Doctor Botkina warned about the risk of developing diathesis in children due to early strawberries
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Since the beginning of April, imported strawberries have appeared on the shelves of shops and markets – they are brought from Turkey and Greece. In appearance, it is absolutely beautiful. It tastes and smells more like plastic jewelry. That is, none.
And here’s another news: not only in imported, but also in Russian strawberries suddenly discovered antibiotics! Already 20-fold excess of tetracycline. An amazing thing, because the presence of antibiotics is the lot of animal products (milk, meat, etc.). If they are used in crop production, then to combat some very serious diseases or pests. And a multiple excess of antibiotics indicates a serious danger to people: at least indigestion, but worse, antibiotic resistance (that is, bacteria getting used to antibiotics, due to which, in the event of a serious illness, the drugs may not work).
– In general, early berries, including strawberries, are not the most useful product, especially for children, – says our expert, PhD, endocrinologist Zukhra Pavlova. – In different years, Rospotrebnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor found an excess of nitrates in April and May berries (fertilizers accelerate ripening). Therefore, I would not recommend eating early berries in large quantities (two or three pieces a day are enough – an average of 100 grams). But when our seasonal strawberries begin to ripen in late May or early June, that’s great! In my opinion, the best berry that you can and should eat.
ate a strawberry and blushed
KP experts – pediatricians and allergists – have repeatedly warned that early berries can be dangerous for children: they cause allergies and poisoning. But in our minds, the concepts of “allergy” and “diathesis” in a baby are often confused. In fact, this is not true at all:
– Diathesis is not a disease. This is a metabolic (exchange) feature of a person, – explains the dermatovenereologist of the dermatovenereological department of the Russian Children’s Clinical Hospital of the Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Associate Professor of the Department of Hospital Pediatrics. Academician V.A. Tabolina, candidate of medical sciences Alexandra Botkina. – A person with this feature is born. But already because of it, a certain spectrum of pathologies is formed. Or it may not be formed (again, it depends on many factors). For example, allergies. Allergy is already a disease. It develops in people with a certain type of diathesis. Diathesis is a possibility. Allergy is a realized possibility.
But diathesis has many faces that we, parents, sometimes do not even suspect. Beginning – red cheeks in infancy. Then, in adolescence, there are already other problems.
FOUR “FACES” OF DIATHESIS
“It is impossible to answer the question of how to treat diathesis in a child, and whether it is necessary at all,” says Alexandra Botkina. – As I said above, this is a genetically determined feature of metabolism, which determines the predisposition to certain diseases. There are four types of diathesis, which are formed due to genes received from parents. It depends on the genes which diseases the child will be prone to during his life. But in infancy, the skin always suffers.
Let’s talk about four types:
1. Exudative catarrhal diathesis: ate a lot, sprinkled in the morning.
The most common, occurs in almost 40% of children.
Signs:
From the first month of life, there are persistent diaper rash, gneiss (fatty seborrheic scales on the scalp), dryness and pallor of the skin. Then there is a lesion of the skin of the face, the so-called milk scab. The skin of the cheeks and chin first turns red, and then begins to peel off. Quite easily, especially when combing, a bacterial infection joins.
Skin lesions are aggravated in the autumn-winter period. And also after the baby overeats such allergenic foods as strawberries, strawberries, citrus fruits, chocolate, fish, cheese, sausages, tomatoes. Sometimes the stomach may hurt, diarrhea or severe coughing may appear.
IMPORTANT! If an allergy sufferer sprinkles even after one berry, then a child with this type of diathesis will develop manifestations only if he eats too many of these foods. Only in this case, this will lead to the destruction of special cells responsible for inflammation in the skin and the release of a large amount of histamine into the blood – the main culprit of redness, itching and diarrhea.
Treatment and prognosis:
It’s not all that scary! All these reactions proceed without the participation of the child’s immune system, and by the age of 3-4, the manifestations of exudative-catarrhal diathesis, as a rule, gradually disappear. To alleviate the condition of the baby, the doctor usually recommends a reasonable diet, antihistamines. And in case of exacerbations on the inflamed skin, apply local steroid creams in short courses.
To prevent exacerbation, it is necessary to constantly use emollients (means that moisturize the skin and prevent moisture loss, as well as increase its resistance to damaging environmental factors).
Peculiarities:
Such children are often unnecessarily gaining weight, are excessively irritable or, conversely, phlegmatic. They have an increased vulnerability of the mucous membranes with a protracted course: (stomatitis, gingivitis constantly occur, runs from the nose or watery eyes). They often have enlarged lymph nodes.
2. Allergic diathesis: many spots due to one strawberry.
With this diathesis, the immune system plays a leading role.
Signs:
The same as in the first paragraph, but all the symptoms appear in a child from a small tangerine or one strawberry (chocolate candy).
Who is more likely to:
If you ask the parents of such a child, you will definitely find out that mom or dad, grandparents have one or even several of these diseases. The final diagnosis is established by the allergist after a special allergological examination.
How it manifests itself:
Symptoms are different, they can affect not only the skin, but also the digestive tract, the respiratory system.
Treatment and prognosis:
Alas, with age, allergic diathesis itself does not go away. After all, it is characterized not only by a predisposition to allergic diseases, but also by their mandatory development. Over time, the child may develop atopic dermatitis, hives, food allergies, or hay fever. The basis of treatment in early childhood is diet. You need to carefully monitor the child, identify foods that cause exacerbation and reasonably limit them. If necessary, be observed and treated by an allergist.
3. Nervous-arthritic diathesis: not just whims.
The skin in this type suffers much less frequently than in the other two.
How it manifests itself:
Children with this type of metabolic response tend to be moody, stubborn, excitable, and have poor or selective appetites. At the same time, they can very easily lose weight, but gaining weight is a problem for them. They often suffer from stuttering, night terrors, various tics.
4. Lymphatic-hypoplastic diathesis: cute plump.
How it manifests itself:
Children are often born large and quickly gain weight. These babies are characterized by a wide chest, pterygoid shoulder blades, blond or blond hair, and a bluish coloration of the sclera. Often they have reduced muscle tone, an increase in all groups of lymph nodes, increased sweating, unexplained slightly elevated body temperature, regurgitation, diarrhea or constipation. Very early, the adenoids, the thymus gland increase, and children often begin to get sick with acute respiratory infections, moreover, they suffer repeated acute respiratory viral infections with an obstructive syndrome (they develop the so-called false croup). By the age of 5-7, chronic foci of infection in the ENT organs are sometimes formed: chronic tonsillitis, adenoiditis, recurrent bronchitis, secondary pyelonephritis is often diagnosed.
Treatment and prognosis of these two types:
In this (and the first two cases), diathesis is not a disease, but only a feature of metabolism, and an increased ability of the body to form one or another pathology, which can be realized under the influence of external factors, or maybe not. Therefore, it is required not to be treated, but to be taken into account in the process of a child’s life. And see a specialist.
