Allergy Partners is expected to open its 67th branch office inmid-February as an expansion of its primary Albuquerque office,said Amanda Reed, marketing and corporate communications managerfor the company that's based in Asheville, N.C.

"There's a need for allergists there because they are seeing a lotof patients," she said. "They have so many patients that thisseemed like a really good time to expand, and Rio Rancho is a goodplace to expand to."

The 3,500-square-foot facility will be at 820 Pinehurst and isbeing built by Rio Rancho-based Rachel Matthew Development.

It's the fourth location in the state, joining Albuquerque, LosAlamos and Santa Fe.

Allergy Partners is t​he nation's largest single-specialty practicewith multiple locations across 13 states.

"We strive to be recognized as leaders in the development anddelivery of h​igh-quality health care for patients with asthma andalle​rgic disease," according to the company website.

"Our vast care network of providers work together to promoteeducation, research and innovation in the field of allergy andasthma care," it said.

The company provides diagnosis and treatment of asthma, allergies,eczema, sinus problems, chronic cough, recurrent infections andmore.

"We will obtain a detailed history, perform a physical exam, anddetermine the best personalized and comprehensive treatment planfor our patients," the website said.

"Our physicians will provide our patients with the highest quality,evidence based, and cost effective allergy and asthma carepossible," it said.

The network of 30 primary practice locations spans 13 states andencompasses 67 total locations of service. Allergy Partnerscurrently employs approximately 68 full- and part-time allergistsand immunologists and more than 500 practice employees.

Dr. Shanze "Sam" Wang will be the primary physician at the RioRancho location.

He studied at the Second Military Medical University in Shanghaiand received a Ph.D. in Immunology from Flinders University Schoolof Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia.

He interned and served his residency at the University of NewMexico's Department of Internal Medicine.

New practice for allergy sufferers to open soon in Rio Rancho - Rio Rancho Observer: Local

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Rashid Aljari shops for goat milk to feed his lactose intolerant son at the Organic Foods & Café in Dubai Mall.

Sarah Dea / the National

DUBAI // Linda Foster's two-year-old daughter has coeliac disease, an inflammatory disease of the gut, which requires young Aili to eat only gluten-free food. but finding that food can feel like moving mountains.

Gluten is a protein found in rye, wheat, barley, kamut and spelt. It is present in most types of cereals, bread, pasta, pizza, cake and cookies.

"She is very sensitive, so for me, trusting a supermarket is a humungous issue," said Ms Foster, a Swedish resident in Dubai. last may, she set up Gluten-Free UAE for residents in need of information concerning the disease.

The most critical issue, according to Ms Foster and other parents of children with gluten, lactose or sugar intolerance, is that supermarkets in the UAE are not as aware as they could be of the needs of customers with special diets. Food for diabetics is sometimes shelved separately in stores, however gluten-free and lactose-free items often are not.

"Shopping is not as straightforward here; if the product is next to a gluten-containing one, it could make my daughter ill," said Ms Foster, whose whole family turned gluten-free to avoid exposing her daughter.

"I go to five supermarkets a week for my family, and it can take me up to two hours a shop because I have to read all the ingredients all the time," she said.

Many supermarkets say the demand for speciality food in the UAE is unclear, which leads to a lack of adequate supply to consumers.

"We are not sure how much the demand is here for people with food allergies," said Anil Vaswani, the area operations manager of Almaya Supermarket in Dubai Marina. "So we are not sure how much we should actually get."

The supermarket provides customers with 60 products in a specific area so they are not mixed with other food items. And because shelf space is tight in many of the country's groceries, "we don't have too much space to experiment with these types of products", mr Vaswani said.

For the past year, suppliers of speciality diet foods have been receiving products from Australia. they include sugar-free and organic, gluten-free food. "We make sure not to mix them with other items that contain gluten," mr Vaswani said. the store also supplies soya and goat's milk.

Rashid Aljari, whose 20-month-old son Obeid is lactose intolerant, knows how hard it can be to find a reliable supply of goat's milk.

"Ninety per cent of the milk on the market in the UAE is cow's," mr Aljari said. "So I have a huge issue because I need to find a substitute."

The Emirati lawyer buys goat's milk from the Organic Foods & Café in Dubai Mall. but even that has proved tricky. "Goat's milk is really hard to find and it's not always available on the shelves, so when there's a shortage, I struggle a lot," he said.

If mr Aljari has no other choice, he will give Obeid cow milk. "But it causes him trouble at night and he starts screaming from stomach aches," he said. mr Aljari said he has not yet tried camel's milk.

Worldwide, approximately 3 to 5 per cent of children and 0.5 per cent of adults are affected by food allergies. in children, the most common problem foods are eggs, cow's milk, soya, tree nuts, peanuts and fish. in adults, the principle allergens are tree nuts, peanuts, fish and shellfish.

"People with food allergies are quite common in the UAE, much more in kids than in adults," said Dr Michael Loubser, a specialist who sees 10 new allergy cases a week at his Infinity Clinic in Dubai. "Sesame seed is the leading food allergy in the GCC."

When it comes to restaurants, Dr Loubser said, the seriousness of food allergies has been largely underestimated. As for supermarkets, "there is a lack of speciality food stores that cater to individuals who have very specific dietary requirements".

"The Organic Foods & Café in Dubai is a notable exception," he said. "The West has strong legislation in place, but some food produced locally or in South-east Asia is not so well legislated." next page

Gap in market for specialised diets

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• Many automotive designers seem to take inspiration from smartphones
• Cars are becoming platforms to participate in the digital, networked world
• Technology is still crude, and several years away from finding its way into vehicles
• Mercedes demos an "augmented reality" windshield at CES

Las Vegas (CNN) -- Imagine a future in which icons flash on your car windshield, hologram style, as your car approaches restaurants, stores, historic landmarks or the homes of friends.

Simply point your hand at them, and the icons open to show real-time information: when that bridge over there was built, what band is playing at that nightclub on the left, whether that new café up the street has any tables available. Wave your hand again, and you've made a restaurant reservation.

Mercedes-Benz showed off this vision of the future of driving -- complete with augmented-reality and gesture-controlled features -- this week at the International Consumer Electronics show.

CES is the world's biggest technology trade show, and carmakers are becoming a bigger presence here. Visitors climbed into a little cockpit at the Mercedes booth and took a brief, interactive and virtual ride through nighttime San Francisco -- with the high-tech windshield as a guide.

"Gesture is very intuitive. It's very natural," said Vera Schmidt, a user-interface designer with Mercedes who led demonstrations of the technology. "You point at something, and you want to know more about it."

The technology is still crude, and at least several years away from finding its way into Mercedes vehicles. but it illustrates how automakers, while embracing current computer innovation such as dashboard touchscreens and voice-control interfaces, also are keeping an eye further down the road as well.

As digital tech -- and our expectations for it -- becomes more mobile, carmakers are taking notice. Many automotive designers here seem to have taken inspiration from smartphones, with their promise of being always connected and their vast menu of apps for every purpose.

"Cars are becoming platforms to participate in the digital world in a fully networked sense, just like your tablets can and your phones can," said Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader with Ford Motor Co.'s innovation division. "It's our job to take those computing services people are used to at 0 mph and make them available at 70 mph."

Yes, that sounds a little scary. And with escalating concerns about the hazards of distracted driving, automakers must walk a fine line between convenience and safety. Automotive engineers are continually trying to simplify their interfaces to cut down on the precious seconds that a driver's attentions are diverted from the road ahead.

"All of our technology is voice-powered," Ford product manager Julius Marchwicki told CNN's sister network HLN. "So instead of fumbling with your phone ... you keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road."

Sascha Simon, head of advance product planning for Mercedes-Benz USA, agreed: "We determine which apps should be in the car and which shouldn't. We have these apps integrated in such a way that they're actually relevant to you."

For example, say you're running late to a meeting and can't call or text while driving. Mercedes' messaging app will create a menu of logical missives based on your location and your car's speed -- "I'm stuck in traffic," or "I'm just north of Bakersfield" -- and display them on the screen.

You scroll through them and push a button to post the one that fits, instead of having to manually type the words.

Ford this week introduced five new apps for its pioneering Sync hands-free entertainment system, including Roximity, a daily-deals application that provides real-time discounts relevant to a driver's location. Ford is so committed to morphing its vehicles into digital platforms that the company is recruiting developers to create apps for Sync and plans to open a research lab in Silicon Valley this year.

Meanwhile, Mercedes launched the second generation of its mbrace system, which connects drivers with the Web via customized apps that can be controlled by voice commands or on a dashboard touchscreen. Mbrace is now cloud-based, meaning it's always connected and its software can automatically update itself.

Not to be outdone, Audi and Kia also have big presences at CES, and both announced updated versions of their Web-based dashboard entertainment systems.

The boldest advancements in automotive tech, however, may be a few years away. All the major car companies are working on systems that would allow vehicles to talk to each other about road conditions, weather and traffic snarls. For example, a car swerving to avoid a tire in the road could send an instant message alerting surrounding vehicles to the hazard.

Ford also is developing technology that takes a more holistic approach to driver safety and welfare. instead of focusing on preventing collisions, for example, a car could help diabetic drivers by employing wireless sensors to monitor their glucose levels, said Gary Strumolo, Ford manager of vehicle design and infotronics.

Or a car could help allergy sufferers by monitoring for high-pollen areas, then recirculating air within the vehicle instead of pulling it in from the outside, he said.

Kia is testing something called the "user-centered driving concept," which would emphasize safety by employing an infra-red LED and camera to monitor the driver's face for alertness. The system would recognize whether the driver's eyes are opened or closed, safeguarding against an accident caused by the driver falling asleep.

All these advancements may make driving more interesting. or they may spoil one of modern society's last refuges from the hyper-connected digital world.

Either way, they are coming soon.

"We're working on a new generation of vehicles that truly serve as digital companions," said Dieter Zetsche, head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, in a keynote speech at CES. "They learn your habits, adapt to your choices, predict you moves and interact with your social network."

'Augmented-reality' windshields and the future of driving

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“Exotic fruits like kiwi, mango and papaya are emerging as an allergen -- sesame as well,” said David Naimi of the Northwest Asthma & Allergy Center.

Greg Jensen says his daughter, 17-year-old Rhiannon Jensen, had a severe allergic reaction at school Thursday. She has had to use an EpiPen before, and has even gone to the hospital. Now her parents are asking the Issaquah School District to remove kiwi from the menu.

“That’s a tough thing to do because there’s a lot of other common food allergies that are much more common than kiwi is, like milk, egg, peanut and soy. Patients can have true anaphylactic reactions to those foods and it’s difficult to propose to have all schools avoid wheat and egg and milk,” said Naimi.

While Naimi says some schools in Puget Sound are peanut free or have peanut-free zones, he has never heard of a district altogether banning something rarer like kiwi.

Sara Niegowski with the Issaquah School District says they are trying to do everything they can to be proactive when it comes to food allergies.

“definitely we need to know about them, need to make plans as responsibly as we can to keep those kids safe because they are entitled to be at school,” said Niegowski.

The district says it’s committed to come up with a new plan for Rhiannon.  Around 3 p.m. Friday, the student’s mother said the district called her and said they will agree to temporarily remove kiwi from the menu during that process, but wouldn't say if it’s a permanent move.    

Issaquah school agrees to temporarily remove kiwi from menu after student has allergic reaction

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Natural a href=”http://www.partyanimalpetfood.com”Organic Dog Food/a doesn’t have a connection to chemicals of almost any sort from the early stage of ingredient preparation up to the actual processing phase. However not every ingredient that goes into many pet foods are 100% natural, however the vast majority from the producers of organic dog food do everything possible to ensure their ingredients are as natural and organic as can be.

Organic Commercial dog food - good for Allergies and Health:

Natural organic dog food is sort of certain to give your pet an allergy free lifestyle. if however you feed other products away from organic dog food, and they expose your dog to contaminants, then your pet could have an allergic reaction, these other merchandise could be in the kind of certain treats or other ingredients your dog may eat. it would be a shame for this to take place as allergies to the healthy organic pet food are pretty much none existent, therefore it is critical that you monitor what your pet is actually eating.

Organic Pet food - good for Skin and Digestive function:

Skin problems that are by means of an allergic reaction appear to become less in number when eating your dog a natural organic dog food. if you employ a dog with skin ailments then its worth considering swapping on to some natural organic dog food. it might just have a positive influence and help to reduce your own dogs allergic reactions. if you need to do decide to swap to an alternative dog food it is essential that you carry out this changeover gradually.

Pets that suffer from bloating due to the pet meals they are fed could even be helped to overcome such undesired problems by feeding an normal dog food. The natural normal dog foods help to lower such digestive problems by minimizing the intake of undesirable chemical substances and increasing the amount of quality organic ingredients. Natural natural dog food should be less complicated for your dog to absorb allowing his stomach to perform smoother and more efficiently.

Numerous natural organic dog foods have the appropriate quantity of vitamin supplements to contribute towards a valuable food to help keep an individual dog healthy and energetic. Unique dogs have different nutritional demands and these requirements can always be met by finding the ideal organic dog food for their own individual needs.

Organic dog food items can have superior nutritional prices compared to some common puppy foods found on the current market, so it may be worth taking into consideration feeding your dog a great natural organic dog food in addition to help your lovely dog to help feel and look his finest.

For more information about a href=”http://www.partyanimalpetfood.com”Organic Dog Food/a visit our website.

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SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. I'm Shirley Griffith.

STEVE EMBER: and I'm Steve Ember. Today, we tell about soft-bodied robots -- robots that can move more easily than those made of metal. We also tell about efforts to control the disease malaria. and we tell about how being president of the United States can be good for your health.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: when many of us think of robots, we picture large, metal objects in the shape of humans, having difficulty moving around. But robots have come a long way. a team at Harvard University in Massachusetts recently developed a soft-bodied robot. The team based the design of its robot on sea creatures without hard shells or skeletons.

STEVE EMBER: The robotic device was made with soft materials called elastomers. it is about thirteen centimeters long and has four legs that can move separately. The movements are controlled by compressed air and can be operated from a computer.

George Whitesides led the Harvard researchers. The United States Department of Defense paid for the project.

The robot itself took two months to develop. In tests, researchers have guided the robot under a plate of glass less than three centimeters high. The researchers say their invention can move at a speed of about thirteen meters an hour.

A report about the robot was published in November in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Increasingly, soft robots are being developed for difficult jobs like moving through a battlefield or wreckage from a natural disaster. The robot can move across uneven surfaces including small rocks and wet dirt.

Earlier this year, scientists from Tufts University in Massachusetts developed another kind of soft robot made of silicone rubber. This robot is about ten centimeters long and shaped like a caterpillar. it is able to roll up into a ball shape and move itself forward.

But researchers say there are difficulties in making these robots move. for one, they want to find a way for the robot to transport its own power source. They are also hoping to improve its speed.

STEVE EMBER: The World Health Organization says malaria was responsible for seven hundred eighty-one thousand deaths in two thousand nine. most of those deaths were in children in Africa. Worldwide there were two hundred twenty-five million cases of the disease.

Both of these numbers represent improvements. In two thousand there were an estimated two hundred thirty-three million cases of malaria and almost a million deaths.

Malaria remains a major problem in Africa, but there have been some successes. Deaths in Rwanda, for example, have been reduced by sixty percent.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: The main way for communities to control malaria is by controlling mosquitoes. The disease comes from a parasite spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

In a recent study, researchers in West Africa showed that an insecticide spray can greatly reduce malaria transmission. Researchers at the Center de Recherche Entomologique de Cotonou tested a chemical called bendiocarb. They tested it with indoor spraying at sites throughout Benin.

The study found there were fewer mosquito bites in homes sprayed with bendiocarb. More importantly, none of the three hundred fifty-thousand people who lived there got malaria-infected mosquito bites during the test.

STEVE EMBER:Malaria control efforts currently depend on things like chemically treated bed nets and spraying against mosquitoes. But scientists keep trying to find other ways to prevent the disease.

There are still no vaccines to prevent malaria. But a number of vaccines remain under development. most contain genetically engineered versions of a few proteins from the Plasmodium parasite.

Plasmodium is the organism that causes malaria. those modified proteins are designed to get the body's defenses to launch an immune response against the Plasmodium. But the parasite contains thousands of proteins.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Another experimental vaccine includes a deactivated version of the entire parasite. Robert Seder works at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, near Washington.

ROBERT SEDER: "So instead of picking out one or two or three genes, you have the potential for what we call breadth -- generating an immune response that would be broad rather than narrower. and so that would be a good thing."

Radiation is used to weaken the parasite so it cannot make people sick or get spread by a mosquito. To make the vaccine, scientists use the parasite at a time in its growth when the organism is called a sporozoite.

This idea has been known since the nineteen sixties. But mr. Seder says a discovery by a researcher at a vaccine company cleared the way for progress.

ROBERT SEDER: "The major breakthrough here was that my collaborator, Stephen Hoffman at Sanaria, developed a method where he could isolate the sporozoites and purify them so that they could administer it as a vaccine to humans. and no one thought that that was possible."

But no one knew either if the weakened sporozoites would activate the immune system to protect against malaria. So researchers tested it on volunteers and found that it was safe -- there were only minor side effects. But it was not very effective. only two out of forty-four volunteers were protected when bitten by malaria-infected mosquitoes.

STEVE EMBER: To find out why, the researchers tested the vaccine on laboratory animals. They decided that the problem was the way the vaccine had been given to the volunteers. it was injected into the skin, to simulate the bite of a mosquito. mr. Seder says it would have been more effective if it had been given directly into the blood.

For now, more testing is needed. a report on the testing appeared in Science magazine.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Finally, many Americans say the hardest job in the world is being president of the United States. The man, or woman, who lives and works in the White House must be able to deal with problems twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Even on holidays or in the middle of the night, the president may have to make decisions that affect both people in this country and the rest of the world.

That is why some news media tell about changes in a president's personal appearance during his time in office. last August, President Obama celebrated his fiftieth birthday. Some pictures showed him as a man with grayer hair and more lines on his face than when he first took office. and that got researcher S. Jay Olshansky to thinking. he studies aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

STEVE EMBER: Doctors nearly always say that high levels of stress are bad for your health. So people would expect a president's life to be shorter than average. Some people even say that being president could cause a person to age two times as fast as normal. But Professor Olshansky was not persuaded. So he examined the lives of the thirty-four American presidents who died of natural causes. he found that twenty-three of them lived longer than most people born at the same time.

The average age of those thirty-four presidents when they died was seventy-three. if they had aged two times as fast as normal, they should have lived to be only sixty-eight point one years old. The professor also found that the first eight presidents lived an average of seventy-nine point eight years. at that time, modern medicines had not been invented, and most men lived only about forty years.

ReutersFormer U.S. President Gerald Ford and his wife, Betty. mr. Ford lived to 93, older than any other president.

Four American presidents lived past ninety. John Adams, Herbert Hoover, and Ronald Reagan each lived ninety or more years. But Gerald Ford lived longer than any other president. he was ninety-three and a half when he died in two thousand six.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: Professor Olshansky says gray hair, hair loss and other changes are part of aging and may result from something in our genes. So presidents are no different from the rest of us. But the researcher thinks there are three reasons they outlive other people. most presidents are well-educated. Many are wealthy when compared to other Americans. and they have the best medical care possible. They know how to stay healthy, and have the best doctors. as a result, they can afford to live a healthy life long after they leave the White House.

Professor Olshansky says, "It is a classic illustration of the benefits of socioeconomic status." His study was published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

STEVE EMBER: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake, Christopher Cruise and Jim Tedder. I'm Steve Ember.

SHIRLEY GRIFFITH: and I'm Shirley Griffith. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

A Soft Body, but the Mind of a Robot

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His daily pollen counts, a traffic update of sorts for allergy sufferers, were used by radio and television stations and by Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone for its recorded weather updates.

Dr. Zucker determined the concentration of allergens by collecting pollen on a microscope slide, which he placed on the roof of one of his offices.

Jonathan Elias Zucker was born March 15, 1941, in new York; he was the son and grandson of doctors. as a boy he began using the name John, spelled with an “h,” Kelley said.

Dr. Zucker graduated from Riverdale Country School in new York in 1958. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1962 and a medical degree in 1966, both from Columbia University.

Early in his career, Dr. Zucker worked in the U.S. Public Health Service in Washington. After completing a fellowship in pediatric allergy and immunology, he worked with a Washington area allergist before opening his first office in Upper Marlboro in 1973.

Dr. Zucker was a past president of the D.C. chapter of the International Wine and Food Society. He and Kelley met at a dinner party and were married in 1992.

His first marriage, to Nancy Baum, ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 19 years, of Washington; two children from his first marriage, Jeremy Zucker and Amanda Bowker, both of Washington; a sister; and four grandchildren.

John E. Zucker, allergist known for daily pollen count, dies at 70

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Does our inability to identify a trigger mean we don’t have any sensitivities to food? or does it mean that our sensitivities are either so subtle or so widespread that to identify them through a migraine diary is close to impossible? many specialists and some migraineurs are beginning to say it’s the latter.

In a Huffington Post article published last year, Dr. Leo Galland wrote that food and drink triggers were the migraine triggers over which migraineurs “have the greatest control.” Not by avoiding certain chemicals in food, which Dr. Galland says has not been proven to reduce migraine frequency, but by avoiding foods that trigger our individual immune systems. But, how do we identify those foods? Dr. Galland and other experts say IgG testing may be the answer.

IgG testing is a particular kind of food allergy testing. the premise behind the tests, according to Sheryl B. Miller, Clinical Laboratory Director at Bastyr University Natural Health Clinic, “is that high circulating levels of IgG antibodies are correlated with clinical food allergy signs and symptoms.”

“These tests, one might extrapolate, would help the physician pinpoint food allergies in their patients so that patients might avoid these foods and their associated signs and symptoms,” wrote Miller in an essay. “the ELISA/EIA test itself involves coating a 96 well plate with food antigens, adding a patient’s sera and looking for a classic antigen/antibody interaction. In addition to the IgG antibody detected in most of the newer commercial assays, some companies also detect IgE.”

Despite various experts’ enthusiasm about IgG testing, however, little scientific evidence existed to suggest that using the tests for migraine prevention actually made a difference in patients’ experiences. recently, that changed.

A 2010 Turkish clinical double-blind, randomised, cross-over trial was conducted on 30 participants diagnosed with migraine without aura. the trial aimed to discover “the effect of diet restriction, based on IgG antibodies against food antigens, on the course of migraine attacks.” the researchers found that eliminating specific foods with raised IgG antibodies significantly reduced the number of migraine attacks experienced by the participants over a six-week period.

“These findings make evident that food can trigger or worsen migraine attacks in susceptible individuals, and also that it is an individual-specific problem,” wrote the American Migraine Foundation in a statement about the study. “Given that migraineurs can have different foods provoking their attacks, and the extent to which food plays a role in migraine varies between persons, this study also demonstrates that blanket recommendations that all individuals with migraine follow the same diet are not very helpful.”

Unfortunately, many insurance companies won’t pay for the IgG Food Allergy Test because they claim it isn’t “medically necessary.” Without insurance coverage or reimbursement, the tests can be quite expensive. If any of you readers have taken this test, did your insurance company cover it? If not, why did you decide to shell out the bucks? And, most importantly, was it worth it?

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If you're Robyn O'Brien, mom of four and author of "The Unhealthy Truth," you take a stand.

O'Brien went on an exhausting journey, taking on the food industry, government and big business — holding them accountable for her child's food allergies and the millions of other people who are being made ill by what she believes is the poor quality of food in this country.

O'Brien's book provides eye-opening research and guidelines that may change the way you think about and consume food.

Q: what are some of the important "Unhealthy Truths" you have discovered?

A: The United States is the only developed country in the world to have allowed certain ingredients into our food supply that have never been proven safe. Introduced in the 1990s, these ingredients were designed to increase profitability for the food industry. With no long-term human studies to assess the allergic potential of these foods or other toxicity concerns, they were introduced into our food supply without labels, despite the fact that other countries either restricted their use or insisted on labeling these new food ingredients so that consumers could make an informed choice.

Q: Why do you think the U.S is so reluctant to comply, when other countries have proven food can be made safer and still make money?

A: The United States is the only developed country that does not adhere to the precautionary principle, a governing principle that only allows ingredients into the food supply once they have been proven safe. In the U.S., our stance is that ingredients are allowed into the food supply until they are proven dangerous. Additionally, because a lot of the ingredients used to process foods in our food supply are also used in medication (artificial colors, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives), the task at hand, reducing children's exposure to these ingredients, which have been removed from children's products in other countries, is larger than it may initially seem.

Q: what is the distinction between a food allergy and a food sensitivity — as you discuss in your book? Why is it important to know the difference, especially when it comes to treatment?

A: this is an important distinction given the varying severity of food allergic reactions. And therefore it may be best to consider a food allergy as an immediate, and sometimes life-threatening, reaction in which the body senses immediate danger in a food, seeing it as a foreign invader, a threat, launching an immediate reaction to drive out that foreign invader. but sometimes that reaction can be so severe that it can cause a life-threatening allergic reaction known as anaphylactic shock. on the other hand, a food sensitivity can be thought of as a delayed food allergic reaction that does not always appear immediately but rather can occur over the course of up to 36 hours after an offending food is ingested. Symptoms for a food sensitivity can include eczema, acne, dark circles under the eyes, ear infections and chronic stomach issues. a true food allergy can be life-threatening and require medication like epinephrine. a food sensitivity, if left untreated, can also cause low-lying inflammation also associated with life-threatening diseases. The difference is that one tends to have an immediate impact, the other has an impact that builds over time.

Q: You say in the book that doctors dismiss the idea that earaches, eczema, crankiness and poor sleep could be diet-related. Why is this, and is there anything to be done?

A: We do not have a health care system that is designed to care for health; we have a system that is designed to manage disease. And surprisingly, medical schools, which are largely funded and financed by the pharmaceutical industry, do not focus on the role that diet and nutrition play in the prevention of disease. that knowledge, considered by many as age-old wisdom, is referred to as "integrative medicine" in the U.S., medicine that integrates all aspects of health and well-being together, from food to pharmaceutical solutions.

Q: Briefly discuss the three things you say that you wish you knew three years ago?

A: The most important thing that I have learned is that we all have a remarkable ability to affect extraordinary change in the health of our families. Mounting scientific evidence points to the role that toxic chemical exposure in our food, water and air can have on the health of our loved ones. And while none of us can do everything, all of us can do something to exercise precaution and to protect the health of our families. And just because the United States is the only developed country in the world to fail to exercise this level of precaution at the federal level does not mean that we can not exercise this level of precaution at home, in our schools and in our corporations.

Q: what has changed in our food that is making food a weapon vs. nourishment? You mention FD&C Yellow-5, HFCS...

A: Technology has afforded us enormous opportunity in the last 20 years, from advances we've seen in social media to advances in food technology. With tractors now equipped with computers, a farmer can send emails from the field or correspond over Twitter. at the same time, technology is now used to genetically engineer selective traits into our food supply — crops designed to withstand increasing doses of toxic weed killer or crops designed to synthesize their own insecticidal proteins. And while the promises of these new technologies are great, the truth is that no long-term human health studies have been conducted on the products created. For example, an artificial growth hormone introduced into the U.S. food supply in 1994 was created using this new technology and a genetically engineered e.coli bacteria. because no long-term studies have been conducted showing that it is safe, governments around the world either did not allow for its use in their dairy products or insisted on a label for this artificial growth hormone so that consumers could make an informed choice. Their concern over this artificial growth hormone produced from a genetically engineered e.coli bacteria stemmed from the fact that it made dairy cows so sick and resulted in an increase in antibiotic use. other ingredients used in foods in the U.S. have been removed from foods in other countries, including artificial dyes, synthesized from a petroleum derivative and linked to conditions like hyperactivity and cancer. High fructose corn syrup is also not used in other countries due to concern that it may contain genetically engineered corn, another ingredient introduced into the U.S. food supply in the late 1990s without a label and without any human health studies to asses its allergenicity or toxicity.

Q: Dr. Ludwig, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, was quoted saying that we have shifted toward more "fake foods" and it has altered our immune systems. what are these "fake foods" he is referring to and what are some of these immune system changes?

A: "Fake foods" are foods that do not occur in nature. We don't find high fructose corn syrup growing on a tree or artificial colors like FD&C Yellow 5 growing on a plant. These ingredients now found in so many of our processed foods have been engineered and created in laboratories and are primarily used to make food more appealing to consumers and more profitable to manufacturers. most of these ingredients or "fake foods" are relatively new to the food supply. High fructose corn syrup was invented in the 1960s, artificial sweeteners like aspartame (Equal or Sweet and Low) was introduced in the 1980s. Artificial growth hormones were introduced into our dairy supply in the 1990s. And genetically engineered soy, corn and canola in the late 1990s, too. With no long-term human health studies, we are essentially conducting this experiment on ourselves. And our children, the first generation of children to be exposed to these ingredients since their conceptions, have sadly earned the title of "Generation Rx." And while correlation is not causation, we are also learning that precaution can go a long way toward prevention.

Q: You talk about the scary truth of non-profits, government agencies and big corporations teaming together and leading us down an unhealthy path. how do we fight such a big threesome that seemingly runs the show? Why would our government allow a company like Monsanto to get so big and have so much say?

A: No one wants to acknowledge what a powerful role money can play in something as vital as our food supply, but the food industry is one of the largest and most powerful industries in the world. And the responsibility that executives within the food industry have is to their shareholders — it is their fiduciary duty to drive profitability. And if that profitability can be achieved by substituting ingredients that can be found in nature with synthetic ingredients that are engineered in a lab, it is their obligation to do so, as long as there is no evidence of harm. And with no long-term human health studies, deregulation of these ingredients has occurred on the claim that there is no evidence of harm. but a lack of studies does not mean that something is safe. And just as deregulation of the financial industry resulted in toxic assets, the deregulation of the food industry is quickly showing to have done the same. With recalls and lawsuits over false and misleading claims and safety concerns, we are seeing the same toxic effects of too much deregulation that we saw in the financial industry.

Q: GMO's, Genetically Modified Foods, are on the rise. We've lived without it all these years, why now? Are the healthcare companies running the show?

A: It seems as though sick people are a bigger business than healthy ones. The business model behind the genetic modification of the food supply is brilliant. By engineering selective traits into food crops that only respond to certain chemicals in order to grow, companies have built extraordinary wealth on the sales of their genetically engineered seeds and the chemical products required to make them grow. And while the promise by the biotech industry and the agricultural chemical companies producing these crops has been that we need this technology to feed the world, the only two traits currently on the market are designed to increase the sale of toxic weed killer and to allow a plant to synthesize its own insecticidal protein. There is no consumer benefit at all which is why organizations like the United Nations are emphasizing that in order to meet the needs of a growing global population, we must also address the impact that this chemical system is having on the health of our soil, our water and our planet in order to minimize the harm that is occurring to both the environment and human health.

Q: You were shocked by all the soy, corn and processed foods in your cabinets — most of which are staples in many homes (mac 'n' cheese, Goldfish crackers and chicken nuggets). what did you do to change that and remain realistic about your budget and keep foods your kids would eat?

A: when I first learned that at least 70 percent of our processed foods contained genetically engineered ingredients that had never been proven safe and that were not used in foods in other countries without warning labels, I was stunned. These ingredients, from genetically engineered soy and corn products to artificial growth hormones in yogurts, were in just about everything that I was feeding my family.

With four kids, limited time and a limited budget, I knew that I couldn't change everything without risking complete mutiny at the kitchen table! And so we started with baby steps. We chose one thing to get rid of and that very first thing was that artificial growth hormone (known as rbGH), since it was never allowed to be used in dairy in other countries. And thankfully, we found milk labeled "rbGH-free" in Sam's, Costco and Wal-Mart. We also quickly learned that products labeled USDA Organic, by law, are not allowed to contain any of these genetically engineered, artificially created ingredients that aren't being used in other developed countries.We learned to dial back on the colors, so instead of blue yogurt in tubes, the kids had white yogurt and added some sprinkles. We focused on not making "the perfect" the enemy of "the good." And worked hard to remind ourselves that this was about progress not perfection. We chose one thing a month to focus on: the first month, that artificial growth hormone, rbGH. The second month? High-fructose corn syrup, since our food manufacturers don't use it in the products that they produce for eaters in other countries. third month? We tried to reduce our exposure to genetically engineered foods. Fourth month? It was artificial dyes, since they had also been pulled from kids' products in other countries. And the easiest way that we found to do all of this was to simply eat less "fake food".

Q: at the end of the book, you suggest some simple swaps. can you give a few examples of ones that your kids easily took to? Any words of wisdom for families who want to eat better?

A: instead of frozen pizzas, we made our own with spaghetti sauce and English muffins. instead of colored yogurt, we went for white yogurt with sprinkles or raisins. instead of fluorescent orange powder on noodles, we dialed it back, using half of the packet of artificial powder initially until we eventually weaned the kids off of it entirely. We took "baby steps," remembering that you don't wean a kid from a sippy cup overnight or potty train them in a day, that these changes take time and that in order to be successful, it requires a pace that you can sustain.

And the most important thing to remember is that these changes do not happen overnight or without the support of friends. so before you think about getting started, find a friend with whom you can make these changes, someone with whom you can share your stories about your successes and the obstacles along the way, and someone who will remind you that you are doing an awesome job, with what you have, where you are and that at the end of the day, this is about "progress" not "perfection."

Because hope is the knowledge that change is possible, even when it seems hard to imagine!

Carin Lane can be reached at 454-5436 or by email at clane@timesunion.com.

For more with Robyn O'Brien and other healthy living tips go to blog.timesunion.com/healthylife

Uncovering 'Unhealthy Truth'of food supply

Fast Weight Loss

Allergies are the 3rd most common chronic disease among children, and eczema is present in over 10% of kids. This epidemic of atopy, a person’s predisposition to developing allergic symptoms has caused health care practitioners to look beneath the skin for solutions for our children. Starting in infancy, parents can prevent the development of allergies and eczema in their child.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, especially in the third trimester, mom’s should avoid foods that are highly allergenic (eggs, peanuts, cow’s milk), and any other foods that the mother is sensitive to.  You can find out what foods you are sensitive to through Elimination and Challenge, or Serum Food Sensitivity Testing.

Breastfeeding

Health Canada now recommends that all mothers breastfeed exclusively (without any food or formula introduction) for the baby’s first six months.

The first feeding is even more important! Colostrum, produced by the mom within the first hour of giving birth is rich in IgA antibodies which confer the mother’s immunity to the child.  Colostrum coats the infant’s digestive tract lining, making it less permeable to molecules that could cause an immune response.

Exposure to formula within the first few days of life can trigger sensitivity to cow’s milk or the ingredients in the formula.  It is extremely important to avoid formula within the first 3 days after birth, and avoiding formula altogether is even better for your child’s immune system and long-term health.

Food Introduction

Foods should not be introduced until your child is at least 6 months old, as they are highly susceptible to developing allergies before this time.

How will you know your child is ready for solids?

Signs you can look for include:

• Front teeth coming through
• Able to sit upright and hold head up with good control
• Interested in food and reaching for food
• Still hungry after 8-10 breastfeedings in one day
• No more tongue thrust reflex and is able to swallow foods

Between 6 and 9 months, the least allergenic fruits and vegetables can be introduced.  Fruits should be cooked until the child is older than 12 months.  Breastmilk should be the child’s only source of protein.  Grains should be strictly avoided until at least 9 months because pancreatic enzymes required for starch digestion are not yet produced.

Between 9-12 months, more cooked fruits and vegetables can be introduced, as well as the least allergenic grains.  Protien can be in the form of breastmilk, lentils and beans.

Foods such as yogurt, cheese, eggs, goat’s milk, citrus, fish, chicken, soy, strawberries and tomato should be avoided until 12-18 months of age.  Wheat should be avoided until 18-24 months.

Highly allergenic foods such as cow’s milk, shellfish, peanuts and chocolate should not be introduced into the child’s diet until 2 years of age.

Other Factors for Digestive and Immune system Health

To promote gastrointestinal and immune health, supplementation may be recommended, especially if:

• Your child or their relative already has allergies or eczema
• Your child has a personal history of antibiotic use
• Your child suffers from frequent colds, infections, or chronic nasal congestion

Probiotics are the “good” bacteria in your digestive tract that help with digestion, vitamin production, and ward off microbes that can invade the immune system and make you sick.

Omega 3 oils are anti-inflammatory in the digestive tract and modulate the immune system and its reactivity to allergens.

Allergies and Food Introduction

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