Table of Contents

CONTENTS

Introduction 1
Healthy Kids, Sick Kids, 2
Note from the Author, 11
1 Sick Kids 13
The Alarming Statistics, 13
The Economic Impact of Chronic Disease in Children, 25
Is the Epidemic of Chronic Childhood Illness Real?, 27
What Is Making Our Children Sick?, 32
2 The Etiology of Chronic Illness in American Children 41
The Etiology of Chronic Childhood Illness, 47
Root Causes: The Perfect Storm, 49
The Pathway to Disease: From Physiological Dysfunction to Symptom Presentation, 65
3 Why Our Children? Why Now? 113
America’s Problem, 115
The Environmental Factors Responsible for
Chronic Illness in America’s Children, 118
4 Factor 1—Medication Overusage 125
Pharmaceutical Nation, 125
Antibiotics, 125
NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), 131
Other Pharmaceutical Agents, 134
The Pharmaceutical Industry Rises, 136
5 Factor 2—Environmental Toxins/Pollution 141
Canaries in a Silent Spring—The Impact of Environmental Toxins, 141
A Different Kind of Pollution: Electropollution, 149
6 Factor 3—Diet and Nutrition 155
You Are What You Eat: Diet Matters, 155
How Americans Eat Today, 160
How Diet Contributes to Gut Dysbiosis and Immune Dysregulation, 164
Toxins in Our Food, 166
Soybeans and Other Genetically Modified Organisms, 168
7 Factor 4—Habits and Lifestyles 173
American Habits and Lifestyles, 173
Birth and Infant Feeding, 177
The Role of Stress, 183
8 Factor 5—Immunizations and the Immunocompromised 189
A Brief Overview of the Great Vaccine Debate, 191
More than Just Mercury: Evidence Indicating that Vaccinations May Play a Role in Chronic Childhood Illnesses, 208
Does the American Childhood Immunization Program Cause Chronic Illness?, 215
The Connection Between Vaccination, Gut Dysbiosis, and Immune Dysregulation, 219
Détente: Moving Away from Conspiracies and Toward Solutions, 231
9 Healing the Children 239
The Recovered, 240
10 What We Can Do to Reverse This Trend 259
A New Focus for Children’s Health, 259
How to Protect Our Children, 261
Prepregnancy and Pregnancy Planning, 262
How to Help Children with Chronic Illnesses Now, 288
Conclusion 293
Notes 309