environmental health

environmental health,

the total of various aspects of substances, forces, and conditions in and about a community that affect the health and well-being of the population.

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environmental health,

n the various aspects of substances, forces, and conditions in and about a community that affect the health and well-being of the population.

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Patient discussion about environmental health.

Q. What are the environmental factors that cause allergies? Are the causes to allergies only genetic or sporadic or is there an environmental connection as well?

A. Exposure to environmental allergens, especially in early life, is an important risk factor for allergy. Also, children that live in large families or overcrowded households, or attend day care, have a reduced incidence of allergic disease, a relationship has been proposed between exposures to bacteria and viruses during childhood, and protection against the development of allergy, which has been called – the "hygiene hypothesis".

Q. Do environmental factors have a relation to developing ADHD as a child? I have read in a magazine that ADHD is thought to be caused by factors from out environment. Is this true?

A. ADHD has mainly a genetic connection, however some environmental factors due play a role: smoking and drinking alcohol during pregnancy is thought to be one trigger. A systematic review found that removing artificial food coloring had a small effect size on ADHD symptoms. Premature birth is also thought to be one of the risk factors.

Q. Is bipolar disorder genetic or environmental? Does anyone know why it seems that all the mental disorders involve chemical imbalances, like the dopamine hypothesis, and serotonin and all that? Psychologists always say its Genetics, though it really seems environmental factors play the biggest role. I honestly think that almost all personality, mood, and psychotic disorders are not cause by genetics, but the way people were raised and the kind of life they lead

A. Like always the answer is complicated…when I looked it up in PubMed I found articles that proved it to be genetic and some that proved it to be environmental. Let’s just say that if you have the genetic tendency to develop bipolar syndrome- all you need is an environmental trigger.