By Cristina Cuomo
PURIST: We’re talking about all things child-related today. With spring here, many parents are dealing with seasonal allergies and eczema. How do you treat these, and what is actually prompting the reactions?
Dr. Gluzman: In conventional medicine, we think about allergies as a symptom that needs to be resolved. But allergies, whether they be food allergies or seasonal allergies, are actually the symptoms of a bigger problem. That problem is multifactorial. Just treating the symptoms without addressing the root cause is just half the story.
In my practice, we look at how we make sure the symptoms go away and don’t come back. That means we have to give kids the building blocks they need not to have such a big reaction to things that are normal in their environment—the trees, the dogs, the cats. The problem is an overactive immune response, and there are multiple ways to address that at the root. Kids are super-resilient, and the earlier that we think about treating the root cause, the easier it is.
You also help children with ADHD and sensory challenges. Can you talk about assessing the root cause through things like genetics and gut health?
NG: Getting to the root cause is the entire realm of an integrative and functional approach. If kids are relying on symptom management all the time, or if they’re relying on medications long term, addressing the root cause is crucial.
One thing that is helpful for everyone is optimizing the integrity of the gut lining and the microbiome. It’s actually quite simple: Remove the things from your child’s system that may be inflaming them and then give them the building blocks they need to heal. Sometimes we do blood testing to see if there’s a micronutrient gap, or advanced testing like checking stool microbiome, or precision genomic testing to see exactly what kind of optimization needs to happen for lifelong health.
This approach also seems to help with constipation or picky eaters who only want to eat white foods.
NG: Little changes, small steps—especially when it comes to kids who are a little bit pickier—can make such a world of difference. The key is to make sure that no one is being stressed out by these changes. Everyone needs to be on board, and it does not need to be hard to be extremely impactful.
What about chronic infections and congestion?
NG: Chronic congestion could be stemming from an airway issue that can be anatomical, or a chronic allergic response causing a ton of inflammation in the airway. Sometimes it means their adenoids are too large. Sometimes it means those repeat pesky infections keep happening, and the airway is not calming down in between illnesses.
We all know about how helpful probiotics may be for the gut, but there are also really helpful probiotics that can optimize the ear, nose and throat system. If kids have needed antibiotics, we want to introduce those healthy probiotic microbes that can support a healthy airway in the future. It’s not just treating infections or enlarged adenoids, but optimizing that entire system so that healthy microbes can calm the inflammation.
What is your scientific approach to vaccines?
NG: I think most parents are not actually afraid of the vaccines themselves, but the problems that can arise when a vaccine mounts an immune response. If that inflammation goes overboard, this is where we see the problems. This can be optimized and neutralized. We can do many things that are individual for each child with their family history, with their physical exam and with testing, to create an environment that, if they’re choosing to get vaccinated, they’re going to have the most optimal reaction and not have a reaction that is unnecessarily overactive.
What do you suggest for preventive measures and staying ahead of one’s health?
NG: First is making sure that you have a good relationship with your pediatrician; interview different physicians to find one you trust fully. Second, those annual visits are crucial to make sure our kids are growing, but preventively, maybe once a year, think about how their systems can be optimized before getting overwhelmed.
For parents of kids who already have issues that are chronic, think about the reasons behind these as not just symptom management, but a symptom of a bigger problem that can absolutely be mitigated. The younger that we start to optimize our kids’ health from the inside out, the easier it is. Kids don’t need to live with many of these chronic medications long term. blossompediatrics.com