HOME HYGIENE LIBRARY CATALOG

YOU CAN OVERCOME ASTHMA

Written and Published by:

lan Sinclair

5 Ivy Street
Ryde NSW 2112
(02) 808 3691

First Edition 1993 (September)

Second Edition 1997 (July)
Copyright © lan Sinclair 1993 ISBN 0-646-14073-6

CONTENTS
page
Foreword By Ross Home
Author's Preface 1
Introduction - My Own Story 3
1 The Diet Connection 7
2 The Offending Foods 18
3 The Food Industry and It's Servants 24
4 Understand Your Body 33
5 The True Nature of Asthma 39
6 The Dangers of Drug Therapy 43
7 The Drug Industry - Saviours or Sorcerers? 52
8 The Road to Health 73
9 Getting Started 81
Appendix A: The Cause and Correction of
86
Vitamin/Mineral Deficiencies
Appendia B: Introductory Natural Diet 90
Appendix C: Response from Asthma Foundation 91
Bibliography 92

THE DIET CONNECTION

"Whatsoever was the father of disease, an ill diet was the mother"
Old Proverb

Over seventy years ago, an American physician Dr. J.H. Tilden wrote "The proper way to study disease is
to study health and every influence favourable or not to it's continuance". Basically what he meant was
that if we understand those laws which govern our health, then it will be apparent as to why people get
sick. People get sick because they violate the laws of health. Therefore, let us start by examining these
laws, or in other words examining what healthy living is all about.

I believe that healthy living involves such things as plenty of fresh air and exercise, hygienic environment,
eating fresh natural foods, getting sound and regular sleep, and importantly, keeping the mind happy,
content, fulfilled etc. Now I'm not suggesting that one must be a puritan conforming to these requirements
100 per cent of the time in order to maintain their health. The occasional junk-out, a few days of mental
despondency, a short period without fresh air or exercise, is unlikely to cause sickness if for most of the
time you're following a healthy lifestyle. In other words, it's not what you do 10 per cent of the time that
determines your health, but what you do 90 per cent of the time. If you can 'keep it together' for at least 90
per cent of the time, then I think you can be assured of good health. On the other hand, if you can't keep it
together, or in other words, if you regularly eat unhealthy food, get little exercise or rest, or allow the mind
to constantly dwell on negative and depressing thoughts, then as surely as night follows day, SICKNESS
will be the consequence.

In my view, Asthma, like most diseases in our society, is the direct consequence of unhealthy living. I have
no doubt that a number of factors contribute to asthma such as environmental pollutants, smoking, stuffy
ill-ventilated rooms, nervous disposition, emotional stress etc. but of all the factors involved, it is my
belief that UNHEALTHY DIET is the major one.

Healthy Diet - I believe that few, if any asthmatics, follow a truly healthy diet. If I'm to convince you of
this then it is essential that we know what a healthy diet is. A healthy diet should satisfy the following
criteria;

1. It must provide all the essential nutrients, i.e. protein, fats and carbohydrates and vitamins and
minerals.
2. It must provide these nutrients in the correct balance and concentration.
3. It must contain no toxic residue.
4. It must be pleasing to the senses i.e. taste, smell, sight and touch.
5. It must maintain the correct acid/alkaline balance of the bloodstream.
6. It must enhance the 'vitality' of the body.

The diet which comes the closest to satisfying these requirements is the fruitarian or vegetarian type diets.
In other words, a diet consisting of fruit or fruit and vegetables will easily satisfy the nutritional needs of
the body. Fruit and vegetables are the most abundant source of vitamins and minerals, they provide high
quality protein, fats and carbohydrates, and provide these nutrients in the correct balance and
concentration. Fruits and vegetables have enormous aesthetic appeal and in their natural state possess
sweet and delicate flavours. They have an absolute minimum of toxic residue (in comparison to other
foods) and because of their alkaline properties, serve to maintain the correct acid/alkaline balance of the
bloodstream. Importantly, fruits and vegetables enhance your body's vitality in that they don't leave you
feeling tired following their consumption (unlike animal foods). Allow me to provide some expert
testimony from notable writers on Natural Health science:

Herbert M Shelton, 'Superior Nutrition':

"Fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables supplies to the body a super-abundance of known and
unknown vitamins and minerals, easily digested fats, simple sugars, high grade proteins, and
other as yet unknown food factors all in the right proportions and concentrations best suited
to the body."

Professor Arnold Ehret, 'Mucusless Diet Healing System':

"Raw fruits and, if desired, raw green leaf vegetables form the ideal food of man ..... fruits
and vegetables have elements which are superior to those in any other foods, for producing
vital energy, both in amount and quality."

Ross Home, 'Health & Survival in the 21st Century':

"..... fruit can provide the full complement of all required nutrients in adequate quantities,
remembering that the requirement for protein and fat are much lower than generally believed.
Therefore, instead of being considered merely an accessory to conventional meals, fruit
 should be considered in its own right as a staple food."

Kenneth Jaffrey, 'Tell Me Simply':

"Fruits and vegetables are the very highest class of food for man. Those who wish to have
radiant health should make raw fruit and raw vegetables a large percentage of their daily
intake of food."

Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, authors of the best selling book, 'Fit For Life':

"..... fruit contains 'all' of the necessary nutrients required by your body for sustaining life.
That includes glucose from carbohydrates for energy and vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, and
amino acids for the building of protein."

The Bible, Genesis 1:29:

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth,
and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

I would ask you now to carefully examine the following evidence which strongly supports this viewpoint;

The Science of Comparative Anatomy - is able to establish what food is most suitable to a particular
animal by examining its anatomical and physiological structures. This science has firmly established that
the digestive structure and physiology of the human body is ideally suited to a fruitarian diet. According to
one of the most famous Anatomists, Professor Baron Cuvier,

"Comparative anatomy teaches us that man resembles the frugivorous animals in everything,
the carnivorous in nothing..... Man resembles no carnivorous animal."

"..... Man appears to be formed to nourish himself chiefly on roots, fruits and the succulent
parts of vegetables. His hands make it easy for him to gather them; the shortness and
moderate strength of his jaws, the equal length of his canine teeth with the others, and the
tubular character of his molars, permit him neither to graze, nor to devour flesh, unless such
food is first prepared by cooking." (Regne Animal, Vol 1, p73)

After a careful and exhaustive study into comparative anatomy, European scientist, Dr. Richard Lehne
came to the conclusion,

"Quite apart from the physiological findings of nutritional science, which perpetually alter
and are always in an unsettled form, comparative anatomy proves - and is supported by the
millions-of-years-old documents of palaeozoology - that human teeth in their ideal form have
a purely frugivorous character."

An examination of the following table leaves little doubt that man is indeed 'frugivorous1, and not
'carnivorous'. (From Psycho-Physiopathy by Dr. T. De la Torre)

ANTHRAPOID
CARNIVORA FRUIGIVORA AND
FRUITARIAN MAN
Incisors are underdeveloped; Incissors are well
TEETH molars are long, sharp and developed. Molars for
pointed. crushing and grinding
Equipped for grinding
Up and down motion for tearing motion. Highly
and biting. Acid saliva geared to developed system;
JAW digestion of animal protein; lacks alkaline saliva adopted
ptyalin, a chemical which digests to the digestion of
carbohydrates.
 sugar and starch.
Simple round sack which secretesOblong in shape,
STOMACH
ten times more hydrochloric acid complicated in
than that of vegetarian, structure convulted
proportionately. with duodenum
Three times the length of the Twelve times the
INTESTINE
trunk length of the trunk.
Short and smooth, designed for Long and involved;
COLON prompt evacuation, not digestion takes place in
digestion. it.
Far more active than in Capability to eliminate
fruigivora. Eliminates only the uric acid
LIVER
proportionately 10 to 15 times produced by the
more uric acid. organism itself.
Claws for tearing flesh and for Fingers adopted to
killing. Do not sweat through pluck fruit. Sweat
skin. Excrete excess moisture through the skin to lose
HANDS
through bladder and controls excess moisture and to
body's heat by rapid breathing. control body heat. Has
No pores. pores.
Alkaline, with
URINE Acid, offensive in odour.
inoffensive odour.
EYES Sideways. Forward.
TONGUE Rasping Smooth.
MOBILITY Go on all fours. Walk Upright.

Breast Milk and Fruit - a comparison of equal weight breast milk and fruit reveals an almost identical
vitamin/mineral ratio, for example, breast milk has the calcium content of an orange; potassium count of
blueberries; iron composition of red currants; phosphorous of lemon; copper of figs; Vitamin A of plums;
Bl of grapefruit and B2 of bananas. Protein level is also similar with breast milk ranging between 1.0 and
2.4 per cent and fruit 0.4 and 2.2 per cent.

Seventh Day Adventists - studies in the US with Seventh Day Adventists have revealed that the incidence
of degenerative disease, e.g. cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. is lowest among the vegans, (plant food
only), the next lowest is among the lacto-ovo-vegans (includes dairy products and eggs) and the highest
incidence among those who consume flesh foods. (Medical Journal - 'Circulation' Vol 58 No. 1 July
1978).

Native Populations - a study carried out on a tribe of New Guinea natives whose diet consisted mainly of
sweet potato revealed that these natives were among the strongest and fittest people in the world. (JAMA
210:1689,1969). Similarly with Pacific Islanders, Vilacabambans, Hunzas and many other primitive and
third world cultures whose diets are primarily frugal, there is a high level of health and a virtual absence of
the diseases that afflict Western societies. In 'Science From an Easy Chair', Sir E. Ray Lancaster writes;

"Many vigorous and muscularly well-developed populations in other lands thrive on

exclusively vegetable food".

Natural Health Clinics - there are many Health Clinics throughout the world (Gerson Clinic in Mexico
and Bircher-Benner Clinic in Switzerland are the most famous) where conditions such as cancer and other
serious afflictions have been successfully treated by a program of raw foods (fruit and vegetables),
hydrotherapy, sunlight and other drugless measures which serve to raise the vitality of the body. It stands
to reason that if a sick person can be restored to health on a diet of raw fruits and vegetables, then one can
also maintain their health on such a diet.

Acid/Alkaline Balance - one of the most important requirements for good health (on a physiological
level) is the correct pH level of our blood - pH being the measurement of the acidity or alkalinity of a
solution. According to physiologists, the ideal pH for the blood is 7.4 which means that it is slightly
'alkaline'. For optimum health, it is essential that the blood's alkalinity be preserved within a very narrow
range. Famous physiologist Dr Walter Cannon points out;

"It is of the greatest importance to the existence and proper action of the cells that the blood
shall not vary to a noteworthy degree either in the acid or the alkaline direction."

There are several factors which have an influence on blood alkalinity including exercise, breathing and
even our emotional state, yet of all the factors, DIET is the most important. According to the Natural
Health school, in order to maintain the correct blood alkalinity, at least 80 per cent of the diet must be
comprised of alkaline-forming foods such as fruit and vegetables, with the remaining 20 per cent being
comprised of nuts, seeds, grains and legumes. This latter group are primarily acid-forming foods. (Acid
foods are not 'essential' to the diet but are included here for persons making the 'transition').

Whether a food is acid or alkaline-forming is primarily dependent on its 'mineral' composition. The
alkaline minerals are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. These elements are abundant in
fruits and vegetables. The acid minerals are sulphur, phosphorous, chlorine and iodine. These elements are
most abundant in grains and high protein foods such as meat, chicken, fish, cheese and dairy products.
Refined sugars and starches, and beverages such as tea, coffee, alcohol and cordials are also acid-forming.

Most Australians consume a diet which contains about 75 per cent acid-forming foods, mostly in the form
of animal and dairy products and refined processed food. Added to this is the high consumption of coffee,
tea, sugared drinks and alcohol. It should not be surprising therefore that the most common chronic
disease in Australia, namely 'arthritis', is directly related to excess acidity in the system. Nutritional
scientist, Dr David Phillips comments on hyperacidity;

"Acidity, a hyperacid condition in the body, is a root cause of more human illness than any
other single factor. Acne and other abnormal skin conditions, arthritis and rheumatism,
baldness, cancer, colds and influenza are but a few of the hundred of hyperacid symptoms
creating human discomfort and, in some cases, death."

Aesthetic Qualities - fruits and vegetables have a strong aesthetic value which naturally appeals to our
senses, similarly with their fragrances. Such qualities are nature's way of enticing man to eat them. Can
the same thing be said about animal flesh?

Famous Vegetarians - Buddha, Socrates, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Isaac
Newton, Tolstoy, Emerson, H.G. Wells, Mahatma Gandhi.

Albert Einstein, who overcame serious disease by adopting a vegetarian diet, stated in 1930;

"It is my view that the vegetarian manner of living by its purely physical effect on the human
temperament would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind".

Appearing in the New Doctor Journal is an article by the poet, Shelley under the title, "A Vindication of
Natural Diet";

"There is no disease bodily or mental which adoption of vegetable diet and pure water has not
infallibly mitigated, wherever the experiment has been fairly tried. Debility is gradually
converted into strength, disease into healthfulness".

An English physician, Dr. Charles de Lacy Evans spent his professional life studying the factors behind
aging and wrote a book "How to Prolong Life." Speaking of fruit, Dr. de Lacy Evans writes;

"There is, therefore, a simplicity, a reason, a wonderful philosophy in the first command
given to man - Man may live entirely upon fruits in better health than the majority of mankind
now enjoy. Good, sound, ripe fruits are never the cause of disease, but the vegetable acids, as
we have before stated, lower temperature of the body, decrease the process of combustion or
 oxidation - therefore the waste of the system - less sleep is required, activity is increased,
fatigue or thirst is hardly experienced: still the body is well nourished, and as a
comparatively small quantity of earthy salts are taken into the system, the cause of old age is
in some degree removed, the effect is delayed, and life is prolonged to a period far beyond
our 'three score and ten".

Indian philosopher and statesman Mahatma Gandhi became a student of Nature Cure (Natural Health) at
the age of 32 whereby he adopted a vegetarian diet, and then a fruitarian diet. From his book "The Health
Guide" he speaks of his experience after six months on the fruitarian diet;

"A period of six months is all too short to arrive at any definite conclusions on such a vital
matter as a complete change of diet. This however, I can say, that, during this period, I have
been able to keep well where others have been attacked by disease, and my physical as well as
mental powers are now greater than before ..... I can do hard labour for a much longer time
without fatigue, I can also do more mental work, and with better persistence and resoluteness.
I have tried a fruit diet on many sickly people, invariably with great advantage. My own
experience, as well as my study of the subject, has confirmed me in the conviction that a fruit
diet is the best one for us."

One of the most inspiring books that I've ever read on diet and health, is "Fruitarian Diet and Physical
Rejuvenation" by Dr. O.L.M. Abramowski, an Australian doctor who was the senior physician to the
Mildura Hospital, Victoria around 1900. Dr. Abramowski overcame serious arterial disease along with
other disorders by adopting a fruitarian diet. Relating to this experience, he wrote;

"The miracle has happened! My arteries have carried me safely, so far, through ten more
active and strenuous years, and they are in a much better condition today than they were
twenty years ago ..... the power and endurance of my body and mind have increased to a
wonderful extent, and I feel more vigorous, more active and more certain of my life than I did
when a young man ".

Dr. Abramowski subsequently introduced this diet to many of his patients and enjoyed such success that
even several of his nurses changed to the fruitarian diet. I'm sure Dr. Abramowski wouldn't mind me
presenting an extract from his book on the 'Advantages of Fruitarian Diet';

"Raw fruit diet supplies every want of the human economy, and it is not only as nourishing
and sustaining as the most expensive mixed diet, but it produces more energy and endurance,
and is more easily assimilated, and is absolutely free from any dangerous matter.

Raw fruit counteracts the deleterious influences of the usual mixed diet, as it prevents
constipation, helps the excretion of uric acid and other acid poisons by rendering the blood
more alkaline, and supplies those important food salts which in a cooked diet are rendered
almost valueless.

Raw Food is not only food but medicine for all people using cooked food, and these should
therefore eat as much raw fruit - fresh or sun-dried - as possible, or have at least one meal a
day consisting of fruit only.

Fruit is the only food which neither introduces dangerous material into the body nor
produces such while passing through it.

Fruit diet will once more enable mothers to suckle their young by producing an abundance of
milk rich in all necessary constituents, but free from any dangerous matter.

Sun-dried fruit is as good as fresh fruit, as its whole vitality is preserved; it should, however,
not be cooked, but only soaked for about eighteen hours in sufficient water to make it swell,
and should then be eaten raw.

Fruit does not only satisfy hunger but also thirst, and does not create any craving for tobacco
 or other stimulants.

Fruit is not a luxury, but an absolute necessity in the diet of Man. It is the duty of every
thinking man who does not live merely to eat, to live as much as possible on man's natural
food".

"Yes, I advocate Fruit Diet not only because Man is a fruit-eater anatomically and
physiologically, but because my experience as a patient and a physician has proved to me the
beneficial influence of the natural food on healthy, as well as on sick, people. The first will
preserve their health and strength, their corporeal, mental and spiritual powers, to the highest
old age, under a fruit diet. To the latter, the sick people, I like to say as a last injunction, do
not give up hope, whatever be the matter with you. Nature can heal where human wisdom and
interference fails; return to Nature; live on Man's natural food; build your body of the normal
life and strength-giving material, and you will find that the time of miracles has not passed
yet".

You need not fear that the fruitarian or vegetarian type diets are deficient in protein, vitamin B12 or any
other nutrients. The diet of the New Guinea natives who eat mainly sweet potato is approximately 3 per
cent protein, yet researchers found them to be among the strongest and fittest people in the world. At the
age of 44, champion weightlifter Wiley Brooks of Venice, California, weighing only 135 lbs and 6 feet
tall, could, from a squat rack, lift 935 lbs. His diet consisted of raw fruit and fruit juice only. Through a
process known as 'biological transmutation' Vitamin B12 along with many other nutrients are synthesised
within the body, and need not be obtained from outside sources. It's worth noting that the word Vegetarian'
is derived from the Latin word Vigitore which means to give strength and health, and is associated with
vital dynamic living.

"It is only when we know what the ideal kind of diet is

thate we shall be able more and more to approximate
our actual to the ideal.
Mahatma Gandhi

Now I have not provided this evidence in order to convince you to become a strict fruitarian or even
vegetarian, but to merely impress upon you that fruits and vegetables are really man's ideal foods and that
therefore a truly healthy diet must consist mostly of these foods. Notice that I said 'mostly' and not
'entirely', for as I explained earlier, I don't believe that a puritan lifestyle embracing a total fruitarian diet is
essential for good health, but I do believe that if health is what you want, then you need to meet the
requirements for a healthy diet at least 90 per cent of the time. In fact most schools of Natural Health
generally recommend a diet consisting of 80 per cent fruit and vegetables and 20 per cent grains, legumes,
nuts and seeds (animal and dairy products are not recommended for reasons presented in the next chapter).

Now I doubt if you'll find too many asthmatics who consume this sort of diet, in fact I doubt if you'll find
any. Whilst most asthmatics do consume fruit and vegetables, these foods generally represent only a small
portion of their diet, with the bulk of their diet consisting mostly of animal foods, dairy products and
refined processed foods, particularly starchy foods such as white bread and cereals. These latter foods
(animal, dairy and refined) are in my opinion the major culprits behind asthma in that they contribute a
large amount of toxic residue, i.e. foreign proteins, chemicals, preservatives, drug poisons etc, which in
asthmatics, accumulates in the bronchial tissue of the lungs giving rise to the asthmatic attack. (How this
actually occurs will be explained in Chapter 4).

Allow me to provide you with further evidence which supports the link between asthma and unhealthy
diet.

Epidemiology - is defined as 'the study of the distribution and determinants of disease in

man'. In laymen's terms this simply means taking a disease, examining the incidence of this disease in
different countries and trying to identify the common factors. For example, heart disease is endemic in
most Western Industrialised countries, the common factors of course being the high fat diets and the
sedentary way of living adopted by these countries. Hence, through these observations, it is apparent that
lifestyle is the major factor behind heart disease.

Did you know that asthma, like heart disease, is very common throughout the industrialised countries such
as Australia, USA, England, New Zealand etc. yet is extremely rare throughout many countries in Asia or
Africa? Does this not, at the very least, suggest a lifestyle connection? Moreover, did you know that in
cultures who abandon their natural traditional foods and adopt the eating habits of the Western affluent
countries, asthma begins to emerge amongst their population within one to two decades? Here is some
epidemiological evidence linking asthma with diet:-

The Papua New Guinea medical journal (Vol 26 March 1983) contains a study which reveals how the
tribes people from the Okapa district in the Eastern Highlands began to develop asthma within two
decades after first contact with Europeans. The study reports that of 27 people, 22 had prior to their attacks
consumed Western type food including sugary products, biscuits, salt etc. A number of elder tribesman
regarded asthma as an entirely new entity in their community.

In Kuwait, asthma was unheard of until about 30 years ago, yet now it's a common disease amongst the
population. Why? Because up until their discovery of oil they were a backward nation subsisting on
natural traditional foods such as dates, vegetables and grain. Their new founded affluence brought with it
the adoption of civilised eating habits so that now their diets are largely made up of refined processed
foods.

In African countries such as Gambia, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria and Rhodesia, the prevalence of
asthma is much higher in urban communities who consume a large amount of packaged and canned foods
than in the rural communities that subsist mainly on their home grown vegetables, nuts and grains. In a
rural community in Gambia for example, asthma was virtually unknown with only 1 case being reported in
a community of 1200. Yet, in an urban town only 100 miles away, the hospital treated 8 asthma cases
everyday. The medical journal The Lancet' (4/5/91, page 1099) contains a letter titled "Asthma Paradox"
by doctor's Duncan Keeley and Paul Neil. They state;

"There is good epidemiological evidence of increasing asthma prevalence in the

industrialised world, while studies in developing countries including our own in Zimbabwe
have shown large variations in the prevalence of reversible airways obstruction in genetically
similar populations living in different environments. In an exercise-challenge study of 2055
Zimbabwean primary-school children living in three different areas, we found the prevalence
of reversible airways obstruction to be 5.8% in richer urban children, 3.1% in poorer urban
children, and 0.1% in rural children."

When you consider that rich children are more likely to overeat than poor children, and that the diets of
rich urban children are largely comprised of animal products and refined processed foods, whereas the
diets of poor rural children are comprised mainly of grain and vegetables, does this not suggest that diet
may be the Tactor' that is responsible for the higher incidence of asthma in urban communities? It's
interesting to note that in Western countries, there is virtually no difference between rural and urban
communities both in regard to the prevalence of asthma and community eating habits.

In the late 70's the Tokelau Islands of the South Pacific were hit by a hurricane destroying homes and
forcing many families to migrate to Wellington, New Zealand. Those who migrated began to complain
increasingly of asthma. A study has shown that the Tokelau children in New Zealand have twice as much
asthma as the children who remained in their native islands and very much more eczema. Why? Because
the Tokelau children in New Zealand adopted the eating habits of Western society.

West Indian born children have a low incidence of asthma, yet if born in the UK they have a high
incidence. Again, what is the difference? West Indian children are raised on a diet consisting largely of
fruit, vegetables and grains, whereas their counterparts in the UK are raised on the typical Western diet
high in animal, dairy and refined foods.

Generally speaking those countries with the highest prevalence of asthma are the Western Industrialised
countries whose diets are too high in animal, dairy and refined processed foods high in sugar, salt and
chemical additives. In those countries that begin to adopt these foods into their diets, asthma, not to
mention many other diseases, soon begin to emerge.

Medical Evidence - you may be surprised to find that there is even medical evidence, some as far back as
1953, linking asthma and other respiratory disorders with diet. The Journal of the American Medical
Association, October 17th 1953, contained an article titled "Dietary Prophylaxis of Allergic Disease in
Children" in which Glaser and Johnstone reported on the use of soybean milk as an aid in the prophylaxis
(prevention) of allergic disease in children. They concluded that if one withheld beef, egg, wheat and
cow's milk from the diets of potentially allergic children from the time of birth until six to nine months of
age, only one quarter as many of these children acquired major respiratory allergies compared to their
siblings and another non-related control group. They also reported that the incidence of atopic eczema in
infants on restricted diet was only one fourth as great as in the other two groups.

One of the most prestigious medical journals in the world, The Lancet, February 11th 1978, contains an
article "Common Manifestations of Cow's Milk Allergy in Children" in which the summary of this article
states:

"Cow's milk allergy was diagnosed in 79 patient's, all of whom had signs and symptoms of
allergies other than milk intolerance. In addition to difficulties with infant feeding and
diarrhoea, clinical features included constipation, vomiting, intestinal colic, growth
retardation, and psychological disturbance, as well as eczema and asthma. All were
reversible after milk withdrawal, which suggests that the allergic basis of such symptoms may
have been underestimated."

The medical journal Annals of Allergy, Volume 44, May 1980 contains an article "Children with Allergic
Rhinitis and/or Bronchial Asthma treated with Elimination Diet" which reports that 292 children out of a
group of 322 children under one year of age showed significant improvement in their respiratory
symptoms following the elimination of such foods as milk, chocolate, eggs and other selected food items.
Cow's milk was found to be a causative factor in 29 per cent of the infants responding to the elimination
diet. Discussing these findings, author's Ogle and Bullock state;

"It appears from this study that children under the age of 12 months with respiratory allergy
will show significant improvement of symptoms when placed on a hypoallergenic diet."

Clinical Evidence - throughout the world there are Health Centres which treat all manner of diseases,
including asthma, without the use of drug therapy or surgery. (Gerson Clinic, Mexico and Bircher-Benner
Clinic, Switzerland are the most renowned). These centres or clinics are often referred to in USA as
'Natural Hygiene', in England as 'Nature Cure' and in Australia as 'Natural Health' centres. Many of these
clinics are staffed by medically qualified doctors who are opposed to the orthodox system of drug
treatment. These clinics all have several things in common;

(i) they believe that most sickness is brought about by the toxic conditions within the body;

(ii) their treatment is aimed at cleaning out the body and embraces such things as fasting, cleansing diets
(raw food regimes), rest and relaxation, hydrotherapy (application of hot and cold water), exercise (yoga,
tai chi, etc.), plenty of fresh air and sunshine, and mental exercise in the form of meditation and
visualisation;

(iii) they all report a high level of success with those patients who strictly follow their programs.

I'm glad to report that asthmatics, regardless of their age or condition, who strictly follow these programs
either at the clinics or on their own, experience at the very least significant improvement in their asthma,
and in many cases, complete recovery. Should you wish to verify any of this, may I suggest you contact
Hopewood Health Centre (Ph. 047 73 8401) situated on the outskirts of Sydney, NSW or Dr Alec Burton,
Arcadia Health Centre, NSW (ph02653 1115).

The aforementioned evidence together with my own personal experience constitute the reasons why I
believe asthma is primarily due to 'unhealthy diet'. The next step, no less important, is to identify those
foods which are the major culprits behind asthma.

"Nutrition is not the highest thing in life, but it is the soil

on which the highest things either flourish or perish."
Dr. Max Bircher-Benner

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