The chance of a person developing asthma by the age of 50 is
increased 10 times if there is a first-degree relative with asthma.
The risk is greater the more severe the relative’s asthma is. It
has been suggested that breastfeeding may reduce the risk of
a child developing atopic conditions such as asthma because
it restricts the exposure to ingested foreign protein in the first
few months of life. Conflicting studies have been published and
it may require considerable dietary restriction by the mother
to avoid passing the antigen on to the child during this vulnerable
period. Overall, although infant wheezing may be less
common in breastfed infants, there is no good evidence to show
that asthma is less prevalent in breastfed children. Nevertheless,
many other benefits of breastfeeding indicate that it should be
encouraged.

Maternal smoking in pregnancy interferes with lung function development
and increases the risk of childhood wheezing; exposure
during the first few years of life is also detrimental. It is not clear
that allergic conditions are increased. Studies of paternal smoking
have shown less certain trends in the same direction.

Recent studies have shown that babies born to mothers who were exposed to high levels of pollen in their last trimester of pregnancy have a much greater risk of developing asthma. One of the main keys with asthma prevention is avoidance.
When you have asthma the typical garden is not a very friendly place at all. There are mold spores to contend with and worst of all is the pollen. Typical gardens have pollen producing male trees and male shrubs and other plants that can provoke asthma attacks. Almost anyone with asthma will tell you that their asthma can be triggered by a good number of things, but pollen is often number one for causing an attack. Garden allergies are common, but they need not be. Allergies from gardening could be largely a thing of the past… if we’re willing to make some simple changes.
In fall of 1999 in Richmond, Virginia the American Lung Association of Virginia (ALAV) built a new Breathe EasyÔ office and headquarters. They had this entire large building constructed with the latest innovations in green construction and sustainable design. No construction materials were used that would off gas any harmful or toxic chemicals, no materials were used that would trigger asthma or allergies. Every attempt was made to build something that would be pleasant and healthy to work in. The people who work in this office now will tell you too, that they all notice what a great improvement it is. Their office is a healthy building.
The ALA decided it would make perfect sense to landscape their new healthy building (in some states these are now called Health Houses) with an allergy free landscape. OPALSÔ (the plant/allergy 1-10 numerical ranking system) was used to select only those plant materials that were either very low pollen, low allergy, or that were totally pollen free, allergy free. In effect they created the first true asthma friendly garden in the US.
Health Houses in other states are now also adding pollen free landscapes to their green construction, green buildings. A new Health House is about to be built in Pennsylvania, and the PA Association of Landscapers and Nurserymen are helping to surround it with an asthma friendly landscape.
Schools too are getting into the clean air act, and in the city of Visalia, California, the Tulare County Asthma Coalition recently directed the asthma friendly landscaping of a newly built elementary school.
Twelve keys to building your own asthma friendly garden:
1.Plant lots of female trees and female shrubs. Not only will these not shed any pollen, they will also trap a good deal of pollen that may stay in from somewhere else. Think of these female plants as nature’s air cleaners.
2.Use only low pollen or no pollen lawns. There are types of lawns now that are pretty well pollen free and these are a big improvement over some of the older lawn varieties. In southern states, if you have a common Bermuda grass lawn, consider replacing it with a newer, more asthma friendly hybrid Bermuda grass. ‘Princess 77’ is a new Bermuda grass hybrid that can be planted from seed. It is next to pollen free, grows very low and tight, and is especially good looking.
3.With OPALSÔ 1 is best, 10 is worst. Use only plants with rankings of 1-5. The more plants in your gardens that have rankings ranging from 1-3, the friendlier your place will be for anyone with allergies or asthma.
4.Remove any trees or shrubs with rankings over OPALSÔ #7. The woody landscape plants with rankings of 8-10 are all sure-fire allergy triggering plants and you can live without them.
5.Replace any removed high pollen, asthma triggering plants with their opposite, female trees or female shrubs. Also good as replacements are perfect flowered plants that are known to be very low pollen producers. These will all have good (low) OPALSÔ rankings.
6.Use only plants that are well adapted to your own area. If you can find natives that have low allergy rankings, consider using them. Look around your own neighborhood, and see for yourself, which kinds of plants seem to be flourishing there already. For almost every kind of plant used in landscaping, there is now a no or low pollen version of it, if you know what to look for.
7.Use a wide variety of plant materials; diversity is good. Biodiversity always makes sense. The more diverse our gardens are the fewer problems we’ll have with insects and molds.
8.Avoid plants with strong fragrances or odors, as they can cause asthma. Don’t plant jasmines or similar vines next to entrances or exits and certainly don’t use them underneath bedroom windows.
9.For mulch, use rock or gravel instead of bark to cut down on toxic mold spores in the garden. Flat stones or pavers also make good, mold free mulching materials.
10.To further eliminate mold spores, encourage wild birds in your garden. Virtually all wild birds eat insects, and insect damage triggers outbreaks of mold. Even the tiny hummingbirds actually eat a large number of insects. Put up a hummingbird feeder!
11.Keep your plants healthy. This too will cut down on both pollen and mold. When it is hot and windy, do some irrigating. Fertilize everything in the garden spring and fall. If plants are crowding each other too much, thin them out. If tree branches overhead are putting your whole yard in deep shade, consider having the tree thinned to let in more light. Fresh air and light are the enemies of molds.
12.If a tree, shrub, vine or any other plant always looks sickly, looks dirty, or always attracts bugs, then shovel prune it. Dig it up and get rid of it. Replace it with something easier to grow. Don’t get caught up in having to spray insecticides all the time, as they too can easily cause asthma and allergies.

http://www.healasthma.com
(247)

Many deaths could have been avoided, said Dr. William Busse, head of the
section of allergy and immunology at the… , of 607 words 50. Modesto
Bee, The CA – March 13, 1992 ASTHMA’S DOUBLE TOLL: PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL
DISTRESS CHILDREN HAVE FEELING OF BEING DIFFERENT, TRY TO COVER UP
SYMPTOMS Asthma was Modestan Wilson Bader’s miserable sidekick in
childhood. He’s 77 now, but he remembers the smelly camphorated oil he
had to inhale and the sporting benches he kept warm. I was always last to
be picked for teams, he says. I couldn’t run 25 yards without choking up.
Experts say that having a chronic illness like asthma takes more than a
physical toll on those who suffer from… , of 8 words : 1801 – 1810 of
295486 |17117217 7 75176177178179180 181 18218 8 85186187188189190
| 50. *- February 20, 1992 Inhalers may raise asthma death risk Asthma
sufferers who puff more than two canisters of airway-widening drugs a
month to help them breathe easier are at greatly increased risk of dying
from asthma attacks, according to an international study. When a doctor
finds a patient using more than one or two canisters a month, that ought
to be a red alert, said Dr. Ralph I. Horwitz, a professor at the Yale
School of Medicine and one of the study’s authors. More than two
canisters a month… , of 8 words 50. St. Louis Post-Dispatch – January
13, 1992 End The Crisis Approach To Asthma Asthma is the most common
chronic disease of children. An expert on asthma among children, Dr.
Robert Strunk of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, estimates that nearly one
of every six inner-city children have asthma. Hospitalizations for
children with the disorder have been increasing. From 1979 to 1987, the
hospital discharge rate with asthma as the first-listed diagnosis rose
percent among children under 15. Studies have found poverty to be the
reason for increased asthma… , of 8 words 50. Capital Times, The
Madison, WI – November 16, 1991 ASTHMA DEATH TRIGGERS SHOCK, FEAR,
CONFUSION Asthma is a common disease among young people, but few realize
the disease can be deadly. The realization struck the friends of Justin
Beecher hard last week.Shock, confusion and fear were La Follette High
School assistant football coach Bernard Wiggins’ reactions to the
asthmatic-attack death of his former player. “It came as a shock to
learn that a person can die from asthma,” said Wiggins. “My daugher has
asthma.” The… , of 679 words 50. Oregonian, The Portland, OR – October
12, 1990 DEATH TOLL FROM ASTHMA MOUNTS Asthma is killing more and more
people each year especially blacks — in the United States, according to
Oregon researchers who published an editorial this month in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.“The death rate from asthma has been
consistently higher for blacks than for whites,” wrote Dr. Sonia Buist
of the Oregon Health Sciences University and William Vollmer, a
statistician with Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in
Portland. Asthma… , of 5 words 50. Newsday Melville, NY – August 23,
1990 Dusty Asthma Culprit Exposure to house-dust mites during infancy
appears to be an important cause of childhood asthma in places where the
climate is humid year-round, a study concludes. The study, conducted in
England’s soggy south and published in today’s New England Journal of
Medicine, found that babies who lived with high levels of dust mites had
an especially high risk of suffering asthma as they grew older.The work
supports the growing belief that a variety of proteins… , of 92 words
50. Miami Herald, The FL – June 12, 1989 MORE ASTHMA DEATHS National
Center for Health Statistics records show that 1,975 people in the United
States, including 87 in Florida, died from asthma in 1976. By 1981, the
number of deaths had soared to 3,054. The figure for 1987 was 4,0 ,
including 184 in Florida — a stunning increase in the number of deaths
over 11 years. But those figures are deceiving because, in the
intervening years, the way causes of death are counted was changed.
Following the leadership of the World Health Organization, the… , of 9
words 50. *- May 15, 1989 MANAGE ASTHMA TO BREATHE EASIER Yes, asthma
kills. That fact tragically hit home last week when Richard Green, 52,
chancellor of schools in City and former superintendent of schools in
Minneapolis, died after a severe asthma attack.
(249)

http://www.healasthma.com

http://www.healasthma.com
(249)

The study was released Tuesday by the medical… , of 565 words 49.
Chilliwack Progress, The British Columbia, Canada – March 19, 2006 Family
therapy as part of asthma treatment Bronchial asthma is the most frequent
chronic illness in children 5-10% in economically developed countries
such as Canada, USA, and Great Britain. Practitioners have seen a marked
increase in the incidence of fatally severe forms of asthma, with 1-2%
cases of reported death. With such serious implications, additional
environmental factors have come under scrutiny, to see how asthmatic
children can have an improved prognosis. Asthma is usually treated
medically with inhalers… , of 890 words 49. *- February 13, 2006 Asthma
here not so grim, study claims: Death rate high, but other factors
better, foundation says Local asthma experts have long considered Chicago
the asthma capital of America. The asthma death rate among African
Americans here is four times the national average and perhaps the highest
in the country, one study found. Another study found that percent of the
children in a sampling of Puerto Rican neighborhoods have asthma. And
each year, there are more than 70,000 emergency room visits for asthma
attacks.But Chicago fares surprisingly well in new rankings from the
Asthma and… , of 4 words 49. *- February 9, 2006 Suburban Asthma
Consortium SAC, in Collaboration with the American Lung Association of
Illinois, Completes the Multi-center Emergency Department Asthma Study;
Asthma Ignores Geographic Boundaries, Study Proves It’s a Growing
Suburban Problem Suburban Asthma Consortium, Wheaton Theresa Juday, RPH,
AE-C, 6 -260-9600 Rita Brennan, RNC, MS, 6 -260-9600 fax: 6 -260-1111
info@suburbanasthma.org www.suburbanasthma.org or Calyx Consulting,
Chicago Jill Jackson, 2-2 -9870 fax: 2-264-0 9 info@calyxconsulting.com
www.calyxconsulting.com The Suburban Asthma Consortium SAC, serving the
six collar counties of the greater Chicagoland area, announces the
completion of the retrospective Multi-center Emergency Department Asthma
Study… , of 49. PR Newswire Europe German version Germany – December 6,
2005 Erste globale Umfrage über offene Problematik bei Asthma-Behandlung
enthüllt mögliche Beeinträchtigung der Behandlungsergebnisse PRNewswire
– Nebenwirkungen von Asthma-Medikamenten und mangelnde Kommunikation
zwischen Arzt und Patient beeinträchtigen Einhaltung der
Behandlungsvorschriften Die Ergebnisse der allerersten globalen,
quantitativen Umfrage über die offene Problematik bei der Behandlung von
Asthma, die gestern in London veröffentlicht wurden, offenbaren
erhebliche Widersprüche bei der Einschätzung von aktuellen
Asthma-Behandlungsmethoden aus der jeweiligen Sicht der Ärzte und
Patienten. Es geht um… , of 15 words 49. Hindu, The Madras, India -
November 28, 2005 The Hindu: Breathe easy by reining in asthma Asthma is
chronic disease that affects the bronchial tubes, which carry air in and
out of the lungs. In asthma, these airways become easily inflamed and so
react strongly to allergens present in the environment. Upon exposure to
these triggers, the airways become narrower and this in less airflow to
lung tissues. This causes classic asthma symptoms such as wheezing,
coughing, chest tightness, and difficulty in breathing. Asthma is now the
third leading cause of hospitalisation… , of 4 words 49. Daily Mail,
The London, England – November 7, 2005 Daily Mail: The GBP250 jab that
halves the risk of an asthma attack AN ASTHMA jab has been developed
which halves the risk of an attack.The drug, called Xolair, offers hope
to the thousands at risk of dying from the disease each year. At present,
the 10 per cent of sufferers with severe asthma have to rely on high
doses of powerful steroids which often fail to control their
symptoms.Unlike these drugs, however, Xolair – which is licensed in the
UK from today – does not treat the symptoms but interrupts the chain of
events that lead to the attack…. , of 762 words : 1821 – 18 of 295486
|17 7 75176177178179180181182 183 18 85186187188189190191192
: – | 49. *- July 24, 2005 Baker put air back in Williams’ sails // Heat
wasn’t helping pitcher’s asthma ST. LOUIS — It wasn’t long into his
start Saturday in steamy St. Louis that Jerome Williams’ asthma had him
gasping for breath. Who came to his rescue? Manager Dusty Baker did — by
kicking him in the pants and clearing his breathing passages. In a game
that was bouncing back-and-forth, Baker didn’t like what he saw when
Williams walked the Cardinals’ Jim Edmonds to open the fifth inning.
(251)

http://www.healasthma.com