Are Allergies and Asthma Genetic?
Here's a photo of most of my immediate family. Of the 9 of us pictured who are blood-related, five of us have had a lot of experience with severe allergies and/or asthma.
You have probably noticed that allergies and/or asthma tend to run in families. It is more common that allergies run in the family and less common that asthma does. The reason allergies run in the family more commonly is that it is "easier" to develop allergies, so more people have allergies than have asthma. Asthma is usually developed as a result of longer-standing allergies or further deterioration of health and/or increased demands on the body. Actually, most diseases and health conditions are genetic. Naturally there are exceptions to the rule, but generally there are genetic predispositions determining what diseases people are more prone to. This is why your doctor is so interested in your family's health history and why the questionnaire you filled in at the doctor's office on your first visit asks questions about the health of your relatives. This helps him get a better perspective on what might be happening in your own body now and in the future, and therefore is very valuable information.
Our body's appearance and functions are all determined by our genes. Genes are the instructions inside every cell in our body, telling it what to do, how to function, how to be. This is our very body chemistry. Don't worry, if you don't know much or anything about chemistry, I'll try to explain things simply as we go along, and for those of you who are familiar with the subjects, it will all make perfect sense. Anyway, since we inherit our genes from our parents, this means we inherit our basic body chemistry from our parents. I say basic because studies have shown that there may still be differences pop up, even major differences. They refer to this as biochemical individuality.
Animal studies have shown that while all members of the same family may be very similar in health, sometimes one individual will be born with very different health and very different biochemistry from that of their other family members, meaning they will have very different nutritional requirements. This is what is meant by biochemical individuality. They simply have a much higher bodily requirement for a certain nutrient or combination of nutrients than everyone else in the same family does, just to stay healthy.
That our genes dictate the way our body works does not mean that you, your child, or anyone else with allergy and asthma is doomed to suffer with it. For example, one study showed that some individuals require 4 to 20 times the amount of the B-vitamin Pantothenic Acid than others do, just to function normally and be healthy; if they don't get this requirement met, allergies and other symptoms are the result. The solution to meeting the high requirement of Pantothenic Acid, then, is to get a lot of extra Pantothenic Acid in the foods that supply it or take Pantothenic Acid supplements if you can't get enough of the vitamin in food. Since Pantothenic acid has never been shown to be toxic in any amount, you would start by taking a large amount of it in tablet form, and when symptoms disappear, try cutting down on the amount you take until symptoms start to reappear. This way you discover your individual maintenance dose.
Allergies and asthma, along with bad nerves, tend to run in my family on both my father's and mother's sides. My mother always suffered from bad nerves. My father always had seasonal "hay fever". Both of these conditions indicate that they needed more B-vitamins than they were getting since these are some of the symptoms of B-vitamin deficiency. One of my brothers and I both went on to suffer various allergies and, eventually, full-blown asthma; I also developed bad nerves (Eeek! I was turning into both my father AND my mother!) Anyway, my symptoms came on gradually from around age 18 until my early 20's, the allergies getting worse until they turned into full-blown asthma by the time I was 26. My brother's pattern came later in life. It's easy to understand exactly why there are differences like this once you get an understanding of all the elements that go into developing allergy in the first place. My point is that my family is typical in showing how health conditions are "passed on" from one generation to the next. I'm sure you see this in your own family as well.
The facts of genetic body chemistry requirements and biochemical individuality are exactly why I take such exception to healthcare professionals and asthma websites that tell you that the Food Pyramid is the best guide to eating, that that's all you need, and that don't offer any further guidance or specific, worthwhile nutrition information. People's bodily requirements are not all the same! And that's exactly why I'm building this website.
And, by the way, if you do come across any asthma/allergy website that does offer comprehensive information on nutrition, please let me know so I can look at it. If it is truly worthwhile, I will add it to the list of good sites that I will be collecting for your reference in the section Support Groups & Resources.
You can also let others know by posting a comment on the home page of this website.