural, organic and purified Aloe Vera-based products for children so that their skin remains smooth, calm and fresh. DON'T WORRY MOMMIES!!!! (Dr Nidhi Gupta completed her MD from the DY Patil University, Pune. She is a cardio metabolic expert for seven years with a keen interest in mother and child nutrition and hormonal imbalance. She is the co-founder of AloeMaa. She writes several blog posts on emerging nutrition and skin problems and the solutions on the same on her website www.aloemaa.com) Read More► 10 Ways to Get Fit This Year

New York, Aug 12 (IANS) Risk of Covid-19 may shift from older adults to younger children as the SARS-CoV-2 virus becomes endemic, according to new research.Once endemic in the global population, Covid-19 may behave like other common cold coronaviruses, affecting mostly young children who have not yet been vaccinated or exposed to the virus."Following infection by SARS-CoV-2, there has been a clear signature of increasingly severe outcomes and fatality with age," Ottar Bjornstad, of the Department of Biology at the Pennsylvania State University, said."Yet, our modeling results suggest that the risk of infection will likely shift to younger children as the adult community becomes immune either through vaccination or exposure to the virus," he said.Bjornstad explained that such shifts have been observed in other coronaviruses and influenza viruses as they have emerged and then become endemic. Historical records of respiratory diseases indicate that age-incidence patterns during virgin epidemics can be very different from endemic circulation."For example, ongoing genomic work suggests that the 1889-1890 pandemic, sometimes known as the Asiatic or Russian flu -- which killed one million people, primarily adults over age 70 -- may have been caused by the emergence of HCoV-OC43 virus, which is now an endemic, mild, repeat-infecting cold virus affecting mostly children ages 7-12 months old," Bjornstad noted.For the study, appearing in the journal Science Advances, the team developed what is known as a "realistic age-structured (RAS) mathematical model". They examined disease burden over immediate, medium and long terms -- 1, 10 and 20 years, respectively as well as for 11 different countries -- including China, Japan, South Korea, Spain, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the US, Brazil and South Africa -- that differed widely in their demographics.Interestingly, due to variations in demographics, the model predicts different outcomes for different countries."Given the marked increase of the infection-fatality ratio with age, countries with older population structures would be expected to have a larger fraction of deaths than those with relatively younger population structures," said Nils Chr. Stenseth, Professor of ecology and evolution, University of Oslo."Consistent with this, for example, South Africa -- likely due, in part, to its younger population structure -- has a lower number of deaths compared to older populations such as Italy. We found that such 'death disparities' are heavily influenced by demographics. However, regardless of demographics, we predict a consistent shift of the risk to the young," he added.--IANSrvt/vd

New Delhi, May 28 (IANS) Strong regulations to cap salt, sugar and other harmful ingredients and simple to understand front of package labelling (FOPL) on junk food packets can help curb the alarming rise in childhood obesity in India, say public health experts and doctors, in a webinar organised by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh on Friday.Warning labels are critical to help consumers and parents understand how much empty calories and harmful nutrients are being consumed by children."Food labels should provide clear guidance... Simple to understand labels with evidence based nutrition cut-off is a need of the hour and will go a long way to address the crisis of childhood obesity in the country," said Umesh Kapil, Professor, Clinical Epidemiology, Indian Institute of Biliary Sciences.The experts also urged that India must rapidly adopt the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits and also introduce simple, smart and interpretative FOPL."There is enough scientific evidence and a globally agreed WHO SEARO framework for evidence-based cut-offs for anti-nutrients like sugar, salt and saturated fat present in packaged food," Kapil added.WHO has identified FOPL as "one of the policy tools that can support healthy diets, both in stimulating consumers to make informed healthier food choices and in driving manufacturers to reformulate products to avoid making unfavourable nutrient content disclosure."With more than 14.4 million obese children, India has the second highest number of children with childhood obesity in the world. By 2025 this number is expected to reach a staggering 17 million. As is the trajectory in other developing nations, the proportion of packaged and ultra-processed foods is on the rise.There is growing evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic could potentially increase the risk of children becoming obese. School closures and lockdowns have already deprived millions of children of nutritional school meals, sports and adequate physical exercise."Being overweight or obese is directly associated with life-threatening noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Obesity is a result of imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended," said Rekha Harish, Chairperson, Indian Academy of Paediatrics, NCD Prevention.The only way to control this growing epidemic of obesity is by establishing scientific cut-off limits for harmful ingredients and FOPL on packaged products, the experts suggested."Children are particularly at risk. As doctors, we want to assert that the onus should not be on children or their families alone to prevent or fight this condition. It is the collective duty of policymakers, the food industry and us as doctors to safeguard children and enable a nutritious food system for them," said Manoj Kumar Gupta, Dean, AIIMS Rishikesh.--IANSrvt/sdr/