Yet Another Reason to Avoid Fast Food

An article in Science News caught my attention the other night. As many of you know, my son has had some issues with asthma and has recently been diagnosed with severe dust, pollen, weed, tree, and mold allergies. The title of their article certainly caught my eye, “Fast Food Linked to Asthma Risk.”  According to the article, a survey of more than a half-million people has shown that certain foods can increase or decrease the risk of developing asthma. Consuming milk and fruit at least three times a week may decrease the risk, while fast food increased the risk not only of developing asthma, but the study suggested a link between fast food and severe eczema and rhino-conjunctivitis

So there’s yet another reason to steer clear of fast food! We try really hard to avoid fast food — except for that occasional pizza I have to admit. 🙂 Even on nights when we have to rush from children’s activities straight to my rehearsal, I try to have a crock pot meal ready to dish out and eat on the way/on the go or resort to something quick like microwave veggies and salmon, which can be ready in 15 minutes.  

Here’s more about LD’s asthma/allergies sagas the past couple of months:

Wake Up! My child has asthma! — Kind of a history of LD’s asthmatic episodes and an explanation of what asthma is and how it affects the lungs

LD’s Health Issues… and the Impact on our Homeschooling Life — His allergy diagnosis and how those twice a week doctor’s visits will impact our homeschooling. (LD was in tears this evening because we have a doctor’s visit tomorrow.  He said some of the injections really hurt–while others “aren’t so bad.” It makes him really scared because he never knows which ones are going to be bad. The dosages they give him vary from arm to arm, visit to visit. So it’s going okay, but I feel bad for him.)

What’s funny about all this is that we tried really hard to “do the right things” — especially when LD was really little. We bought preservative free breads from a bakery (because we had been to a lecture about the link between preservatives/nitrates, etc. and various issues like ADD, asthma etc.). We also eat fruit with most every meal/snack and have veggies as much as we can.  I guess it just boils down to doing the best you can for your kids and then dealing with the cards you’re dealt!

Again, you can read the article I mentioned above by heading over to Science News.org. I found their graph really informative and interesting.