Foetus en baby die blootgesteld wordt aan giftige stoffen krijgt immuunproblemen later in het leven.*
De giftige stoffen zijn onder meer pesticiden, alcohol, zware metalen, roken, uitlaatgassen, antibiotica, medicijnen en PCB’s. De immuunproblemen die later kunnen optreden zijn onder meer astma, allergie, verhoogde gevoeligheid voor infecties, gedragsproblemen als kind, autoimmuunziekte, kanker, aderverkalking, hoge bloeddruk, motorische problemen en onvruchtbaarheid. De remedie tegen het ontstaan van de immuunproblemen lijkt zo voorhanden volgens andere onderzoeken. Nutriënten die hier goed voor zijn zitten o.a. in verschillende kruiden zoals astragalus, echinacea, ginseng, sophorawortel en paddestoelen als shiitake, reishi en maitake.
Prenatal
toxicity linked to immune dysfunctions in later life
A
Cornell researcher and his wife have conducted the first comprehensive review of
later-life diseases that develop in people who were exposed to environmental
toxins or drugs either in the womb or as infants.
They
have found that most of the diseases have two things in common: They involve an
imbalanced immune system and exaggerated inflammatory reactions (at the cellular
level).
In
an invited, peer-reviewed article on developmental immunotoxicity (DIT),
published in a recent issue of Current Medicinal Chemistry, Rodney Dietert,
professor of immunotoxicology at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, and
Janice Dietert of Performance Plus Consulting in Lansing, N.Y., found that
almost all the chronic diseases that are associated with DIT share the same type
of immunological damage.
The
diseases linked to DIT include asthma, allergy, suppressed responses to
vaccines, increased susceptibility to infections, childhood neurobehavioral
conditions, autoimmunity, cancer, cerebral palsy, atherosclerosis, hypertension
and male sterility.
Toxins
that are known to cause developmental immune problems in fetuses and neonates,
according to the Dieterts, include herbicides, pesticides, alcohol, heavy metals,
maternal smoking, antibiotics, diesel exhaust, drugs of abuse and PCBs.
Antidotes
to DIT, the researchers note, could come from a variety of sources, including
herbal and fungal chemicals -- from mushrooms to clover -- which appear to have
promise.
Two
immune processes -- T helper (Th) cell balances and dendritic cell maturation --
are both compromised in ways that disrupt the regulation of inflammatory cell
function, which leads to exaggerated inflammatory responses.
"Most
therapeutic approaches have looked at specific disease outcomes from DIT, rather
than focusing on the underlying immune dysfunction that creates the increased
disease risk," said Rodney Dietert, who also presented his findings at the
annual Society of Toxicology meeting in Charlotte, N.C. "Instead, we looked
at the common immune dysfunction that is related to a host of diseases."
Knowing
the most common immune dysfunction patterns from DIT allows researchers to
consider more seriously those "medicinals with the capacity to restore
inflammatory cell regulation, promote dendritic cell maturation and restore
desirable Th balance that would be the most likely candidates to combat the
problems resulting from DIT."
Focusing
on studies of herbal and fungal chemicals, the Dieterts scoured the literature
and found that some of the chemicals appear to be particularly promising when
taken at appropriate doses. These include: Astragalus; Echinacea (purple
coneflower); sang-hwang shiitake, reishi, maitake and snake butter mushrooms,
black seed, Asian ginseng, milk vetch root, wild yam, Sophoro root and Greek
clover (all of these also go by various other names).
In
their paper, the Dieterts also list a multitude of substances that have been
found to have "an uncertain impact" on DIT as well as several found to
exacerbate immune dysfunction (including marijuana).
"We
hope that these findings of persistent immune dysfunction from gestational
exposure will provide encouragement for additional research. Furthermore, that
researchers will look at these categories of medicines that have the possibility
of correcting inflammatory and immune balance problems resulting from DIT rather
than focusing solely on individual disease symptoms," Rodney Dietert said.
He noted that until recently toxin-testing guidelines predicted only risk in adults, but that the Environmental Protection Agency has announced it will issue new guidelines to take into account the increased immune sensitivity of fetuses and young children. (Mei 2007) (Opm. Nu uit recent onderzoek al gebleken is dat zich in iedere placenta tegenwoordig tenminste 1 soort pesticide bevindt is het voor iedere zwangere en zogende vrouw belangrijk de juiste nutriënten in de voeding op te nemen.)