By Kenneth A. Bock MD on December 27, 2010

Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies: What’s Going on With Our Kids?

I want to begin my first post here by talking about something that is very basic to the perpetuation of our society: our children. The specific question I want to ask is simple but key: What the heck is happening to our kids? Why am I starting with this question? Let me give you some background information.

In the United States and other industrialized, developed nations, epidemics of malnutrition and common childhood infectious illnesses are almost a thing of the past due primarily to the technological advances of our industrial era. However, we are in the midst of a group of new childhood epidemics that are directly related to this same industrialism and its associated pollution, environmental degradation and toxicity. One set of epidemics has, unfortunately, been replaced by another.

I have termed the new childhood epidemics “the 4-A disorders,” and they include autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), asthma and allergies. Over the past quarter of a century, autism has increased a staggering 1500 percent, while ADHD, asthma and allergies have also skyrocketed. I find these meteoric increases staggering, and they beg the question: Why?

This simultaneous rise is not coincidental. All of these disorders appear to be linked together by a similar mechanism: an underlying genetic vulnerability, triggered by environmental insults. The primary underlying genetic vulnerability appears to be, in many children, an impaired ability to detoxify, which has left them unable to cope with the ever increasing number and level of toxins to which they are exposed. These toxins include numerous chemicals, plasticizers, bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, flame retardants such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pesticides such as organophosphates and organochlorines. They also include heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium and aluminum. Added concerns arise from the phenomenon of synergistic toxicity among heavy metals and toxic chemicals. This means that even when threshold levels of individual toxins have not been exceeded, their combined effect can be quite significant and harmful.

To effectively overcome the inflammation, nutritional deficiencies, immune dysfunction and other disparate factors that often result in a diagnosis of one of the 4-A disorders, a comprehensive treatment program must be initiated. I call this the 4-A Healing Program, and it consists of five primary elements: avoiding toxicants, dietary modification, nutritional supplementation, detoxification and administration of medication (as appropriate).

Avoidance of toxicants is essential to nutritional and detoxification strategies, as they are obviously hampered by continued toxic environmental exposures. To explain this a bit further, let’s take the classic example of two people in a rowboat that has sprung a leak. One approach to the problem is to use a pail to bale the water out, working feverishly just to keep up with the water still coming in from the leak. On the other hand, they could plug the leak and prevent more water from coming in and thereby lessen the demand for corrective measures downstream. The second approach, plugging the leak, is what we’re doing by avoiding further exposures to environmental toxins.

Dietary modification is extremely important. Many children with 4-A disorders have gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, including constipation, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, gas and pain. Most of those with GI symptoms (and even some without obvious GI symptoms) have underlying gut issues including malabsorption, maldigestion, dysbiosis (or unbalanced intestinal flora) and/or increased intestinal permeability – the so-called “leaky gut.” Main contributors to these gastrointestinal abnormalities are dietary factors, including food allergies, sensitivities and intolerances. The most common offending foods seem to be gluten (the protein in grains including wheat, barley, rye and some oats) and casein (a protein in dairy foods, including milk, cheese, yogurt and ice cream). Some of these foods may even promote an addictive-type effect due to the endogenous morphines they produce. Avoiding these foods, especially gluten and casein, may initially produce withdrawal symptoms but often ultimately results in significant positive changes.

Nutritional supplementation is virtually always needed to support healing. Most children with 4-A disorders suffer from significant nutritional deficiencies, which not only contribute to neurological dysfunction, but also to other metabolic processes, such as proper function of the body and brain. At times there are frank deficiencies, but in other instances there are nutrient insufficiencies and/or imbalances that can cause adverse effects. Because there is a significant overlap in the factors that cause the 4-A disorders, there is also often a significant overlap in the nutritional supplement programs that benefit the children suffering from these new childhood epidemics. Many of these children, regardless of their diagnoses, benefit from minerals (such as magnesium, zinc, selenium, chromium and iron), antioxidant vitamins (including vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin E), the B vitamins, vitamin B-6 and methylcobalamin, vitamin D, targeted amino acids, essential fatty acids and probiotics.

Detoxification, the essential process of eliminating toxins from the body, can be significantly improved in many children, particularly those who suffer from impaired detoxification abilities. Methods for improving detoxification include the use of nutritional and herbal substances, including glutathione, taurine and curcumin, and in some cases the careful and judicious use of pharmaceutical chelators.

Medication, the fifth and final element of the program, is an integral part of treatment for many children who suffer from these disorders, and it is obviously an important factor in controlling asthma. In all of the 4-A disorders, a wide variety of medications may be of value, depending upon the individual needs of the child. These can include antifungals, immune modulators and anti-inflammatories to name just a few.

This comprehensive program, when applied cautiously, patiently, scientifically and systematically, has been clinically shown to trigger recoveries in children with each of the 4-A disorders. It appears as if this approach may represent one of the most promising avenues of treatment for autism, ADHD, asthma and allergies. Healing the environment and decreasing toxic exposures may ultimately be even more effective than medical treatment at stopping the proliferation of these new childhood epidemics. That task, though, will take time, and involve the cooperation of not only physicians, researchers and parents, but government and corporations as well.

For now, our focus must be on healing our children, one at a time. Our grave responsibility, as physicians and as parents, is to allow our children – born of love, and nurtured by those who love them most – to have the healthy, happy lives that all children deserve.

Photo Credit: Symic

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By Guest Blogger on December 18, 2009

Diabetes, meet my green juice.

I am a vegan mom to two daughters (aged 1 and 3). In addition I am self-employed as a therapist. I have another identity that is invisible to many people: I am a Type 1 diabetic with a couple of other autoimmune problems thrown into the mix. In the 11 years I have been diabetic, I have learned not to fight this disease but to live more peacefully with it.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which your body turns against itself and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells on your pancreas. It is often confused with the more common Type 2 diabetes, which can be managed with diet, exercise, or oral medications. Type 1 (previously known as juvenile diabetes) usually strikes children or young adults who seem otherwise healthy. Without synthetic insulin injected into the body, Type 1 diabetes would be a terminal disease.

I was diagnosed when I was about to turn 25. I was in the middle of graduate school and when I look back, I had been running on adrenaline for some time. The previous year I had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease, which is an autoimmune problem with the thyroid gland. It never occurred to me that my body was warning me to slow down. I continued to take care of others and to juggle school, work and social commitments. I felt tired all the time, and sometimes would get weak and shaky. I was hungry and thirsty, no matter how much I ate or drank. And still I pushed myself to accomplish more. When I felt exhausted I thought I was being lazy. Finally, I ended up at the emergency room. My sugar was too high to register a reading on a glucometer. I was told they had never seen a sugar so high outside of someone in a coma and I was put on an insulin drip right away. I remember asking a resident the question that I had been pushing out of my mind for months: Am I a diabetic? Of course, the answer was obvious, but for a few weeks I honestly believed it would all turn out to be a mistake.

It surprised me what a juggling act diabetes management was. I spent my first year trying to be the perfect diabetic and I struggled with feelings of guilt and shame. I was convinced that somehow this was my fault and now I could never fix it. My days were filled with insulin injections and sugar checks… suffering from blood sugar lows that left me guzzling juice, shaking, sweating and confused or highs that made me dehydrated and fuzzy-headed. I could never take a day off from diabetes without substantial risk to my safety and well-being.

It became difficult to maintain the people-pleasing life I had lived for so long. I started to realize this was a problem at the first anniversary of my diagnosis, but it took me much longer to actually change my behavior. So my body kept saying NO. No, I will not let you destroy me. No, you deserve better than this. Since the first few diagnoses didn’t slow me down, my body sent out more signals. My digestive system began to crumble. The specialists stuck tubes down my throat and scanned me but had no answers. So I gave up on them and it took me another four years of feeling sick and fatigued before I discovered my path to health.

To heal I had to take responsibility for the fact that my health problems were my responsibility. I had to face up to the fears I buried deep down that something I did caused me, in the prime of my life, to develop all this disease. When I fell in love with my husband (6 years ago) he was able to help me see how little I nurtured myself. He made me feel happy and helped me to slow down. My body recognized its window of opportunity and increased my digestive distress, finally sending me to a naturopath. I discovered the food allergies related to my leaky gut (destroyed by stress and lack of nutrition) and quickly devoted myself to adopting an allergen free diet. During my twenties I did not take time to prepare the vegetables and fruit I had always eaten growing up. I consumed way more wheat and dairy than I had in my parents’ home. Now, with my body failing, I needed to spend more time on me.

When I discovered a wonderful raw food restaurant during my first pregnancy four years ago, I began to realize the importance of adding in even more plant-based foods (versus just cutting out the food I couldn’t tolerate), and had an ah-ha moment: food itself is truly medicine! Two years ago my husband and I started making green smoothies every morning and then craved plant-based foods all day. Last spring, I decided I did not enjoy meat anymore, and thought I may as well cut it out altogether for a trial period. The ACT cleanse was starting here on CSL and I decided to follow along. Everyone’s tips and ideas were so helpful. I started using the juicer that had been sitting in my cupboard, did a little dry brushing, got back to hot yoga, and shook the last few gastrointestinal symptoms I had! I completed my transition to veganism.

There is nothing more empowering than taking control of your health. I may still need my insulin pump and thyroid medication but I believe I have halted the autoimmune cyclone hitting my body and I will continue to eat a plant-based, vegan and gluten-free diet for the rest of my life! I know these changes could help many people… in fact, my husband’s asthma of 25 years vastly improved from eating a less rigid version of my diet at home. I hope someone reading this is helped a little on their own path to good health.

Michelle Sorensen is a clinical psychological associate in Ottawa, Ontario. She practices cognitive behavioral therapy, teaching her patients to change the way they feel physically and emotionally by changing the way they think.

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