The level of pollutants in drinking water has been steadily rising in recent years. Pollutants run off the land into rivers or seep down through the soil into groundwater. Various purification measures are taken before the water reaches our taps, but these are never 100 per cent effective.
Agriculture makes the major contribution to water pollution. Nitrates, used as fertilizers, run off from the fields, and in several parts of Britain, tap-water regularly exceeds the EEC limit on nitrates. Although nitrates have received a lot of publicity, they are not as worrying as some of the other water pollutants. There are no clear signs that the nitrate levels found in drinking water are
damaging to health, except in newborn babies. As far as chemical-sensitive patients are concerned, nitrates are unlikely to be a problem.
Small amounts of pesticides also get into the water supply from farm use. In addition, there have been accidents in which large amounts of highly toxic pesticides such as dieldrin (now banned for agricultural use) have been emptied into drains or soakaways close to boreholes, causing major pollution of the groundwater below. Most water authorities do not systematically monitor drinking water for pesticides.
Oil from spillages may find its way into drinking water, but usually this is only in minute amounts. Organic solvents (see p164) also turn up in water supplies – a study by Imperial College, London, found the solvent trichloroethylene in 36 per cent of the 168 groundwater samples they tested. The level was higher than the limit set by the World Health Organization in 10 percent of the samples, and in one it was seven times the WHO limit. Other solvents are also found in groundwaters, usually as a result of factories discharging their waste solvents into drains or ditches. Very few of the water authorities systematically check their supplies for solvents or other industrial pollutants, and serious incidents of pollution may easily go undetected. Some of the chemicals used for purification also leave a residue in the water, but this is unlikely to be harmful as long as the correct amounts are being used.
Chlorine is added to water to kill bacteria and viruses that might otherwise cause disease. Unfortunately, chlorine readily reacts with certain organic molecules to produce chlorinated hydrocarbons. (The organic molecules may themselves be pollutants, or they may be produced by large amounts of waterweed, growing and then rotting down in reservoirs.) Some of these chlorinated hydrocarbons are carcinogenic, and they have occasionally turned up in drinking water.
*414\180\8*
If something goes wrong during the food testing – you might get influenza for example, or some other infection – then you will have to stop testing foods. All is not lost, but there is no point in trying to test foods beyond three months. If vou are unable to test all the excluded foods, then you should go back to the healthy-eating diet for about a month. Eat whatever you like, but if there are anv foods which gave a positive reaction when tested, then you should continue to avoid these.
Keep a record of your symptoms, and see how you feel at the end of the month. If you are reasonably well, then continue with the healthy-eating diet, avoiding the incriminated foods, and see how you get on. As long as you keep your diet varied, so as not to acquire new sensitivities, you can always go through Stage 2 again later.
If, after a month on the healthy eating’ diet, some or all of your symptoms have returned, then you should start the exclusion phase of Stage 2 again. Any foods that you previously tested and found safe can be eaten as well, but if your symptoms have not cleared after a week, then you should exclude these foods as well.
Assuming your symptoms clear up, then you can test the excluded foods as described above. If they do not, then you should go on to Stage 3.
*367\180\8*
The mother who wishes to ensure that her baby is solely breast-fed needs to be prepared in advance. Because breast-feeding is thought of as ‘natural’ it is often assumed that it ‘comes naturally’. Unfortunately this is not true, and many mothers give up because they have not been shown how to breast-feed properly, or because they have sore nipples, or other problems. Advice and help with breast-feeding can be obtained from several organizations.
Before going into hospital, enquire about their policy on night feeds and supplementary feeds. Make it very clear to the midwife that you do not wish your baby to have anything but breast milk. Ask whether you will be able to have your baby with you and feed it on demand – this is far more conducive to successful breast-feeding than a system that is ruled by the clock. Another factor in establishing a good working relationship with your baby is starting breast-feeding within four hours of birth. Where a baby or mother is very ill, this may not always be possible, but you should ask that the baby be put to the breast as soon as possible.
If breast-feeding is not possible, for whatever reason, then the mother should not feel guilty about the situation. There are alternatives that carry less risk of allergy than standard infant formulas. These are feed mixtures known as hydrolysates which are available on prescription.
Formula feeds based on soya are sometimes used with children who are known to be sensitive to cow’s milk. These tend to be prescribed because they are a great deal cheaper than hydrolysates, and they may be very effective in clearing up symptoms that are due to cow’s milk sensitivity. However, there is always the risk that a child will develop allergic reactions.to soya proteins, which are themselves noted allergens. This is especially likely if the mother has eaten soya, which she may well have done, since soya flour is increasingly common as a hidden’ ingredient in many foods. As part of a prevention programme, soya-based formulas are not necessarily that much better than standard milk-based formulas – hydrolysates are definitely preferable.
There is little doubt that prolonged breast-feeding and careful weaning are the most important factors in diminishing the risk of allergy in newborn babies. There are also good reasons for believing that breast-feeding reduces the likelihood of food intolerance, as well as having more general benefits, such as-protecting babies from infection. Trying to breast-feed for as long as possible is something that would benefit any child. As a matter of national health-care policy, the many obstacles and discouragements to breast-feeding should be removed, and the promotion of formula feeds in maternity wards should stop, as the World Health Organization has recommended.
*320\180\8*
The first and most important step is to get the baby examined by a doctor, who should check for serious problems such as gastro-oesophageal reflux – acid passing from the stomach up into the gullet (oesophagus), and thus causing pain – or intestinal obstruction. Assuming that there are no such problems, and that your doctor can suggest no other likely causes for the excessive-crying, then it is worth investigating the possible role of food.
Bottle-fed babies
Try giving smaller, more frequent feeds as an initial step – if the baby has slight difficulties with lactose then this may be the answer. Should this produce no improvement.
There are two main possibilities to be considered here: temporary lactose intolerance or other forms of food sensitivity.
If your baby only has colic in the evening, then a temporary deficit in lactase, due to the morning feed being larger than usual, is a possibility. There are various ways of reducing the amount of milk in the morning feed, and these are worth trying. The simplest approach is to let the baby feed first from one breast only and then from the other – rather than keep switching breasts. This reduces the amount of milk produced overall. If this has no effect, try expressing some milk before the morning feed; refrigerate or freeze it for use later. Another method is to give the baby a small amount of boiled water from a bottle before the morning feed, so that it feels full more quickly, or to feed from one breast only – this will tend to reduce your supply of milk overall, so you should only do this if you know your milk is plentiful.
For the baby who does not respond to this, or who has colic at any time of day, food intolerance should be investigated.
*269\180\8*
Being an omnivore – an animal who eats adaptably, taking whatever is available – is a high-risk, high-return strategy in the natural world. It opens up a huge range of foods, but it makes it impossible for the omnivore to adapt to the specific chemical toxins of a single food source. Rats are omnivores, which is why they are so remarkably successful and so very difficult to poison. When a rat encounters a new food it nibbles at it very cautiously, taking a tiny amount. Then it waits for a day or so. As long as it is not ill, it returns to eat some more.
At one time, the human approach to eating out would have been very similar. Until about 10,000 years ago our ancestors were hunter-gatherers whose food consisted of wild plants and animals. Like the rat, they would generally have approached new foods with extreme caution. They would also have been endowed, as we are today, with the best type of equipment for breaking down food toxins. That equipment resides in the liver, in the form of chemical compounds called enzymes that can break down foreign molecules. A powerful set of detoxification enzymes is something every good omnivore needs.
We are still omnivores today, although we do not rely much on wild foods. Farming changed our way of eating fundamentally, but it was not a change that happened overnight. The process took thousands of years, beginning with the collecting of wild grasses where these were growing abundantly. The wealth of food available from this harvest allowed people to settle down in one place, whereas before they had always been nomadic. The grass seeds could be stored and eaten for a large part of the year, but other wild plants and animals were still a major element in the diet.
The transition to farming took place once people realized that they could plant some of the stored seed and thus grow more grasses and increase their food supply. In time, they would have started to select the seeds used for planting, choosing those from the best types of grass. The process of domestication and plant improvement had begun.
*21\180\8*