My son Jonathan and I wrote The Allergy Solution to change how the world thinks about allergy, health, and our relationship to the environment. We have revealed the science that says allergies are not just annoying symptoms that can be covered over by medications, and the environment is not just a convenient place to put our car exhaust, toss our garbage, and spray our pesticides. The environment is all around us and within us, inside our digestive tract, respiratory system, and whole body.
We’ve shown you that three levels of environment impact our allergies and our health: the outdoor environment; the indoor environment, where we spend 90 percent of our time; and the internal environment, within our digestive system. And we have exposed the truth that just as the earth’s environment is out of balance, our bodies have become out of balance.
The allergy epidemic is our bodies’ response to living in a world where diesel-powered school buses belch out asthma-inducing soot; where secondhand smoke, formaldehyde, and cleaning products form a toxic indoor cloud that creates allergies and undermines health; and where eating fast food raises allergy risk.
Outdoor pollution contributes to the rising tide of allergic diseases. Ozone, nitric oxide, and diesel exhaust particles damage the respiratory lining, increase oxidative stress, and act in synergy with allergen exposure to create or aggravate allergic reactions.
Indoor pollutants that provoke the development of allergy include phthalates, formaldehyde, volatile organic hydrocarbons, triclosan, dust mites, and mold.
In the internal environment, depletion of beneficial intestinal microbes by exposure to antibiotics and pesticides in food and by lack of dietary fiber and diversity is an emerging factor in the rise of allergies.
There are two allergy epidemics that we have brought to light in these pages. In addition to the allergic diseases such as asthma, hay fever, eczema, and food allergies that now afflict one billion people worldwide, we also reveal the shocking rise of hidden allergies that lead to unexplained weight gain, anxiety, fatigue, ADHD, depression, digestive problems, brain fog, and many more complaints. Astonishing new research shows how all of these are linked to immune imbalance, which is at the center of allergy.
We are honored that we’ve been able to bring you the cutting-edge science that can help you understand the root causes of allergies and address them at their sources—or, as the book’s subtitle says, to understand why you are sick and how to get well. We are encouraged by the role that vitamins and other nutrients in foods can play to help support and balance immunity, and by the ability of mind-body practices such as meditation to beat stress and reduce inflammation, which are central to healthy immunity.
Your Health, and the Environment, under Threat
But there is still much work to be done, because the environment we all depend on is threatened as never before. We have seen a preview of the future, and it is happening right now. The year 2015 was the hottest on record; in recent years thousands died in record-setting heat waves in Europe; multiyear droughts bake California and the Southwest; forest fires burn in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Australia; glaciers in mountain ranges across the globe are shrinking and disappearing; the ice in Greenland is melting; sea levels are rising; hurricanes and typhoons are becoming bigger and more dangerous.
Rising temperatures and smoke from forest fires make air pollution worse, exacerbating asthma and directly harming our health, while greenhouse gases are increasing pollen outputs. With carbon dioxide levels high and rising, global warming is set to continue, and the threat to our health continues to grow.
Just as we came to the end of writing The Allergy Solution, in June 2015, a central message of the book became a big story. The critical connection between global warming and health splashed across the front pages of major media.
“Climate Catastrophe Predicted by U.S. as Obama Urges UN Action,” screamed Bloomberg News.1
“White House, EPA Say Climate Change a Dire Threat to Economy, Human Health,” warned USA Today.2
That same month, the White House hosted a Summit on Climate Change and Health. “We know climate change is not a distant threat,” a White House statement said. “We are already seeing impacts in communities across the country. In the past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting these individuals and many other vulnerable populations at greater risk of landing in the hospital.”3
At the summit, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy underscored the urgency by saying that “climate change poses a serious, immediate, and global threat to human health.” Rising temperatures are leading to earlier springs and longer pollen seasons, as well as more smog and ozone and worse air for cities, which means more hospital admissions and clinic visits for asthma, allergies, and respiratory diseases, he explained.4
The EPA, in its recent report Climate Change in the United States: Benefits of Global Action, said if greenhouse gas emissions are curtailed it could help avoid 13,000 premature deaths in 2050, and 57,000 premature deaths in 2100.5
Also in June, The Lancet, one of the world’s most prestigious medical journals, published a major study, Health and Climate Change: Policy Responses to Protect Public Health, stating: “The effects of climate change are being felt today, and future projections represent an unacceptably high and potentially catastrophic risk to human health.” It urged governments around the world to respond to this risk by reducing carbon emissions through a transition to renewable energy, a reduction in driving, and a rapid phase-out in the use of coal.6
Mother Nature Is Calling
In a fictional near future depicted in the film Interstellar, crop blight threatens the survival of civilization, as giant dust storms engulf the United States. The American farm, once a symbol of abundance and prosperity, is now a wasteland, and people have to wear masks to protect themselves from the thick dust.
In the hope of finding a new planet for people to live on, a NASA professor played by Michael Caine recruits an astronaut played by Matthew McConaughey to pilot a daring mission of discovery. Caine says, “Your daughter’s generation will be the last to survive on Earth. Get out there and save the world.” It is desperate, dramatic, and heroic, the stuff of great Hollywood movies.
But what if we turned all that passion for getting to the next planet into taking better care of this one? Could we all work together to turn around air pollution, giving those with asthma—and those without—a better chance to breathe free? Reductions in air pollution could also curb the rising levels of pollen, helping those with hay fever feel more comfortable.
Producing and using fewer toxic chemicals would reduce the burden on the environment. Maybe taking a train or bus or simply walking to work doesn’t sound as dramatic as launching into outer space. But isn’t each action we take to “save the planet” just as noble and heroic as those taken by astronauts in the movies?
Your allergies are connected to the food you eat, the air you breathe, and the environment you live in. Stand up for your health and protect nature as if your life depends on it. Join us and be part of the solution.
Learn more about natural health by joining our community at www.drgalland.com. Follow Dr. Galland on Facebook (facebook.com/leogallandmd) and Twitter (@leogallandmd), and follow Jonathan Galland at facebook.com/jonathangallandjd and on Twitter @ JonathanGalland.