Understanding and Coping with Children's Allergies

The ever-growing list of pollutants in the air, water, and land add to a long list of naturally-occurring allergens which constantly bombard our senses, forcing our adaptive mechanisms to adjust.  While many of us are able to make these physiological adjustments with relative ease, for many kids the adaptive process weakens them, pushing their total stress load beyond the healthy tolerance level.  The result for a growing number of children are allergies.  And with over 12 million artificial chemicals presently in use in the US alone, and an estimated 1000 new toxins being introduced into our environment every month, the incidence and rise of children's allergies and respiratory problems is nothing short of alarming--and is a concern of every parent.  Read more . . .

What Does "Hypoallergenic" Really Mean?

According to the FDA, "hypoallergenic" simply implies "below normal" or "slightly" allergenic, but has no substantiated medical definition.  Additionally, there are no Federal standards or definitions that govern the use of the term "hypoallergenic"--the term means whatever a particular company wants it to mean.  In fact, the term "hypoallergenic" was actually invented as part of a cosmetics ad campaign in 1953, used to describe items that claimed to cause fewer allergic reactions.  Read more . . .