Natural food better than vaccinations?

ninerbuff

So this morning while driving my wife to the airport, I was listening to a topic on vaccinations and how some people who are adamant that vaccinations have cause more issues with illness (like Autism) and that natural foods can cure such diseases as whooping cough. One female stated that vaccinations are nothing more than a way for the Pharmacy companies to make big money. And her stance was that if vaccinations would be banned that we would have cured diseases by eating natural foods.
Now while I will agree that GREAT nutrition can help with boosting the immune system, I will emphatically disagree that the approach that eating natural foods will protect any child from diseases like measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc.

Thoughts?

rileysowner

It is amazing how one very flawed study keeps being marched out to link vaccines to autism. Already with the growing number of people refusing to vaccinate their children, we are finding what they call the herd immunity in various communities is starting to fade. There are more and more incidences of outbreaks of various illnesses that were virtually never seen not even a couple of decades back. So far the really dangerous illnesses have not taken hold, but it is only a matter of time before the diseases that caused major illness and death in the past start to increase as less and less people are vaccinated. If good food could prevent these diseases why were there bad outbreaks before vaccination even among groups that had a good healthy food supply (probably healthier than much of today's food)?

vanessaclarkgbr

Good post, bound to have some conflicting opinions! Personally (and I do mean my own point of view!) I felt it was my duty to immunise my children in order to protect those who couldn't be immunised - however - if diet can make these children resilient, fantastic!

moushtie

I'm sure good nutrition does boost immune systems, but chidren used to die of diseases like measles, mumps, and whooping cough. I think I'd rather immunise a child than take the risks of those diseases becoming common again.

SLambertAlaska

I'm on the fence.
My sister lives in Germany and is into "natural" and "organic" etc. and she did not give her kids any vacinnes when they were little - she let them get sick so they have natural immunity. Everything turned out OK for her, but I know there are some kids who get these diseases and die, sooooo You have to make your own choices.
Now that her kids are older, she does give them vaccines, figuring that their bodies are able to handle it. She recently got her pre-teen girls the Hepatitis vaccines so they could go to school in America. (they were here 3 weeks during Germany's "summer vacation" time)
I think the jury is out on autism and what causes it and I suspect it will be a long time before such a complicated brain-related condition is figured out.

ninerbuff

It is amazing how one very flawed study keeps being marched out to link vaccines to autism. Already with the growing number of people refusing to vaccinate their children, we are finding what they call the herd immunity in various communities is starting to fade. There are more and more incidences of outbreaks of various illnesses that were virtually never seen not even a couple of decades back. So far the really dangerous illnesses have not taken hold, but it is only a matter of time before the diseases that caused major illness and death in the past start to increase as less and less people are vaccinated. If good food could prevent these diseases why were there bad outbreaks before vaccination even among groups that had a good healthy food supply (probably healthier than much of today's food)?

Not to mention if these diseases are allowed to be passed on, at some point it will evolve into a much more potent strain. Then immunizations will have to be upgraded because previous ones won't have any affect on them.

MSDRIZZ

I immunized my children. That being said: my biological children (who are grown) had there shots spread out more then they do now. The theory now is that parents forget so give as many as you can when they do come to the doctors. I don't think this is as safe as spreading them out. I don't think they cause Autism, but they CAN in certain children trigger severe allergies if given too much at once. I also think we need to know what shots are being given. We should know what is being put in our children's bodies and weigh the risks and benefits. I personally think the benefits outweigh the risks for most immunizations. My foster sons doctor gave him the chicken pox vaccine then asked me to sign for it. I do not think the chicken pox vaccine is a good thing, because it only lasts 10 years and how many of these kids will remember a booster as adults or teens. I had chicken pox with my children while hubby was deployed to Somalia for the Army. I was VERY sick and the doctor told me it is much worse for adults. I also had Shingles a few years ago and the doctor said its more likely to get this if you had chicken pox as an adult. Just my opinion.

ninerbuff

I'm on the fence.
My sister lives in Germany and is into "natural" and "organic" etc. and she did not give her kids any vacinnes when they were little - she let them get sick so they have natural immunity. Everything turned out OK for her, but I know there are some kids who get these diseases and die, sooooo You have to make your own choices.
Now that her kids are older, she does give them vaccines, figuring that their bodies are able to handle it. She recently got her pre-teen girls the Hepatitis vaccines so they could go to school in America. (they were here 3 weeks during Germany's "summer vacation" time)
I think the jury is out on autism and what causes it and I suspect it will be a long time before such a complicated brain-related condition is figured out.

While it may be the option to wait on immunization, I agree with schools that if you don't have your child immunized, they can't attend public school. While they may not suffer from a disease like measles that they contract, someone else still could be infected who may not have a high a resiliency.

MSDRIZZ

I'm on the fence.
My sister lives in Germany and is into "natural" and "organic" etc. and she did not give her kids any vacinnes when they were little - she let them get sick so they have natural immunity. Everything turned out OK for her, but I know there are some kids who get these diseases and die, sooooo You have to make your own choices.
Now that her kids are older, she does give them vaccines, figuring that their bodies are able to handle it. She recently got her pre-teen girls the Hepatitis vaccines so they could go to school in America. (they were here 3 weeks during Germany's "summer vacation" time)
I think the jury is out on autism and what causes it and I suspect it will be a long time before such a complicated brain-related condition is figured out.

While it may be the option to wait on immunization, I agree with schools that if you don't have your child immunized, they can't attend public school. While they may not suffer from a disease like measles that they contract, someone else still could be infected who may not have a high a resiliency.

Most states will let you sign a paper saying that if there are any outbreaks of a disease that they have an immunization for you will pull your kid out then.

ATT949

Unfortunate but some folks believe this stuff. I live in Southern California, the home of "woo". The things that some folks believe can be downright scary.

The autism scare was cooked up by a doc in the UK who "studied" 12 autistic kids, in the 1990's, I believe. The study has been completely discredited and I think the doc has lost his license to practice medicine. It's a completely phony study but it caught on.

We have seen increases in childhood diseases as a result of people not vaccinating their kids. It's a shame.

If I might, I'd suggest that you head over to:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/

They deal with issues like this from a medical perspective and it's quite helpful in understanding some contemporary medical topics.

ninerbuff

Unfortunate but some folks believe this stuff. I live in Southern California, the home of "woo". The things that some folks believe can be downright scary.

The autism scare was cooked up by a doc in the UK who "studied" 12 autistic kids, in the 1990's, I believe. The study has been completely discredited and I think the doc has lost his license to practice medicine. It's a completely phony study but it caught on.

We have seen increases in childhood diseases as a result of people not vaccinating their kids. It's a shame.

If I might, I'd suggest that you head over to:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/

They deal with issues like this from a medical perspective and it's quite helpful in understanding some contemporary medical topics.

Doesn't help that celebrities like Jenny McCarthy are against vaccines and demonizes them. Just listening to the "mommy voice" isn't a legitimate reason to discard vaccines.

girlypop

ya vaccines do not cause autism. They discredited the study that was done regarding that because the physician overseeing the study handpicked autistic kids and claimed it was from vaccination. He was also being paid by an organization that was against vaccinations.

In reality, vaccinations have eradicated polio and are very good at protecting you from certain diseases. Healthy nutrition, although beneficial to your immune system, didn't seem to make a difference with the thousands of people who died of polio. It's utter crock that vaccinations aren't beneficial. Now there are some newer vaccinations that may carry more risk but vaccinations for mumps, measles and polio are globally accepted by the scientific community as fantastic preventative measure to protect from disease.

mrsmccullen07

I have 2 boys one is 4 and the other is 1 neither of my boys are vaccinated nor will they be vaccinated ! They both are eligible to attend public school and while I know there are many different views on it but here is my question .. if your child is immunized then why are you afraid to send them to school with my unvaccinated child ?? Isn't that vaccination supposed to keep your child from receiving any disease that they are vaccinated against ??

And I dont know how many of you know this but the answer is NO just because your child is vaccinated does not mean that your child is not going to catch measles,mumps etc. and they could still potentially die from that disease.

Also those vaccinations that you choose to inject into your young child can cause alot of harm they are not NATURAL nor are they safe .. my son started having seizures within 2 days of being born the only vaccination he received was the Hepatitis B and the neurologist later told us that Hepatitis B Vaccination is linked to highest rate of seizures in children .. and honestly is your child at risk for catching Hep B ?? My 7 month old cousin received all vaccinations from birth until 7 months at 7months he received his vaccinations and before they could get him out of the dr. office he had a grand mal seizure and they lost him ... I have been advised by my sons neurologist not to vaccinate him and we are also not allowed to have him in contact with any child/adult that has been vaccinated within the last 10days because he can catch the disease they were vaccinated against .. I know your doctor will deny this but if you take the time to read the vaccination leaflets/ingredients and do your own research you would probably be quite surprised. Now I am not opposed to others vaccinating their child I just dont vaccinate mine ... also how many of you as parents go get your booster shots ?? My family was shocked to learn that they even needed boosters and yep you do or you yourself are supposedly a danger to anybody else (vaccinated or not). Just 2 years ago our local high school gave out the Flu shot the next week they actually closed the school for 2 days due to so many children being out with the Flu and Chicken Pox it was a complete MESS !! I believe every 6th grader that year got chicken pox and ALL of them had been vaccinated against it nobody can explain where the chicken pox came from as no child had been diagnosed or out with it the weeks leading up to this .. personally I think someone was vaccinated against it and during that "contagious" period was given the Flu vaccination which weakens your immune system and allowed the Chicken Pox to actually come out.

I am not a doctor and I know I suck at grammar .. I also am not saying anyone should or should not vaccinate their child I just know what I have learned through intelligent research (you really shouldn't believe everything you find on the internet) as well as talking to my son neurologist (who surprisingly enough doesn't vaccinate her children because of all the seizures she sees related to vaccinations .. and other brain injuries that occur from the high fevers associated with them)

My boys dont eat healthy I do the best I can but they are 4 and 1 lol they are going to eat whatever they want within reason (no I dont feed them hamburgers and fries everyday but they do get them but they both love fruit & vegetables). Neither of my boys has gotten sick with anything that can be prevented through vaccination -- neither of them has ever gotten the flu either and the oldest one is in a preschool .... Actually I have never gotten the flu before but my husband has and it was the one year he got vaccinated against it !

Darkness2120

If nutrition alone was enough to prevent these diseases, then how come people who eat healthy (Jack LaLanne to name one) still get sick and die from illness? Yes there are always exceptions in which people don't get vaccinated and never contract them. However as someone mentioned earlier, certain illnesses like polio and small pox have all but been eradicated in certain areas of the world due to these vaccinations. A vaccination isn't guaranteed to keep you from getting the virus/disease, rather it makes your body stronger against it should you contract it at some point. This is what people seem to miss about what a vaccination actually is.
And as for the "its not natural" argument, just because something is synthetic doesn't automatically make it bad for you. Cyanide and various mushrooms are natural, but you don't go out consume those on sight do you.

phlumpet

I try to feed my children healthy, and I vaccinate them. The comment you said someone made about foods curing people of whooping cough reminded me of Jude Law's character in Contagion.

calibri

Most of the people anti vaccines have never *seen* the disease in action before. How many people have seen children with polio in iron lungs? Probably zero. People have this watered down vision of diseases like this and have no grasp of how dire they are. It's just sad that because of their negligence/unfounded paranoia, other populations (like babies who are not old enough to be vaccinated) are now in real danger of contracting these illnesses.

phlumpet

I immunized my children. That being said: my biological children (who are grown) had there shots spread out more then they do now. The theory now is that parents forget so give as many as you can when they do come to the doctors. I don't think this is as safe as spreading them out. I don't think they cause Autism, but they CAN in certain children trigger severe allergies if given too much at once. I also think we need to know what shots are being given. We should know what is being put in our children's bodies and weigh the risks and benefits. I personally think the benefits outweigh the risks for most immunizations. My foster sons doctor gave him the chicken pox vaccine then asked me to sign for it. I do not think the chicken pox vaccine is a good thing, because it only lasts 10 years and how many of these kids will remember a booster as adults or teens. I had chicken pox with my children while hubby was deployed to Somalia for the Army. I was VERY sick and the doctor told me it is much worse for adults. I also had Shingles a few years ago and the doctor said its more likely to get this if you had chicken pox as an adult. Just my opinion.

I agree somewhat - I hate that we now have a chickenpox vaccine. I had the chickenpox, survived, and supposedly don't need a booster. Unfortunately though, what you said is right - if they get chickenpox as an adult you're more likely to get shingles which is a very painful disease. Unfortunately, because every kid is now vaccinated against chickenpox, it will be close to impossible to have my kids contract this minor illness on their own and acquire natural immunity. So, I feel I have no choice but to immunize them to protect against getting it as an adult.

That being said - there is no way I would risk not giving my kids the vaccines for polio, MMR, whooping cough or a certain type of meningitis. These are real, serious and even deadly diseases. The risks of vaccines do not outweigh the benefits for me. And in the northeast here, we are seeing a resurgence of some of these formerly "eradicated" illnesses.

mrsmccullen07

I have seen someone who had polio and survived and I have done my research and I know exactly what can happen if my child catches one of those diseases. I am the first person to take my child to the doctor and I know any dangerous symptons to look for and my child's doctors also know they aren't vaccinated and they have read up on diseases that they will likely never see just to know what to look for last year my son had a fever for a few days followed by a cough and then white spots in his mouth and then his whole body broke out in hives/rashes during this 2 week period I had taken him to the dr. 4x and we were watching him very carefully for the chance it may be measles it wasn't it was viral but we were on top of it ... I am not just blindly choosing to not vaccinate them and ignoring the risk of my choices but I also am not going to blindly inject vaccinations (have you really read the ingredients ??) into my child.

Also I am new and still failing miserably at feeding my child healthier foods but I have often wondered if we would all be healthier (less colds,flu etc.) if we didn't eat so much crap I mean seriously some children live off McDonalds for each meal (my nephew!) and he has for 2 years he is ALWAYS sick .. and he is vaccinated my unvaccinated children and sick alot less than him although I do realize vaccinations do not play into the colds,stomach viruses etc. ... I just have thought about the junk food constantly and the immune system ....

I normally dont even speak out about this but I figured this was a friendly atmosphere and I would honestly like to learn other's views ... I think it is a very personal decision that each family should make for themselves and I can tell from you that spoke on here that you are not blindly vaccinating your child and that is awesome .. just be sure you know what your putting in your childs body its precious and I think as long as each parent is doing that than whatever they choose has to be what is best for their family or they would have not chose to do it.

mrsmccullen07

I immunized my children. That being said: my biological children (who are grown) had there shots spread out more then they do now. The theory now is that parents forget so give as many as you can when they do come to the doctors. I don't think this is as safe as spreading them out. I don't think they cause Autism, but they CAN in certain children trigger severe allergies if given too much at once. I also think we need to know what shots are being given. We should know what is being put in our children's bodies and weigh the risks and benefits. I personally think the benefits outweigh the risks for most immunizations. My foster sons doctor gave him the chicken pox vaccine then asked me to sign for it. I do not think the chicken pox vaccine is a good thing, because it only lasts 10 years and how many of these kids will remember a booster as adults or teens. I had chicken pox with my children while hubby was deployed to Somalia for the Army. I was VERY sick and the doctor told me it is much worse for adults. I also had Shingles a few years ago and the doctor said its more likely to get this if you had chicken pox as an adult. Just my opinion.

I agree somewhat - I hate that we now have a chickenpox vaccine. I had the chickenpox, survived, and supposedly don't need a booster. Unfortunately though, what you said is right - if they get chickenpox as an adult you're more likely to get shingles which is a very painful disease. Unfortunately, because every kid is now vaccinated against chickenpox, it will be close to impossible to have my kids contract this minor illness on their own and acquire natural immunity. So, I feel I have no choice but to immunize them to protect against getting it as an adult.

That being said - there is no way I would risk not giving my kids the vaccines for polio, MMR, whooping cough or a certain type of meningitis. These are real, serious and even deadly diseases. The risks of vaccines do not outweigh the benefits for me. And in the northeast here, we are seeing a resurgence of some of these formerly "eradicated" illnesses.

My husband is 31 he hadn't had chickenpox as a child so as a young adult he got the chickenpox vaccination (before I met him I am not 100% sure how old he was) anyway when I was pregnant with our first child 2007 he was 27 and he got shingles and they could not figure out why he got it .. and he has had it 3x since then and the last time we went to a walk in clinic since we were out of town when they hit him again and the dr. there told us it couldn't be shingles because he got the vaccination and that prevents shingles too well they scraped a sample off and we got a call a week later that it was indeed shingles ... oh and he has had shingles 4x total first time I was pregnant , second time we had a 8week old baby , third time we were in the hospital with our baby and his sleep apnea and the fourth time we had a 2 year old and a 3 month old .. each time my husband was still involved with our family we were cautious and we prevented our children from getting chickenpox now that they are both older if hubby happens to get shingles again we aren't going to be so careful I want my kids to get chickenpox its a normal childhood thing and I think it is best if they get it naturally !! My best friend was pregnant when she found out she had been neither vaccinated or had the disease and if she had gotten it the outcome would have been ALOT worse than if she had just gotten it as a child.

And just something else I have wondered about is chickenpox and the number of people who make it to adulthood without receiving a vaccination and without ever having chickenpox I would think that chickenpox would be the one disease you were LIKELY to get ... I haven't researched this so I have no clue why but just something I was thinking about

ninerbuff

I have 2 boys one is 4 and the other is 1 neither of my boys are vaccinated nor will they be vaccinated ! They both are eligible to attend public school and while I know there are many different views on it but here is my question .. if your child is immunized then why are you afraid to send them to school with my unvaccinated child ?? Isn't that vaccination supposed to keep your child from receiving any disease that they are vaccinated against ??

And I dont know how many of you know this but the answer is NO just because your child is vaccinated does not mean that your child is not going to catch measles,mumps etc. and they could still potentially die from that disease.

Also those vaccinations that you choose to inject into your young child can cause alot of harm they are not NATURAL nor are they safe .. my son started having seizures within 2 days of being born the only vaccination he received was the Hepatitis B and the neurologist later told us that Hepatitis B Vaccination is linked to highest rate of seizures in children .. and honestly is your child at risk for catching Hep B ?? My 7 month old cousin received all vaccinations from birth until 7 months at 7months he received his vaccinations and before they could get him out of the dr. office he had a grand mal seizure and they lost him ... I have been advised by my sons neurologist not to vaccinate him and we are also not allowed to have him in contact with any child/adult that has been vaccinated within the last 10days because he can catch the disease they were vaccinated against .. I know your doctor will deny this but if you take the time to read the vaccination leaflets/ingredients and do your own research you would probably be quite surprised. Now I am not opposed to others vaccinating their child I just dont vaccinate mine ... also how many of you as parents go get your booster shots ?? My family was shocked to learn that they even needed boosters and yep you do or you yourself are supposedly a danger to anybody else (vaccinated or not). Just 2 years ago our local high school gave out the Flu shot the next week they actually closed the school for 2 days due to so many children being out with the Flu and Chicken Pox it was a complete MESS !! I believe every 6th grader that year got chicken pox and ALL of them had been vaccinated against it nobody can explain where the chicken pox came from as no child had been diagnosed or out with it the weeks leading up to this .. personally I think someone was vaccinated against it and during that "contagious" period was given the Flu vaccination which weakens your immune system and allowed the Chicken Pox to actually come out.

I am not a doctor and I know I suck at grammar .. I also am not saying anyone should or should not vaccinate their child I just know what I have learned through intelligent research (you really shouldn't believe everything you find on the internet) as well as talking to my son neurologist (who surprisingly enough doesn't vaccinate her children because of all the seizures she sees related to vaccinations .. and other brain injuries that occur from the high fevers associated with them)

My boys dont eat healthy I do the best I can but they are 4 and 1 lol they are going to eat whatever they want within reason (no I dont feed them hamburgers and fries everyday but they do get them but they both love fruit & vegetables). Neither of my boys has gotten sick with anything that can be prevented through vaccination -- neither of them has ever gotten the flu either and the oldest one is in a preschool .... Actually I have never gotten the flu before but my husband has and it was the one year he got vaccinated against it !

Kids that aren't vaccinated don't pose a disease threat against other kids that have been. It's the "other" kids that haven't been vaccinated that come into risk. Kids get sick usually from other kids at school. Those are not deniable facts. So if a child infects another child, of whom neither has been vaccinated and the child that caught that disease suffers and may even be seriously hospitalized from it, then legally the school can be held liable since it was spread there. That's why they have to be vaccinated. Yes, it's a legal issue. However, I don't think anyone can deny that the eradication of polio through vaccines to be untrue.
To each his own and I will be the first to say that with ANY medicine, there will be some that won't get a benefit with it or may suffer from a side effect. However, the benefits of what vaccines have done for the non spread of diseases that can be fatal to infants, and kids far out weigh the "bad". I know it can be a personal issue, but the safety of the many is more important than the safety of the few.

summertime_girl

Well, there were only natural foods hundreds of years ago. And a hell of a lot of people died from diseases that we can now vaccinate for. There's some pretty flawed logic in the original post.