"Tamara P. Duvall" wrote: > I don't think it's quite as simple as that... I was told (way back in > my childhood) that allergies (food or otherwise) are genetic -- that we > pass them on, if not always in exactly the same form. If so, then they > spread like a weed (sorry, I can't remember the English term... > "geometrical progression"? when you have 1 in first generation, 2 in > the second, 4 in the third, etc?).
There is also another theory being tested in Switzerland, I think. The theory is that if we are protected from too many bugs when we are young, our immune system goes overboard when we have to face these bugs as an adult. They noticed that children who live on farms have a lower rate of allergy than town children. The idea being tested is that exposure to animals helps develop a better immune system. My father always believed that a healthy child had consumed at least a bucket of dirt by the time they were two years old. When my children were young I gradually weaned them off having everything sterilised before it went in their mouths before they were a year old. My daughter is as healthy as an ox in the immune department. In Shepparton every fourth child seems to suffer from asthma in varying degrees. When my son gets a cold (about once a year) You will hear the occasional soft wheeze from lung congestion. Other mothers say he has asthma but the doctors say he is perfectly healthy. Maybe this is part of the answer, maybe it is more complex. Something more to think about. Regards, Vickie in a frosty Shepparton, Australia. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
