Page 46 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE NATURAL HEALING

organisms that are safe to swallow but can be dan-
gerous in the nasal passages.
Common sense says the best allergy treat ment, Allergist’s
alternative or otherwise, would be to avoid what-
ever irritant causes the problem. Few doc tors would Restaurant:
counsel a hay-fever sufferer to take a stroll through
a cloud of pollen. But you may have heard of an al-
ternative treatment known as homeopathy, which is

actually built on the theory that “like cures like”— A Dining Guide
that is, consuming a bit of a substance that causes Diet can make a difference for
disease in healthy people can cure that disease in the nearly everything that ails us, so
sick. Conven tional practitioners regard homeopathy why not allergies? Here are five
with a skeptical eye, and you can’t blame them. With healthy foods that have been
the active ingredients in these remedies diluted to shown to minimize the agony of
1% or far less, it does seem a stretch to think they seasonal sufferers

could have much of a medical effect. And few if any
By Bryan Walsh
placebo-controlled studies have proved otherwise.
A more reasonable alternative is acupunc ture.
The ancient Chinese medical art is better known as
a treatment for pain, as the piercing needles signal
the brain to release morphine-like neurotransmit-
ters known as endorphins. But endorphins may also
help people with asthma or hay fever breathe eas-
ier. In a 2004 study published in the journal Pedi-

atrics, school-age allergy sufferers who underwent
a regular course of acupuncture had better symp-
tom scores and more symptom-free days, both dur-
ing treatment and afterward, than those given a pla-
cebo acupuncture therapy. (The placebo treatment
involved the insertion of needles to much shallower

depths than with actual acupuncture.) It’s notable
that the kids in the study said they preferred oral
medications to acupuncture—probably because not
everyone is eager to be poked with needles. Also,
aside from this one, studies that show a significant Nuts
benefit against allergies from acupuncture are rare. A 2007 study found that children from the island of
As people with allergies know all too well, a “sig- Crete who ate a Mediterranean diet—fresh fruits and
nificant benefit” is often too much to ask for. Like vegetables, fish, olive oil, nuts—were less likely to
develop allergy and asthma symptoms. Explaining
the common cold, seasonal allergies can only be
the first four items is easy: studies show that a diet
managed; they are never really defeated. That was high in antioxidants (fruits, veggies, olive oil) and
demoralizing enough be fore recent climatic realities omega-3 fatty acids (fish) can ease seasonal allergy
ramped things up. Early springs surprise us now, but suffering. But what do nuts have to do with it? Well,
they’re likely to be routine before long, so seasonal they are rich in magnesium, which helps protect
against the wheezing that accompanies asthma,
al lergies are almost certainly going to worsen. And and vitamin E, which boosts immunity and protects
premature discomfort is just the half of it: a study in against free radicals, those floating molecules that
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences cause inflammation. The study offers support for the

showed a strong link be tween increasing tempera- idea that the protective effects of the foods we eat
may be especially apparent in children because their
tures and a longer ragweed-pollen season.
growing airways may be vulnerable to stress. Food
But then, all the wet, red eyes staring at this page for thought: 80% of the kids ate fresh fruit and 70%
seem to say that this isn’t exactly news.  ate fresh vegetables at least twice a day.

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