Beyond Symptomatic Relief

Beyond Symptomatic Relief II "Mast Cells"

The reason that respiratory and digestive symptoms are the most common reaction to allergens is that they both have a particularly large number of "mast cells." Mast cells have histamine and various other chemicals locked inside, which are released when a person is exposed to allergens. Histamine dilates capillaries, which then increase the blood supply to peripheral parts of the body in defense against the invading allergen. Histamine also constricts the respiratory bronchioles, tubes that help the body to cough and expel the allergen. Finally, histamine causes increased gastric secretion in the body's effort to digest the allergen. Despite these various efforts by the body to try to protect and heal itself, the body is not always strong enough to effect a cure, and it some times is so sick that it overreacts to substances that a healthy body can deal with effectively and without creating symptoms, though they can be triggered by psychological factors as well as by allergens.

Although it may be too late for most of us, perhaps the best way to prevent any of these allergic conditions is by being breast fed during infancy. Bottle-fed babies are many times more susceptible to getting allergies than those who are breast-fed. Mother's milk has important antibodies and other immunological factors that not only help to protect the infant but also help to develop the infant's immune system later in life.

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Beste Gesundheit,

Werner

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