Health News

Knowledge about food allergy is as old as history; the ancient Egyptians, the Chinese, the Jews, and the Greeks all demonstrated an instinctive understanding of these allergies. However, allergy to food was studied scientifically for the first time only fifty years ago by Schloss who observed that:(a) a boy had epidermoids-animal hair and scales from dogs, cats, horses, goats, rabbits, birds, sheep, rats and mice, roaches, silkworms dyes cosmetics insecticides poison ivy plant hives after eating eggs, almonds, and oatmeal; (b) the same boy had an inflammation in his skin when injected with extracts of those foods; (c) the boy manifested either an immediate reaction to a food (which showed itself a few minutes after eating it) or a delayed reaction (which showed itself hours or days after eating it). Schloss concluded that in immediate reactions to foods the allergen is the whole food, while in delayed reactions it is one of the broken down products of the food absorbed during digestion. He advised avoidance of complicated foods which might be incompletely digested and absorbed as such by the immature intestines of a baby.

The symptoms of food allergy are hives, nose stuffiness, asthma, eczema, vomiting, diarrhea, gas, or migraine headaches. We know through experience that fish, shellfish, berries, nuts, and chocolate frequently cause hives, while cereals, milk, egg, or meat more often cause nose stuffiness and asthma.

A food allergy is usually diagnosed clinically with a diet diary, an elimination diet, or a provocative diet. Skin testing has little value in diagnosing food allergy.

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Mycoplasmas

Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are small organisms which are very common in all of us but found in higher quantities in couples who are not conceiving.

In the lab, mycoplasmas (including Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum) have to be grown on a special culture and whether they are tested or not can literally come down to a question of cost. For this reason they are not routinely tested on the NHS and most couples will need to go privately. But, as you will see, it is very important that, as a couple (whether trying to conceive or having experienced a previous miscarriage), you are screened for these very small pathogens.

In some clinics, when a sperm sample is analyzed it is also cultured to see whether any ureaplasma is present. This is because the presence of this infection can affect the quality of the sample, in some cases creating adhesions within the sperm. It has been found that the higher the number of ureaplasmas in the semen, the lower the zinc concentration. And we have seen how crucial good levels of zinc are for fertility.

The same study also found that the higher the number of ureaplasmas in the semen, the lower the fructose content. Fructose is a sugar normally found in semen. The absence of fructose in the semen can mean that the seminal vesicles are blocked, stopping both sperm and fructose from getting through. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that ureaplasmas are associated with male infertility, because when men were treated for the infection there was a significant improvement in the motility of their sperm.

The increase in these infections may be due to changes in sexual attitudes and the fact that certain conditions may increase their growth. For instance, it is known that mycoplasma proliferates when the Pill is used.

Unfortunately if a pregnant woman has an ureaplasma infection she can pass it on to her baby. Some interesting research, published in the New Scientist magazine in 1997, showed that if babies were infected by Ureaplasma urealyticum in the womb then they were more likely to develop asthma in later life. The researchers suggested that asthma could be prevented in some children if the parent were treated before conception.

Rubella (German Measles)

German measles contracted during childhood is a mild disease; and, once infected, the person builds up antibodies which give lifelong immunity to the illness. These antibodies can be measured by a blood test and the woman then knows whether she is ‘rubella immune’. The risk of contracting German measles during pregnancy is not to the mother but to the baby. If the mother develops this illness during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, there is up to five times greater a chance of the baby being born with congenital abnormalities (such as deafness, blindness and heart disease) or being miscarried.

If the woman finds out that she is not rubella immune then she may opt to be immunized before embarking on a pregnancy. One woman I know of, who did not want to be immunized, used a homeopathic remedy to which her body produced the rubella antibodies when subsequently measured on a blood test.

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What is it?

Until a few decades ago childbirth was dangerous for the mother and her baby. As recently as 1930 between forty and forty-five women in every 10,000 having babies died. Today this figure is one in 10,000. Great progress has been made in saving mothers’ lives and in the 1950s attention turned to improving the lot of the baby. Considerable progress has been made in this direction but there is no room for complacency. Infant mortality today is still a real cause for concern-as many babies die in the first year of life as children and young adults die in the following twenty-four years! Although a few of these deaths are totally unavoidable most are part of a much bigger problem. Some babies are born dead (still-born); some are born alive but too early and so stand a poor chance; others die in the first weeks of life; and yet others live but are handicapped-often for life.

The problem is not a small one in terms of numbers. In 1984 there were 3,640 still-births in England and Wales (who died between the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and the end of the first week of life). French estimates have suggested that for every one ‘perinatal’ death 2.5 babies survive damaged. There are today about 16,000 damaged babies surviving in England and Wales each year. Some are very little affected and others are grossly handicapped and will live in an institution for all their lives. There are probably a quarter of a million children in the UK in special schools and attending normal schools who are mentally and physically handicapped, and 5,000 children live in long-stay hospitals from which they are unlikely to emerge.

What causes it?

• Poor pre-conceptual care.

• Poor diet in pregnancy.

• Medicines, drugs, X-rays or the Pill.

• Infections during pregnancy.

• Alcohol in pregnancy.

• Smoking before conception and during pregnancy.

• Environmental hazards.

• Genetic problems.

• Poor ante-natal care.

• Birth problems.

• Congenital abnormalities.

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