According to research recently published in the British medical journal The Lancet (2006;368:705), asthma may not really be an illness. The diagnosis of asthma, especially in children, has increased dramatically over the past two decades. Now researchers are admitting that the term may actually be used to describe a variety of symptoms that have multiple causes – most of them allergy related.

Environmental changes with the introduction of huge numbers of toxins in our environment are likely at fault. We all know that dietary assault from refined foods and pesticides in foods account for many allergic symptoms. Asthma may just be another symptom like fever- not an illness but a warning sign that begs us to heal the actual cause and not mask the problem with more and more medication. Sounds to me like the basic natural medicine guideline of “seek the cause and treat it holistically”.

On that same note a new study published in the journal Thorax shows that children who eat more fish and whole grains are less likely to suffer from asthma. (Thorax 2006;61:1048-53).