07/11/05 - Diet & fitness section

Eating burgers could double asthma risk
by JOHN HIGGINSON, Metro

Eating hamburgers more than once a week nearly doubles the risk of asthma attacks and wheezing in children, research suggests.

Other takeaway food and fizzy drinks also increase the chances of getting asthma, doctors found.

Youngsters who ate at least one burger a week were 75 per cent more likely to have asthma and almost 100 per cent more likely to suffer wheezing problems, a study of 1,300 school pupils in New Zealand revealed.

The findings, published in the journal Allergy, add to previous evidence that the explosion in junk food diets might have contributed to the dramatic increase in asthma over the past 30 years.

One in three British teenagers now suffers from asthmatic symptoms, such as wheezing, breathlessness and tightchestedness.

Some experts argue that a large part of the increase is because GPs are getting better at spotting the disease.

However, other experts, including Dr Kristin Wickens, who led the New Zealand study of 10 to 12-year-olds, say diets containing junk foods which are high in salt could be contributing to the problem.

She said: "The high salt content in hamburgers may increase the risk of wheezy illness."

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Find this story at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...in_page_id=1798
©2005 Associated New Media

Just when you think that researchers can not possibly get any dumber -- yet another study comes out to prove you can!

A respiratory problem is a classic sign of eating too much carbohydrate. That is one of the first signs that I have been cheating -- I can feel all the congestion in my head. One of the signs that I have been eating good is how clearly I can breathe.

If you are a mouth breather -- most likely you eat too much carbohydrate. If you are a nose breather -- most likely your diet is okay.

According to "Dangerous Grains" there's a link between asthma and wheat.

My kids eat the burgers and sausages I make at home, all meat and a bit of onion and salt and pepper, no fillers, padding, starch stuffers or sweepings up in my food. They enjoy them and I have no guilt at allowing them to have burgers. None of them have any symptoms of any chestiness so common sense would dictate that it must be the rubbish that commercial burgers contain that do the damage.

It's the bun, fries, sugary drink, and dessert that are the problem. Not the meat and cheese (fat as they like to think).

Granted fast food burgers and cheese are not the best hamburger and cheese you can eat -- but I'll take it any day over a high glycemic meal.

As a life long asthmatic, I have a few comments.



Absolute rubbish. I can't even begin to imagine where they got that from.


and


Not the fat from the cheese, but quite possibly the milk protein cassein.

There is beginning to be some research that shows that soy protein, gluten, and cassein have very similar shapes. I haven't had time to pursue it lately, but it's on the top of my list for my next available time. Most of the research seems to be concentrated on autistic children, but there are some references to asthma. Asthma is considered an autoimmune disease, so I'm thinking there is definitely something there.

There have been studies done that show that dairy increases mucus production. My allergies and congestion cleared up amazingly when I cut back on cream and cut cheese out almost totally.

Wheat makes me wheezy. I've almost totally cut that out too, but I was reminded the other day when I unthinkingly used a recipe that called for beer.

Put the wheat and the cheese together (and soy protein in the buns and burgers? definitely in some), and I'm not at all surprised that junk burgers trigger asthmatic problems.

I'm embarrassed that this news comes from NZ. I heard an interview with the researcher this morning, and he was fairly cautious, saying there seemed to be a link *after* removing all the confounding factors 'they could think of'. But of course the media want to pounce on the simple message, not the cautious statement.

I've just written the following to Dr Wickens, whose e-mail address is easily available online if you'd like to add your voice: "Many of us who eat a low carbohydrate diet have reported achieving great improvements to our health, including allergy conditions. When testing for the confounding factors in this asthma study in the media today, was the consumption of wheat specifically and carbohydrates generally considered? If not, would it be possible to run the data that way out of interest? Casein has also been mentioned as worth considering."

I think that as a group of serious low carbers perhaps we should start being more active when we see media nonsense. It's not difficult now that one can just write an e-mail to have a voice on an issue.

Right, here is the answer I received from Dr Wickens, who is certainly very quick at responding. I am very disappointed that they do a survey on diet and don't given themselves at least the opportunity of separating out carbs.

"Thank you for your email. Unfortunately we did not specifically collect information on wheat or other carbohydrates, or casein, so the analysis you suggest is not possible.
Regards
Kristin wickens
At 09:41 9/11/2005, you wrote:

Dear Dr Wickens

Many of us who eat a low carbohydrate diet have reported achieving great improvements to our health, including allergy conditions. When testing for the confounding factors in this asthma study in the media today, was the consumption of wheat specifically and carbohydrates generally considered? If not, would it be possible to run the data that way out of interest? Casein has also been mentioned as worth considering."

High salt content? Whatever...

Here's a bigger version of the article (http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3471749a10,00.html) which mentions Dr Wickens as part of the Wellington Asthma Research Group. So, something is going to get nailed for causing asthma.

(A Google tidbit: this article even came out in Romanian today)

But I don't think the study says that burgers cause asthma. It says 10- to 12-year-olds in NZ who eat junk food (of which hamburgers are an indicator) are more likely to have asthma. Sounds good; asthma is an auto-immune problem, which fries and Coke certainly don't prevent.

New Zealand has a 20% asthma rate whereas the developed-world average is 6%. If burgers caused asthma, Burger Kings in the US would have to hand out inhalers instead of little toys.

Dr Wickens was, for instance, acknowledged for her help on another study investigating mold in NZ houses. (only available in a Google cache. The abstract itself has changed)

Gotta go to work now, can't quite finish the thought.

Right, epidemiology has huge limits. For instance, parents who often give their kids junk food might also have lower standards of nutrition generally, a mouldier house (i.e. lower standards, less knowledge or less time to care) etc. etc. The other thing is that it could be genetic, if some population groups, e.g. Pacific Island kids, get more junk food, they may be genetically more prone to asthma.

My step daughter was diagnosed as an asthmatic.. but ONLY after she got her drivers license and made almost daily trips to Mickey D's house. She's bone thin and I'll never convince her that stuff is bad for her. Thankfully she's 18 and on her own now.. but I firmly believe wheat is a high allergen to the majority of the population and could very easily trigger respiratory ills, especially when combined with the very poor state that the body is in on a fast food diet. ie.. there is nothing there to combat the allergens as no nutritional value in the food.

Phyllis

I know a number of autistic asthmatics. Giving how bad soy, gluten and casein are for autistic health in general, it doesn't shock me to see it's a problem with asthma.

I think this paper shows a bit more about the psychology of the researchers. It reminds me of the "beef, it's what's for dinner" commercials. The term "burger" may have the connotation of a bun, condiments, fries or onion rings, and a soft drink, but it has the denotation of a beef patty. While I won't accuse the researchers of irresponsibility, less responsible people (i.e. the news media) is going to use this as an excuse to trash beef and the healthy fats contained within beef.

The worse part is, as pointed out above, hamburgers aren't even beef. They're a little meat mixed with cheap, unhealthy filler like "textured soy protein."

You have GOT to be kidding me! I already have asthma, straight from the womb (premature birth and under developed little lungs). I agree - I think it's more of an allergic reaction to wheat, gluten or yeast or something else which also makes me a little "cloggy" if I try it. But ppuuuuhhhhllleeeezzz...we're making a lot of excuses here. There are a lot of fillers in meat - TVP is one of them. Don't forget the onion rings have a breading, too. I think there's a lot more than beef. I've NEVER had asthmatic symptoms after a steak but if I get a filler-meat burger??? Yeppers!!

McDonalds doesn't add any fillers to their meats. I doubt if any of the other chains do either. However, I'd be more likely to believe it is the bun causing the allergic reaction. People don't generally have allergies to meat.

It defintely has to be the bun , fries.

I sometimes use salt to break up build up. I've never had a problem with beef but I do with dairy.

Besides cows were put on this earth to feed us. LOL