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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Asthma / November 2005Hamburgers cause asthma, NZ research says
Kent Atkinson, "Hamburgers cause asthma, NZ research says", New Zealand Herald, November 8, 2005, Link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354170 Eating hamburgers more than once a week nearly doubles the risk of asthma attacks and wheezing in children, according to research carried out on 1300 New Zealand school pupils. Other takeaway food and fizzy drinks also increase the chances of getting asthma, doctors found. Youngsters who eat at least one hamburger a week are 75 per cent more likely to have asthma and almost 100 per cent more likely to suffer wheezing problems, according a study published yesterday in the international scientific journal Allergy. The investigation of the extent to which fast foods are a risk factor for asthma was led by Dr Kristen Wickens of the Wellington Asthma Research Group, based at the Wellington Medical School. The group -- investigating the role played by lifestyle changes over the past 30 years in a large increase in allergic disease -- linked the consumption of fast food to the prevalence of asthma and allergy. They used 1321 children in Hastings, aged between 10 and 12 years, and recorded their diet, as well as checking asthma and asthma symptoms as part of an international study of asthma and allergies in childhood known as ISAAC. After adjusting for lifestyle factors, including other foods and how fat the children were in comparison with children who never ate hamburgers, they found frequent consumption of hamburgers was linked to asthma symptoms. The higher the consumption of hamburgers, the higher the incidence of asthma. Dr Wickens said diets containing junk foods which are high in salt could be contributing to the problem. "The high salt content in hamburgers may increase the risk of wheezy illness," she said. Asthma is worst in developed countries, which tend to have about 6 per cent of their population affected. New Zealand has the highest incidence in developed countries at 20 per cent. A greater proportion of teenagers in New Zealand than in other countries suffer from asthmatic symptoms, such as wheezing, breathlessness and tight-chestedness. Some theories have blamed Western diets, higher standard of living, falling levels of exercise rates, and increased dustmites and pollution. But Tokyo, with higher pollution than Wellington has only one fifth of the asthma incidence, while the Scottish island of Skye has the highest incidence of asthma in Britain and almost no pollution. Whether the actual article by Dr. Wilkens mentions reflux or not, it is surely a tragedy that journalists and others are so very intent on mystifying asthma. You just have to read between the lines and draw your own conclusions. Reflux as promoted by eathing high fat diets should have occurred to anyone competent enough to write on asthma and hamburgers. Assuming that, as seems likely, Dr. Wilkens, as one fair sample of an asthma expert, did not consider reflux (GERD) as playing an important role in asthma, then it is easy to conclude that: a) Important beliefs of the community of asthma experts such as asthma being due to airway inflammation (and not causing it by defective breathing) and the relative harmlessness of asthma drugs, are should be treated with suspicion, b) the high incidence of asthma in the Isle of Skye is due to the incompetence of doctors, and c) asthma is due to a pathetic belief in the competence and honesty, one might almost say, of pulmonologists and a refusal to seriously consider pursed lips breathing and other practical tactics. Regards, Richard Friedel >Assuming that, as seems likely, Dr. Wilkens, as one fair sample of an >asthma expert, did not consider reflux (GERD) as playing an important >role in asthma, then it is easy to conclude that: It may be easy for you to conclude this, but it is a specious conclusion. I know of no modern pulmonologist who does not consider GERD as a possibility when considering the etiology of asthma. Regarding your continuing contention that airway inflammation plays no role in asthma: it is a fantasy that has not been borne out by available, reputable evidence. Your belief that asthma is just an incompetence in breathing techniques is silly. Let's just leave that to the autonomic nervous system. Glad to see you join issue on the role of inflammation. Firstly, when I did some defective breathing (too much inflation of the abdomen) the effect was not only partial kidney failure but also extreme asthma symptoms. I could hardly bear to lie in bed. I kept wanting to sit up (orthopnoea) The allergic reaction of my airways was also extreme. When I did synchronous breathing exercises (qigong as one possibility), the breathing rate was slowed down and distribution of air in the lungs normalized and the asthma symptoms became trivial. Secondly, if you look at the matter from the perspective of, say comparative physiology, then it seems obvious to think that misuse of the lungs (which happen to be living tissue, not just chunks of foam rubber), not only in attacks but also by putting up with perfusion (blood supply)/ventilation mismatch generally, will be likely to cause damage including hypersensisitivity of the lung tissue . The use of cortisone pills or sprays can suppress the symptoms of such damage and the patient can go on breathing improperly without obvious symptoms and without basically tackling the asthma. One definite and obvious possibility is here (as my continuing contention) learning to take a normal deep breath, i. e. with a fair amount of flow resistance in the nose, tensing the navel region in an upward and inward direction and lifting the shoulders - IN SLOW MOTION. This is also one method of getting a second wind or runner's high. (As phenomena, the second wind and asthma seem to belong in the same mysterious category). According to my very vivid memories of attacks, I seemed to be trying to do all this but all too hectically and without bothering about abdominal muscle action. Regarding breathing and breathing exercises: we not only "breathe" air but also blood and breathing makes a very substantial contribution to driving the blood through the blood vessels, whatever popular opinion on the exclusive role of the heart happens to be. Regards, Richard Friedel Very well said. The amount of doctors who do not consider the relationship between Gerds and Asthma is bigger than you can imagine, even with all the articles written on the subject. I really discovered the relationship when in my late 50s and decided to go to the local vet hospital. As soon as they discovered that I have had asthma for decades along with a horrible coughing problems the looked into the gerd problem, treated it and my asthma and coughing has imporved beyond what I could have hoped for. >Whether the actual article by Dr. Wilkens mentions reflux or not, it is >surely a tragedy that journalists and others are so very intent on [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >consider pursed lips breathing and other practical tactics. Regards, >Richard Friedel Some fruther information for your consideration. Kylie Walker, " Fish oil 'wards off asthma'", Hearld Sun, Australia, November 3, 2004, Link: http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,11275136%255E1702,00.html FISH oil supplements appear to ward off asthma symptoms in young children with a family history of allergies, Australian researchers have found. Children who consumed higher amounts of omega-3 fatty acids from birth were 10 per cent less likely to experience coughing and wheezing at the age of three, Sydney University's Professor Craig Mellis and colleagues found. "It's very hard to know who's got asthma and who hasn't in preschoolers," Prof Mellis told AAP. "But we are starting to see a reduction in respiratory or asthma-like symptoms in the group that took the fish oil." In a study of 616 children with a family history of asthma and allergies, one-quarter was exposed to increased omega-3 fatty acid from birth, one-quarter lived in households where anti-dust mite measures were taken, one-quarter did both and the remainder did neither. "The dust mite avoidance group didn't have any reduction in any of their respiratory symptoms at the age of three, but the fish oil supplement is looking promising," Prof Mellis said. "If dust mite avoidance doesn't work, then at least we can tell people that it doesn't work and therefore we shouldn't be using it as a treatment." Asthma usually cannot be diagnosed before children reach primary school age, and Prof Mellis said the group in this study would be followed up at age seven to obtain more definitive results. "It may well be when we look at them next time that the ones who got the intervention are even more different from the control group," he said.peThe children were recruited before they were born, he said, and started on increased omega-3 fatty acid, obtained from fish oil, from their first day after birth. "If they were not being breastfed it was added to their formula from day one and if they were being breastfed the mother took the supplement - there's plenty of omega three fatty acid in breastmilk anyway," Prof Mellis said. "We wanted the children as they were weaned and taking solids to continue having a fair bit of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet and little kids don't like fish so we were giving the parents special margarine that had omega-3 fatty acid supplement in it. "We were measuring the omega-3 fatty acid in their blood and there was a fair separation between those that were on the supplement and those that were on the control." The study, published in the latest issue of the United States-based Journal of Allergyand Clinical Immunology, was prompted by an earlier survey of NSW school children in which those who ate fish at least once a week were found to have a much lower rate of asthma. "Omega-3 fatty acid is incorporated into cell membranes and it makes them more stable so, given that asthma is an inflammatory disease of the airways, it makes them less likely to get inflamed," Prof Mellis explained. It seems to be working for me.  Signature00doc > It seems to be working for me. Since nobody seems to be paying attention enough where they asked, I will. Why, whatever do you mean, doc??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? (insert emoticon batting baby blues here) >From all evidence, this seems to be an easy and effective strategy that has many benefits beyond asthma. > Kent Atkinson, "Hamburgers cause asthma, NZ research says", New Zealand > Herald, November 8, 2005, [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > wheezing problems, according a study published yesterday in the > international scientific journal Allergy. This doesn't prove anything. People who eat fast food tend to be poor. And poor people often have asthma because of the conditions in which they live. It could very well be that eating hamburgers is a marker for being poor. Correlation doesn't prove causation. Jeff >> Kent Atkinson, "Hamburgers cause asthma, NZ research says", New Zealand >> Herald, November 8, 2005, [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > Jeff Well said. It is always remarkable how people try to use statistics in an attempt to make causal connections. For them, the Scientific Method is a foreign concept. >>> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10354170 >>> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >attempt to make causal connections. For them, the Scientific Method is a >foreign concept. Let's bring it closer to home for them then. Please review the refresher course: http://teacher.nsrl.rochester.edu/phy_labs/AppendixE/AppendixE.html > This doesn't prove anything. People who eat fast food tend to be poor. And > poor people often have asthma because of the conditions in which they > live. It could very well be that eating hamburgers is a marker for being > poor. Correlation doesn't prove causation. Poor, less educated, living in cities, more obese, less physically active - yep, there are a lot of reasons for the association besides the burger itself. Signature00doc |
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