Participants: Zeno Charles - Marcel, Don Mackintosh
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000073
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00:48 Hello and welcome to Health for a Lifetime.
00:50 I'm your host Don Mackintosh. 00:51 We're glad you're with us today. 00:52 And we're also delighted that Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel 00:56 from the Lifestyle Center of America is with us. 00:58 Welcome Doctor. 00:59 Thank you very much, Don. 01:00 The Lifestyle Center of America is there right near 01:04 Oklahoma City, very centrally located. 01:07 It's a beautiful facility. 01:08 What exactly do you do there? 01:10 What's your background in medicine and what not? 01:12 So we kind of get to know you and what you do. 01:14 I'm the medical director for the lifestyle center. 01:18 What we do is we have people who come there with 01:21 chronic illnesses or they wish to prevent chronic illnesses. 01:25 They spend anywhere from 12 days to 19 days with us. 01:30 We see a smattering of different kinds of diseases but we tend to 01:35 concentrate primarily on diabetes, on heart disease, 01:39 high blood pressure, obesity, and so called syndrome X 01:43 and we have special programs for people with diabetes. 01:47 My background is internal medicine. 01:49 My sub-specialty work was in geriatrics and my focus, 01:55 my clinical focus, currently is on that syndrome X. 01:58 And you're also a teacher adjunct or associate professor 02:01 at Loma Linda, isn't that right? 02:02 That's right. 02:04 With Loma Linda, it's been voted recently a very high medical 02:07 schools across the nation. 02:09 It's a privilege, actually, to be able to be involved like 02:12 you are with that school. 02:14 Yes, it is. 02:15 Lifestyle Center of America those that are watching today 02:17 we're going to be talking about allergies. 02:19 You may have allergies or know those that do have allergies. 02:24 But maybe you're going to want to get in touch with the 02:27 Lifestyle Center of America. 02:28 They have a webpage that's www. lifestylecenter. org 02:40 and you can learn about the programs, the people, all those 02:43 different things. 02:44 I'll give that to you again throughout the program so you 02:47 can remember that. 02:48 I know that after listening to Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel 02:52 you're going to want to get in touch with him about something 02:54 because he's very interesting. 02:55 We're going to talk about reactions or reactors and 02:59 reactions - allergies - today. 03:02 I heard an interesting thing that sometimes people are 03:06 allergic to each other. 03:09 Well, it is possible that people may have some chemical 03:13 constituent that would trigger an allergic response 03:16 by somebody else. 03:17 But I don't know of any really documented cases of it. 03:20 What is an allergy? 03:25 What are allergies? 03:26 Well, allergy is just a state that people are in where they 03:30 have cells in their immune system that are reacting to 03:33 things in their environment, or things that are being 03:36 generated on the inside of them that produce chemicals 03:40 these chemicals produce symptoms. 03:42 The symptoms often times include things like itching or runny 03:46 nose or even wheezing and spasm of the bronchial tree, 03:52 the respiratory tree. 03:53 So it's a whole host of various kinds of responses 03:57 a person could have 03:59 Are people allergic to onions? 04:00 Is that why their eyes water? 04:02 That's not an allergy to onions. 04:03 That's just an irritation from some of the volatile chemicals 04:08 in the onions that people tear. 04:11 So allergies then really are a good thing - true or false? 04:15 Well, I wouldn't say it's a good thing. 04:17 Basically it's a reaction that involves a particular line of 04:21 chemicals that are being produced and these often times 04:24 lead to symptoms. 04:25 Now on the other side is if there is something that is 04:29 actually toxic to us and we have an allergic reaction, 04:32 the allergic reaction actually is a minor reaction. 04:34 It will alert us that this thing is in the environment and 04:37 therefore to help us to avoid that particular toxic thing. 04:40 But for the most part, people are allergic to some of the 04:44 common things that we might find in our environment 04:47 some food stuffs that otherwise would have been reasonable for 04:51 some people to eat, some people may be quite allergic to them. 04:55 How big a problem is this in America? 04:56 How many people have allergies or maybe you know some 04:59 statistics, but how large a problem is this? 05:02 It is a huge problem! 05:03 It is bigger than I can even estimate. 05:05 I don't have any numbers telling how many people have allergies. 05:11 But all one needs to do, anybody whose watching this show, 05:15 is to ask 10 friends "Who has allergies?" and they will find 05:18 that probably seven of their 10 friends have some kind of 05:21 allergy problem. 05:23 There is one time during the year, I know for me during a 05:25 certain time of the year, something about the grass 05:27 or the hay, so called hay fever, this or that, wow, I just stop! 05:31 I'm not very good outside. 05:34 I have to really be careful. 05:36 So it's a huge problem. 05:39 Why do we have then, you've mentioned several causative 05:43 factors, foods or different things. 05:45 And then you mentioned something as we were talking 05:49 called "atopy. " 05:51 What is atopy and what does it have to do with allergies? 05:54 Well, atopy is the... A T O P Y is how you spell it... this a 05:58 word that is used often by medical personnel that indicates 06:02 that the person is at the state of allergy. 06:05 In other words, the person has the genetic components and they 06:10 have everything, they are ready and waiting for them to have 06:14 an allergic reaction. 06:15 For some people it can be expressed, that is they go 06:21 on and start that process of having physical signs, 06:26 physical symptoms of the allergy or it could be something that is 06:31 kind of under the surface, it's hanging out there and it's just 06:35 waiting for the triggers to push the person over the edge. 06:38 Well, you've talked to me now for a few minutes, and I'm a 06:41 atopic person. 06:43 Do I seem like I'm on the verge of allergies? 06:46 How can you tell whether or not you are one of those families or 06:50 one of those individuals at risk? 06:51 One of the easiest ways to tell is to look at your family. 06:54 If you have people in the family who have allergies then chances 06:58 are you also are at some risk of developing allergies yourself. 07:02 And by family members we're not talking about step-family 07:06 or anything like that. 07:07 We're really talking about blood relatives. 07:09 If your blood relatives or ancestors had allergic or atopic 07:14 diseases such as asthma, eczema, if they had allergic... 07:19 Eczema being like what? 07:21 It's a scaly, crusty, dry things on the skin that often 07:26 times cause itch. 07:27 Or it could be allergic rhinitis. 07:31 That's where runny nose, chronic, clear, runny nose. 07:34 Sometimes with children we see the allergic salute, that is 07:38 they run their hand under their nose to wipe it and 07:39 clear their nose. 07:40 The allergic salute - laughter - 07:43 The skin over the lip and the side of the nose can change 07:50 its appearance and so on because of the chronic irritation of 07:55 rubbing. 07:56 Also, I may have mentioned allergic bronchitis and of 08:03 course that's linked to asthma where the bronchial tree 08:06 actually constricts. 08:07 So if in our families we have those types of conditions, 08:10 any of those types of things, we're kind of set up, and we 08:13 need to be really watching for our own selves unless we 08:19 would develop problems with this. 08:21 What can we do then to prevent some of these things? 08:24 What could we do to prevent asthma. 08:26 What can we do to deal with these types of things? 08:28 Well, Don, there are some factors that are out of the 08:33 control of the person but are in the control of the parents of 08:38 the person before the person was actually born. 08:41 So prenatal? 08:42 Yes, there's some prenatal factors that actually influence 08:45 whether the child, who will later on grow up to be an adult, 08:48 but whether that child is actually going to be manifesting 08:52 in the allergic reactions or not. 08:53 So all you pregnant mothers out there, all you people that 08:56 think you're going to have children, listen up now and take 08:58 those notes down as we're talking to 09:00 Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel. 09:01 What can we do prenatally to help us get away from a 09:06 predisposition to allergies? 09:08 If we look at the prenatal influences, one side of that 09:14 prenatal influence is of course the genetic side. 09:16 So if I have an allergic kind of problem then it's likely 09:23 that a child that I would father would also have some of that 09:26 allergic potential or atopic potential. 09:29 Those are things that by and large we can't really change. 09:32 We can't really change the genes at this point. 09:35 But how those genes are going to express themselves often 09:39 times is related to triggers. 09:40 Are there things that would trigger? 09:42 So the mother who is carrying the baby, that person would be 09:47 wise to stay away from some of those environmental triggers 09:52 which include things that we might eat or actually things 09:55 that we might inhale or be exposed to otherwise. 09:57 So what would like trigger asthma? 09:59 Some of the triggers include, for the mother passing it on to 10:03 the kids, would be things in the diet like fish, peanuts, soy, 10:10 some people are allergic to soy, wheat, and perhaps the biggest 10:17 one is cow's milk. 10:19 Cow's milk? 10:21 So these are things we should stay away from when we are 10:24 pregnant, or stay away from if we have a problem 10:28 with those things. 10:29 The way I would put it is if we are known to have a problem 10:32 with those things, it would be best to stay away from them. 10:34 If we think we might have a problem with those things, or if 10:37 we have family members who have allergies to those things, 10:39 then what you'd want to do is to reduce these to a minimum, 10:43 if not eliminate them from the diet. 10:45 And why is that? What's happening? 10:48 What would happen inside of us if we take those substances in 10:53 when we're pregnant? 10:54 The baby has essentially a clean slate. 11:00 The baby has the genetic makeup that will allow it to go one way 11:05 or another. 11:06 When the mother is exposed to these allergens, when she's 11:10 exposed to these environmental triggers, that is transmitted to 11:14 the baby, and the baby's immune system can then turn on in the 11:19 side of allergy or remain what we would call normal or 11:24 non-allergic. 11:26 So that by reducing the load of these allergens or 11:32 eliminating contact with these allergens, actually you are 11:35 sparing the baby from turning on this allergic kind of response. 11:39 Is the same thing true even when the mother is breast feeding? 11:44 Actually breast feeding is protective against allergies. 11:49 Now this is post-natal. 11:51 Ok, we don't want to get there yet. 11:52 Is there any other prenatal things we should stay away from 11:54 specifically? 11:57 A big one is actually smoke - tobacco smoke. 12:01 There are studies done in Great Britain that have actually 12:04 shown an increased incidence of asthma in men at age 40 12:11 because their mothers were exposed to smoke when 12:15 they were in uteral. 12:16 So 40 years later. 12:17 40 years later. 12:18 And when you say exposure to smoke is that an occasional 12:21 exposure or all the time being exposed? 12:23 It's occasional or all the time. 12:24 And the higher the dose, the greater the chance 12:27 that the child will grow up to a... 12:30 So it's really unconscionable, if you're pregnant, to be in a 12:34 smoke filled room. 12:35 Let me tell you, in some Scandinavian countries they look 12:39 at exposure to smoke during the time a woman is carrying a baby 12:44 that this is considered infanticide. 12:47 This is actually killing and harming the baby and 12:50 it's going to become a criminal offense. 12:53 Is that right?! 12:55 It's that right! 12:56 The scientific evidence is so strong. 12:57 What would you do if you saw someone that was smoking or in a 13:00 smoke filled room next to their child? 13:02 Would you share that with them? 13:03 I would share that with them hands down. 13:06 Additionally and apart from just an allergic reactions per say, 13:12 there's some collateral problems that the kids can end up with 13:16 including chronic ear infections or repeated 13:18 and recurrent ear infections. 13:20 That stuff starts off before the child is actually born. 13:25 We're talking with Dr. Zeno Charles-Morcel from 13:28 the Lifestyle Center of America. 13:30 If you would like to contact the Lifestyle Center of America 13:33 you can do that by calling 3ABN and we can give you the contact 13:36 numbers or by getting in touch with them by their web page 13:40 that's www. lifestylecenter. org and they can help you out. 13:48 We're talking about allergies. 13:49 We're talking about how to avoid them even before your 13:51 child is born. 13:52 When we come back we'll talk about more of that and what to 13:56 do, of course after you've been born. 13:58 And so join us when we back. 14:02 Have you found yourself wishing that you could 14:04 shed a few pounds? 14:06 Have you been on a diet for most of your life? 14:08 But not found anything that will really keep the weight off? 14:11 If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then we 14:15 have a solution for you that works. 14:17 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington 14:20 have written a marvelous booklet called, 14:22 Reversing Obesity Naturally, and we'd like to send it to you 14:25 free of charge. 14:27 Here's a medically sound approach successfully used 14:30 by thousands who are able to eat more 14:32 and loose weight permanently 14:33 without feeling guilty or hungry through lifestyle medicine. 14:37 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 14:40 and in this booklet they present a sensible approach to eating, 14:44 nutrition, and lifestyle changes that can help you prevent 14:48 heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. 14:50 Call or write today for 14:52 your free copy: 15:03 Welcome back. 15:05 I'm talking with Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel today. 15:08 We're talking about allergies. 15:09 Perhaps you have an allergy. 15:10 Perhaps you'd like to get in touch with 15:12 Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel or those at the 15:14 Lifestyle Center of America. 15:16 And you can do that by contacting them at their website 15:19 www. lifestylecenter. org or calling us here at 3ABN. 15:24 We were talking about allergy before we went to the break. 15:28 We were talking about prenatal influences. 15:32 We talked about smoking and even being exposed to smoke 15:36 and that's a no no - just don't do that. 15:38 We talked about countries that say, 15:39 "You're doing that - that's child abuse. " 15:42 I believe that day is coming here too, just like you said. 15:46 I know that with the cigarette companies now, 15:49 it's very believable. 15:50 Who would have thought 40-50 years ago that what has 15:53 happened to big tobacco is now happened. 15:55 But I think that's going to go into other areas of life. 15:58 But there's another one. 15:59 A friend of mine that you perhaps know too, 16:03 Dr. Neal Bernhard, 16:04 The Physicians for Responsible Medicines in Washington, D.C., 16:08 is actually taking the government to court on 16:10 some other issues concerning the food and what-not. 16:13 But what about this big dairy lobby and what about cow's milk? 16:17 You talked about after birth exposing children to cow's milk. 16:24 What about that in allergies? 16:28 Well, let me say, I'm not into the political end of things. 16:33 I'm just going to look at what the scientific leader has 16:35 demonstrated. 16:39 Even prenatally, women who have some sensitivity to milk, 16:47 cow's milk, which by the way probably 45-75 percent of adults 16:55 have some form of milk sensitivity. 17:01 45-75 percent! 17:04 Especially people who have chronic sinusitis and so on. 17:07 The estimates are about 75% of those people have 17:10 milk or dairy intolerance. 17:12 This is not the same as lactose intolerance, which is the 17:16 sugar portion of the milk. 17:17 It's actually the proteins in the milk that produces 17:21 intolerance. 17:22 It tends to be, if you will, dose response, the higher the 17:28 dose, the more the response. 17:30 But when it comes to allergy even a little bit can produce a 17:36 pretty big response. 17:38 Prenatally. 17:39 So that a mother who is exposed to cow's milk who is 17:44 allergic to cow's milk may be passing on cow's milk allergy 17:49 to the baby. 17:50 So that child will be born now being more sensitive to the 17:54 cow's milk. 17:56 After birth, if that child is again exposed to cow's milk 18:01 then the child can end up with allergic problems including 18:05 asthma, eczema, and atopic dermatitis. 18:09 So they can have the full-blown cow's milk allergy in addition 18:13 to some of the other things that might be going on related to 18:18 part of the cow's milk protein, bovine serum albumin and other 18:22 proteins that can trigger auto immune reactions by the baby 18:27 to allow for the development of type I diabetes. 18:32 Diabetes? 18:33 Diabetes, that's correct. 18:34 How does that work? 18:35 Well, as far as we can tell, there are some proteins in the 18:40 milk, and one of these, the prime target is actually the 18:43 bovine serum albumin. 18:45 This bovine serum albumin has a shape and a configuration 18:50 that's very similar to the shape and configuration of some of the 18:53 proteins in the beta cells of the insulin producing cells 18:56 in our pancreas. 18:58 So what can happen is that when the young child gets this whole 19:06 protein into the system, and by the way, the gastro intestinal 19:10 system of an infant isn't fully developed until about 1 to 2 19:14 years of age, so whole proteins can actually enter into the 19:18 circulation of the child. 19:19 The child then has to fight against this foreign protein. 19:22 And the way the child will do it is with the immune system. 19:25 So the immune system attacks this foreign protein, breaks it 19:29 down, and sends a signal throughout the child's system 19:32 that says essentially this, 19:34 "If you see this protein, attack it!" 19:38 "Don't let it live. " 19:40 Now, that process alerts all of the immune active cells in the 19:46 child... 19:47 T- killer cells and all that. 19:48 You got it! 19:50 You're really a student of this stuff! - laughter - 19:51 Well, these cells now look for proteins that have this 19:56 signature. 19:57 And low and behold, if the pancreas of the child 20:01 has proteins that are similar and the child has the genetic 20:08 make up that says if this connection occurs they develop 20:12 type I diabetes. 20:13 Low and behold that will happen. 20:15 Amazing! 20:16 Why aren't we hearing things about this? 20:18 In America you see commercial after commercial... 20:22 Just recently I was at a friends' house that was watching 20:27 a commercial and there was a big thing about drinking milk, 20:32 and about how it's healthy for you and your family. 20:34 Why don't we hear these kind of things? 20:36 Well, I think that a large extent, we don't get an 20:40 unbiased view of the scientific data. 20:43 You know the milk industry is big business and 20:47 they have a product to sell. 20:49 And by the way, milk is whole food. 20:51 Milk is very rich in nutrients. 20:55 As a matter of fact, it's so rich in nutrients it can take a 20:58 baby calf and produce a full grown cow in a matter of months. 21:03 This is nutritionally packed stuff. 21:07 I'm not trying to speak against the fact that this is sometimes 21:13 good, solid nutrition. 21:17 In some communities this might be the best nutrition that some 21:20 people can get. 21:22 But it's not without its downside. 21:25 And the downside is it really wasn't meant for human 21:29 consumption per say, particularly for early in life. 21:33 The kind of milk that is meant for babies to thrive on 21:37 is actually mother's milk. 21:38 Mother's milk. 21:40 So if you have a choice of breast feeding or not 21:43 breast feeding your child, you really should make a 21:45 choice to breast feed. 21:46 Breast feed by all means. 21:47 How long? 21:48 At least a year. 21:49 During that first year the constituency of the 21:54 mother's milk actually changes as the child progresses and as 21:57 the child develops. 21:59 When you're breast feeding should you yourself drink 22:01 cow's milk? 22:02 Well, if again, if you have this atopy issue, if you have allergy 22:08 or if your family they have an issue with cow's milk allergy, 22:12 I would stay away from the cow's milk as well and use 22:15 other things if at all possible to get adequate nutrition. 22:19 There are like soy milks, rice milks, there are other things 22:22 That's correct 22:23 Now those other things, I ought to mention, 22:26 they are not really milks, you know. 22:27 Soy milk is not really milk. 22:29 It's just soy beans. 22:30 It's soy beans and they now make it with 22:33 soy protein isolates and what not. 22:34 You could be allergic to that. 22:35 You could be allergic to that, too. 22:37 Additionally, with the genetic engineering, they've been able 22:40 to put in other kinds of proteins into the soy bean, 22:44 etcetera, so some people may not be allergic to soy at all, 22:48 but they might be allergic to something else that was 22:50 introduced into the soy. 22:52 So stay away from genetically produced foods? 22:55 Well that might be a lot bigger topic than I can summarize in 23:00 one statement. 23:01 But for instance, there was an epidemic, if you will, a small 23:05 epidemic, of individuals who were supposedly allergic to soy 23:10 bean, when in fact they weren't really allergic 23:12 to the soy bean at all. 23:13 They were allergic to the Brazil nut proteins that were placed 23:16 in the soy bean by soy bean growers to produce 23:21 a more stable crop. 23:23 Amazing! 23:24 So foods as grown. 23:26 Foods as grown that's the way to do it. 23:29 Let's talk about some specific allergies that people maybe are 23:33 struggling with in our last four minutes here. 23:35 A big issue is asthma. 23:37 Ok, asthma, what can we do if we have it? 23:39 We know what we can do to avoid it - no cigarette smoking 23:43 and those different things - but what can we do if we have it? 23:45 If we have asthma, we ought to look at what things typically 23:47 trigger the asthma. 23:48 Some people have exercise induced asthma. 23:51 So they go out and exert themselves and they end up 23:54 with wheezing. 23:56 For those individuals, actually using fruits that are high 24:02 in vitamin C tend to decrease the person's allergic response 24:07 or asthmatic response to exercise. 24:09 If not, they can take a vitamin C supplement - 24:13 500- 1,000 mg of vitamin C for a half an hour before they 24:18 go out to exercise and this will decrease their likelihood 24:22 of wheezing during exercise. 24:24 So that's a simple thing that people can do. 24:27 If the person knows that there are triggers, they should stay 24:30 away from those triggers. 24:31 Now one of the triggers is food. 24:34 And the various kinds of foods they may not be aware that there 24:37 are things in the food that might produce this. 24:39 But apart from the things in the food is the quantity of food. 24:44 People who tend to have allergic asthma associated with 24:48 food or exercise tend to also have more asthmatic attacks 24:53 more frequently when they over-eat. 24:56 So over-eating, gluttony, now that's not a popular word today 25:01 but over-eating can actually bring on asthmatic attack. 25:06 Unfortunately asthma is a disease that can take your life. 25:12 Some people may have their last meal that actually kills them. 25:16 Eczema. 25:18 Eczema - this of course is a skin condition and the same 25:21 things that pertain to bronchial spasms or the asthmatic attacks 25:28 can also be applied. 25:30 Like vitamin C? 25:32 Vitamin C is helpful. 25:34 Some people, of course, tend to be?. 25:38 So just keeping them away from the foods. 25:40 This is a major issue with eczema. 25:43 Allergic rhinitis? 25:45 Allergic rhinitis is the same issue. 25:46 All these diseases are actually in the same cluster of 25:49 atopic diseases. 25:51 Water? 25:52 Having adequate amounts of water, this is actually part 25:57 of the treatment for allergy. 25:59 Good, fresh, clean water inside and of course outside. 26:04 We've got about 2 minutes. 26:06 What about allergies as they relate to the society? 26:10 There was an interesting study in the 26:16 New England Journal of Medicine a few years ago looking at 26:19 what I would call a societal aspect of asthma. 26:25 What was found was that the parts of the cockroach actually 26:32 are highly allergenic. 26:33 They can set off allergies as an environmental factor. 26:37 Is that right? 26:38 That's right! 26:39 And what was found is that within the inner cities across 26:42 the United States we're dealing with the social ill of poverty 26:50 and poor housing, etcetera, that these individuals, 26:52 the youngsters who live in these environments actually have a 26:56 greater death rate from asthma than people who don't live in 27:00 these kinds of situations. 27:01 Because of cockroaches? 27:02 Because of the cockroaches - that's correct. 27:03 Amazing! 27:04 So getting rid of the cockroaches... it's actually 27:08 what I would call a social issue that has to do with poverty 27:13 and education and etcetera that can be helped. 27:17 If people know about this... 27:18 So if you have cockroaches call the Orkin man or call 27:20 whoever the bug man is. 27:22 Whoever the bug man is... 27:23 Get rid of them! 27:24 Right, as a matter of fact for many people the best thing 27:27 is to not encourage the cockroaches in the first place. 27:30 And that requires hygiene in the environment, keeping things 27:33 clean, keeping away the foods that the roaches will come out 27:37 at night to feast on. 27:39 You take them off the counter, put them in the garbage 27:41 and close the lid. 27:42 We've been talking with Dr. Zeno Charles-Marcel. 27:45 He has a wealth of information on allergies and other subjects. 27:48 If you'd like to contact him or the Lifestyle Center of America 27:50 give us a call here at 3ABN and we'll get you in 27:52 touch with them. 27:54 We hope as a result of today's program you have 27:56 health that lasts for a lifetime. |
Revised 2014-12-17