Since the 1970s, asthma cases have doubled while air-pollution levels have plummeted. Between 1980 and 2006, levels of fine particulate matter fell 40 percent; ozone, 20 percent; nitrous oxide, 37 percent; sulfur dioxide, 63 percent; carbon monoxide, 74 percent; and lead, 96 percent. The link between asthma and air pollution isn’t weak; it’s nonexistent.
So what is causing the increase in asthma? Childhood obesity is one prominent factor, easily documented. Another is outgassing from modern building materials and the emergence of energy-efficient dwellings, which allow less of that relatively unpolluted outside air indoors than older homes did. This trend also may expose children to higher concentrations of asthma-causing insect and rodent excrement. One theory is that heavy metals from automotive catalytic converters or materials used in radial tires are culprits. “
One other often overlooked culprit is the over diagnosis of childhood asthma. I can not tell you the amount of children that I see in my practice(I am not a Pediatrician)that claim to be a diagnosed asthmatic but when queried about the use of their inhalers, pills etc... they say that they have not used them or any asthma product in months to years.
Add to that over-prescribing of a number of meds and the attempts to keep our kids in bubble-wrapped lives. Antiseptic, clean and perfect. Its all a lie.
There is a correlation between obesity and asthma, but that does not mean one causes the other.
I find it humorous that the environmental nuts pretend to care about asthmatics. They are the ones who have forced the new CFC-free inhalers on us, and these things are useless! I have not even refilled my presription for my inhaler, because it has no effect whatsoever on my asthma symptoms. Not only that, but the reformulated inhalers are considered to be a “new” medication (even though the active ingredient has not changed), so one cannot buy a generic. They are both expensive and ineffective! Yeah, these jerks really care about folks with asthma. BS.