Dr. Stengler: It is astounding ten percent of American adults and children have asthma. That is unbelievable, but it is a major problem in our healthcare today. Fortunately, with natural medicine, we can really work at the root cause of why a lot of people have asthma, so we can decrease the incidence why they get it in the first place or, if they need medication, often we can decrease the need for it, the amounts, and in some cases people don't need medication on a frequent basis.Host: What's really interesting is the fact that it has increased so much. Why do you think that is? Everybody we know now has someone they know who has asthma. There are always people that say, "Oh, I can't exercise, I've got asthma," or "my child has asthma." We know a lot of kids that can't do sports, and they miss so many games because their children have asthma.Dr. Stengler: There are several reasons why asthma is so prevalent today. Number one, obesity just being overweight is a risk factor for developing asthma. When you're overweight, you develop inflammatory compounds in your body which can trigger the asthma. Remember, asthma really is inflammation in the lungs, so when people have asthma, they get tightness in the chest, difficulty breathing, excess mucus production, and even chronic coughing is a symptom. But to your question more directly, besides weight gain, a lot of people develop asthma because of pollution. They've done studies in city settings, and people especially kids who live in a city where the buses are traveling around and the exhaust is being released, that is a risk factor for developing asthma.Host: So let's talk about allergies. We've got environmental effects from pollution. What about other allergies that are really common in people who have asthma?Dr. Stengler: Absolutely. We've known for a long time that one of the biggest triggers of asthma is allergies. The most common are environmental allergies you're reacting to dust, pollens, trees, things in the environment. Some people react to foods, too; foods actually are an undiagnosed trigger of asthma in some people. So what we do is identify the things they're reacting to. Let's say it's dust or different pollens conventional medicine will give you antihistamines and other allergy drugs, but a natural approach uses natural antihistamines, things like quercetin, a type of bioflavonoid similar in its effects to vitamin C, and other natural anti-inflammatories.Host: So if you already have asthma, what are some things that can cause an asthma attack or the symptoms?Dr. Stengler: We've talked about allergies, people being overweight, and pollution. Another common one I see with a lot of kids and some adults is the effects of stress. When people are under emotional stress, that can trigger asthma. So emotional distress certainly can lead to asthma in some people.
