PART ONE

Sick kids and Toddlers

Prior to my graduation from naturopathic medical school, I worked as an essential oils and whole food nutritional consultant.  At that time, most of the children that I worked with came to me for pretty straightforward wellness issues.  At that time, I dealt mostly with supporting these little ones’ growing immune systems from typical childhood respiratory, ear, and sinus issues. It was rare at the time to consult with a child diagnosed with an autoimmune, cardiovascular, or any other chronic condition.

This is the not case today. In the previous six years in naturopathic medicine practice, I noticed a disturbing upward trend with our next generation-more and more of our children are being diagnosed with adult diseases at young ages!

These children are coming to me for support with what used to be considered “adult chronic diseases”.  Intrigued in this fact, I began reading through various articles in my studies to search for reasons for this. During my research, I noticed that I wasn’t alone in my experience as a physician. Dr. Rosen speaks of some current trends in our child’s health below.

Our Children and Health Care

Here are some concrete examples of the current state of children’s health:

• Cancer remains the leading cause of death by disease in children. The age-adjusted annual incidence of cancer in children increased from 129 to 172 cases per million children between 1975 and 2005.5

• Obesity is epidemic. Data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (1976-1980 and 2003-2006) show that the prevalence of obesity has increased: for children aged 2 to 5 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 12.4%; for those aged 6 to 11 years, prevalence increased from 6.5% to 17.0%; and for those aged 12 to 19 years, prevalence increased from 5.0% to 17.6%.6

• Diabetes now affects 1 in every 500 children. Of those children newly diagnosed with diabetes, the percentage with type 2 (“adult-onset”) has risen from less than 5% to nearly 50% in a 10-year period.7

• Asthma is the most prevalent chronic disease affecting American children, leading to 15 million missed days of school per year. From 1980 to 2007, the percentage of children with asthma has almost tripled, from 3.6% to 9.1%.8

• Approximately 1 in 25 American children now suffer from food allergies. From 1997 to 2007, the prevalence of reported food allergy increased 18% among children under the age of 18 years. 9

• One in 6 children is diagnosed with a significant neurodevelopmental disability, including 1 in 12 with ADHD.10,11 Autism affects 1 in 150 US children, an extraordinary rise in prevalence that has been widely publicized but poorly understood.12

• Babies in one study were noted, at birth, to have an average of 200 industrial chemicals and pollutants present in their umbilical cord blood.13

A World of Chemical Soup

Why has there been such an increase in childhood “adult” diseases at such an accelerated rate?  The last line from Dr. Rosen’s article provides a clue.  Many of you will remember that approximately one year ago, I was privileged to attend the Institute for Functional Medicine’s Detox Module. This module provided in depth training on how environmental exposures affect our biochemistry and our children’s and more importantly, how to defend and protect our bodies from the negative effects.

According to the American Journal of Public Health:

The proportion of children suffering from chronic illnesses–such as asthma and obesity, which have significant environmental components–is increasing. Chronic disease states previously seen only in adulthood are emerging during childhood, and health inequalities by social class are increasing. Advocacy to ensure environmental health and to protect from the biological embedding of toxic stress has become a fundamental part of pediatrics. We have presented the rationale for addressing environmental and social determinants of children’s health, the epidemiology of issues facing children’s health, recent innovations in pediatric medical education that have incorporated public health principles, and policy opportunities that have arisen with the passage of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

I feel it’s vital that every physician be aware of these environmental contributors to illness. Everyone should have expert access on how to protect the body from various exposures. This is due to the fact that by simply existing, we are ingesting a hodgepodge of chemical alphabet soup such as PVOCs, PCAHs, metals, and second hand smoke.  We’ve never been up against so much!

In fact, an article in Huffington Post discussed chemical exposure from an unexpected source- our own clothing purchases!

Greenpeace has released a new report today, “Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up,” that investigates the prevalence of toxic chemicals in popular, low-priced clothing brands. Part of Greenpeace’s Detox Campaign, the report reveals the link between two unfortunate realities: textile manufacturing facilities using hazardous chemicals and the presence of those chemicals in the products of those facilities.

“Many chemicals that are used in the dying and processing of fabrics can become hormone disrupting and even cancer causing when they break down in nature,” said Greenpeace’s Media Officer, Myriam Fallon, and those chemicals are being dumped into rivers right near the factories. So Greenpeace tested 141 clothing items from 20 major brands, including Zara, Levi’s, Mango, Calvin Klein and H&M, looking for evidence of phthalates, nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPEs) and azo dyes, which can break down into cancer-causing amines.

If that’s not enough, just when we think we are doing well for our bodies by exercising, we may not realize that the form and where we exercise determines our risk for cancer!  A recent study concluded the concentration of trihalomethanes (THMs) in tap water and swimming pool water in the area of the Nakhon Pathom Municipality during the period April 2005-March 2006 and its correlation to cancer risk. The researchers found (bold emphasis mine):

Cancer risk of THMs concluded from various routes in descending order was: skin exposure while swimming, gastro-intestinal exposure from tap water intake, and skin exposure to tap water and gastro-intestinal exposure while swimming. Cancer risk from skin exposure while swimming was 94.18% of the total cancer risk.

Body Burden Symptoms

These exposures, through breath, clothe, water, or other routes, cause a whole array of symptoms SYSTEMICALLY. According to Dr. Hyman:

When our bodies become toxic it means that our natural method of ushering out metabolic waste from normal human metabolism, environmental pollution, and what has become known as the Standard American Diet (or SAD) has exceeded the threshold for what the body’s innate detoxification system can tolerate.  With this toxic load, every system in the human body can become affected.  From our head to our toes and everything in between, toxicity makes us sick!

Read the Continuation of why our children are at more risk here.

References:

Rosen, L. Integrative Pediatrics: The Future Is Now. Alternative Therapies. September/October 2009, VOL. 15, NO. 5. Accessed through Modern Health Practitioner on 11/5/12. http://www.modernhcp.com/PDFS/ALTTHERSEPT09.pdf

Hyman, M. Detox Made Safe and Simple. Drhyman.com. November 15, 2012. http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/11/15/detox-made-safe-and-simple/

Bock, K. Recognizing Neurotoxicity and Immunotoxicity within the Functional Medicine Model. IFM. Detox Advanced Practice Module. Phoenix, AZ. December 9, 2011.

Alice A. Kuo, MD, PhD, Ruth A. Etzel, MD, PhD, Lance A. Chilton, MD, Camille Watson, MS, Peter A. Gorski, MD, MPA. Primary Care Pediatrics and Public Health: Meeting the Needs of Today’s Children. Am J Public Health. 12/02/2012;2(12):e17-e23. Reprinted on Medscape: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/774785?src=mp

Prickle, J. Body Burden: The Pollution in New Borns. Environmental Working Group. http://www.ewg.org/reports/bodyburden2/petition_cdc_20050721.php

Krupnick, El.  Chemicals In Fast Fashion Revealed in Greenpeace’s ‘Toxic Threads: The Big Fashion Stitch-Up’ . Huffington Post.  November 20, 2012. http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001kRmLGPkBWagDSgCTo8x6UiwCfwj_-P_SqyDDckk5gxWYCISSbuhuDIxt0twRppat6IdAHeOCQV5Gbb7iEddpQ79oc4mq39V0L_mP_Biwe2QMO6D6bMqwJssvmHMjOesmq10XgMOyB27TGt0_QmTYcOBukSETwVPrFmpCl5J2vcyPOAVLDa5ZpZoAzrffSL5BnWJFHrcYKfYOPj_uzLtrr2CWUGhT-uzHHjKp-Jj8f9k=

Panyakapo M, Soontornchai S, Paopuree P. Cancer risk assessment from exposure to trihalomethanes in tap water and swimming pool water (abstract). J Environ Sci (China). 2008;20(3):372-8. PMID:  18595407

Health Day. Tap-Water Chemical May Be Linked to Food Allergy:Pesticide-treated fruits, vegetables may also harbor the compound, researchers say. 12/3/12. http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=671165