Cockroaches, animal products and their link to asthma

The Department of Health’s Asthma Week (observed Aug. 16 to 20) is officially over. But then, for the estimated 235 million sufferers of chronic asthma (according to World Health Organization estimates), their affliction, an inflammatory lung disease involving recurrent breathing problems, doesn’t really follow any timeline.

Here are four tips that could help alleviate, if not eradicate, asthma.

1 Dairy and asthma and respiratory disorders are related. Some of the conditions found in medical literature linking cow’s milk include asthma and other respiratory difficulties, as well as chronic fatigue, tension headache, musculoskeletal pain, hyperactivity, bed wetting, aggravation of allergies and congestion. Preventive health expert Neil Nedley, MD, author of “Proof Positive,” suggested that “a trial a month without any dairy products is considered a worthwhile experiment for most people—particularly if they are having significant problems with their health.”

2 Cockroach and asthma are linked. According to the National Cooperative Inner City Asthma Study, one of the largest studies on asthma, there’s a link between asthma and exposure to the proteins carried by the common cockroach.

In addition to being exposed to known triggers of asthma in city air such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and other air pollutants, city dwellers are likely at increased risk of exposure to cockroach proteins due to the abundance of these pests in urban areas.

3 A total vegetarian diet helps reduce bronchial asthma. According to Nedley, a total vegetarian diet, which is completely free of animal products, has been demonstrated to reduce medication needs in asthmatics.

“Thirty-five patients who had suffered from bronchial asthma for an average of 12 years were the subjects of a Scandinavian study. All of the participants were receiving long-term medications; 20 were on some of the most potent asthma medications that we use, the cortisone-type drugs such as Prednisone. These compounds can help people manage their asthma better, but they can also have significant long-term damaging side effects,” said Nedley in his book.

In the research study, these 35 chronic asthmatics were asked to go on a total vegetarian diet for a year. Over two-thirds of them remained on this diet for the full year. The results: 71 percent improved after four months, 92 percent improved after a year. The significant improvements included: stress test, pulmonary function, capacity to do physical work and changes in blood tests.

4 Dehydration and asthma are related, too. Ronald M. Lawrence, MD, and Martin Zucker, coauthors of “Preventing Arthritis” and “The Miracle of MSM,” cited in Preventing Arthritis how asthma sufferer David Brownstein, MD, who practices in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and an assistant clinical professor of medicine at Wayne State University, was able to solve his asthma.

“Upon increasing my water intake, I noticed an immediate improvement. The water helped my asthma and my allergies immediately. I was able to stop using the inhalers within six weeks. Now I rarely use any medication for my asthma. My symptoms are almost totally gone,” Brownstein related to Lawrence and Zucker.