Allergic Asthma in Childhood

This is a very personal issue for me as I had my first asthma symptoms when only a few months old…

Allergic asthma is the most common form of asthma amongst children making it essential to take it seriously. In allergic asthma, symptoms such as wheezing are started or triggered by contact with something which seems harmless such as stroking a pet or breathing in the dust mites that are present in nearly all homes. Symptoms can even be triggered by eating a wholesome food – as a child of 4 I had a rapid reaction to egg and one of the symptoms was my lips swelling like balloons!

Since the triggers for allergic asthma are in the environment it makes sense to make some adjustments to limit your child’s exposure to them.

• Smoking - fewer people smoke these days but it’s important to point out that a child should not be exposed to smoke from parents, baby care staff or relatives and friends.
• Pets - are a treasured part f the family but may be a part of the problem too. If the pooch is part of the problem then at least keep them out of their bedrooms and off the furniture. Children may need careful instructions to remind them to wash their hands after stroking “fluffy”. In fact even soft toys may need regular cleaning in a mild wash.
• Diet - there’s 2 parts to this because some food seem to add to the problem and other foods may be part of the solution.

Let’s start with what we’ll call “allergy foods”. This is going to be an individual thing and is going to require some detective work on your part unless you go for a full scale allergy panel using a blood test via an Allergist or other allergy specialist. Some foods may simply trigger digestive problems while other may start wheezing, sneezing or coughing.

A careful inspection of the food label may show ingredients with odd chemical names or they simply are termed “preservative” or something else that sounds good.

The symptoms tell their own unbiased story and should be the judge of whether it is removed from the child’s diet. Lots of packaged food has artificial colour and other chemicals and some of these are known to cause problems in some children.

So how can some foods help asthma? Asthmatics according to many researchers seem to have an extra need for vitamin C and so food rich in this vitamin would be helpful.

It may also help to use a children’s vitamin C supplement – and the one to use has to match the child’s age – something else to check on the label. Naturally you want a vitamin pill that does not have artificial colour / dye/ etc!

There’s also other substances in foods such as apples and onions – especially red onions, that can help with asthma. One special vitamin-like substance is Quercetin which helps vitamin C do it’s job against infection and inflammation.

Childhood asthma, also known as Pediatric asthma, is serious but there are tons of practical things you can do with diet, food supplements as well as practical household issues like pet and dust control. As a final note remember that a good deal of health stems from one’s emotional wellbeing. A happy child is going to be more robust and able to handle the various allergy triggers in the environment.