Obviously, the plants around us make pollen- the bane of the seasonal allergy sufferer’s existence. But did you know that because of our planting habits in the US we’ve drastically increased the amount of pollen-producing plants, significantly contributing to the epidemic that is seasonal allergies?
Pollen producers are pretty much always male plants. And male plants are hugely favored in landscape gardens and urban settings across the US (4 out of 5 trees sold in nurseries are male). Why? Male plants are “litter free” plants: no seeds, seedpods or fruit mess to clean up. And as we rush to greenscape urban settings—should be a good thing– those plants are almost always….male. We’re unintentionally actively stoking the allergic epidemic with our planting habits. Furthermore, female plants trap pollen and clean the air. So not only are we dumping more pollen, but we’ve removed the female air cleaners, too.
What to do?
Easiest first fix: Even removing just one offending pollen-producing tree or shrub from your yard can really reduce your symptoms by lowering total allergic load. Especially if the offender is by a window— pollen’s small size jumps right through the best of screens.
Second thing: Plant females!
Third thing: If you really want to go full-on reversing those allergies, when you’re purchasing plants this year, look for plants rated using the OPALS system (Ogren Plant Allergy Scale). The lower the number the better. Check out this great resource.
And stay tuned. As I incorporate these ideas in practice, I’ll report back…
I’d love to hear from you. What do you do to control allergies naturally?
Author: Kara Fitzgerald, ND
https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/ Kara Fitzgerald, ND, received her doctor of naturopathic medicine degree from the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She completed the first Counsel on Naturopathic Medicine-accredited post-doctorate position in nutritional biochemistry and laboratory science at Metametrix Clinical Laboratory under the direction of Richard Lord, PhD. Her residency was completed at Progressive Medical Center, a large, integrative medical practice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dr. Fitzgerald is the lead author and editor of Case Studies in Integrative and Functional Medicine and is a contributing author to Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine and the Institute for Functional Medicine (IFM)’s Textbook for Functional Medicine. With the Helfgott Research Institute, Dr. Fitzgerald is actively engaged in clinical research on the DNA methylome using a diet and lifestyle intervention developed in her practice. The first publication from the study focuses on reversal of biological aging and was published 04-12-2021 in the journal Aging. She has published a consumer book titled Younger You as well as a companion cookbook, Better Broths and Healing Tonics and has an application-based Younger You Program, based on the study.
Dr. Fitzgerald is on the faculty at IFM, is an IFM Certified Practitioner and lectures globally on functional medicine. She runs a Functional Nutrition Residency program, and maintains a podcast series, New Frontiers in Functional Medicine and an active blog on her website, www.drkarafitzgerald.com. Her clinical practice is in Sandy Hook, Connecticut.
Additional publications