Alcohol Allergies Can Cause Sneezing, Flushing, Headache

Kristin Brown loved to drink – perhaps partied a little too much when she was in her 20s, but when she hit her 30s, alcohol suddenly hit her the wrong way. "It wasn't always that way, so you can imagine my shock and dismay the first time it happened," she told ABCNews.com. "At the age of 35 I was sitting on the couch with my husband after the kids went to bed, when I took two sips of Jack Daniels. I set my glass down and gasped for air. I felt feverish and sweaty, my face became splotchy-red, my hands itched, and my hearing dulled." Brown, now 42 and the mother of three, writes about her love-hate relationship with alcohol in her self-published book, "What Didn't Kill Me." She has tried different types of alcohol -- vodka, whiskey or tequila -- but she breaks out in hives and a fever. After just a few "tiny sips," thinking she will be fine, Brown said she ends up "going down the same dreadful path Jack Daniels led me down." Though she has never been officially diagnosed and at first thought it was a "fluke," Brown said she is sure she has an allergy to alcohol, which can put a crimp in anyone's holiday celebrations. Alcohol allergies are possible at any age, but they are not common, affecting less than 5 percent of all people who suffer from food allergies, according to Dr. Clifford Bassett, clinical assistant professor in the division of infectious disease and immunology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. Allergy Season is Just Around the Corner Watch Video 'GMA' Deals and Steals: Christmas Budget Edition Watch Video ABC News Samples DNA-Altered Salmon Watch Video "You can get wheezing and asthma symptoms or hives," said Bassett. Those who already suffer from asthma seem to be more vulnerable," he said. If a person suspects they have an allergy, it's important they be evaluated by a specialist. Wine contains proteins from grapes, bacteria, and yeast, as well as sulfites and other organic compounds. Other studies have found that egg whites and gelatin are often used in the filtration processing of wine. "It's something you don't think of," said Bassett. Other symptoms can be a flushed or tickling face or a sense of warmth. Others can get a runny rose or headaches. Yeast, molds used in brewing beer from barley can cause chemical reactions that produce histamines and tyramines. Tyramines are amino acid products that are associated with headaches and hypertension. Histamine is an organic nitrogen compound involved in immune or allergic responses. A protein on the skin of a grape, mostly those in red wines, can contribute to symptoms in those who already have allergies, according to a German study. People can also have an oral allergy syndrome -- a reaction to fresh fruit and vegetables that may be used as a garnish or a mixer in a cocktail, according to Bassett. Hazelnut or almond in liquor can also be a problem for those with an allergy to nuts. Alcohol can also exacerbate existing allergies. In one 2005 Swedish study, those with asthma, bronchitis and hay fever were more apt to sneeze, get a runny nose or have "lower-airway symptoms" after a drink, especially women. Wine – both red and white – were often the worst offenders. In 2008, a Danish study of thousands of women found that two glasses of wine a day can double the risk for allergy symptoms, according to an article published in the journal of Clinical and Experimental Allergy. "If you have a seasonal pollen allergy to grass or trees and there is a high-pollen day and you eat a piece of fruit or mango, apple or pear, [the body] thinks it's swallowing pollen and you can get an itchy mouth or throat and the allergy is worse.

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China to crack down on "malicious" trademark registrations

China plans to change the law to crackdown on "malicious" trademark registrations, state media said on Monday, after a series of cases in which well-know international brands and individuals have had their names or copyright misused. Foreign governments, including the United States, have for years urged China to take a stronger stand against intellectual property rights violations on products ranging from medicines to software to DVD movies. Basketball legend Michael Jordan is one of the latest to accuse a company of using his name without permission, and French luxury group Hermes International SCA and Apple Inc have faced trademark problems too. The proposed amendment will offer protection to major international brands, giving copyright owners the right to ban others from registering their trademarks or from using similar ones, even if such trademarks are not registered, the official Xinhua news agency reported. "The draft is intended to curb the malicious registration of trademarks," Xinhua said. The country's legislature - which performs a largely rubber stamp role - will discuss the amendment this week, it said, without saying when the new rules could be put in place or providing other details. The move comes after basketball star Michael Jordan filed a lawsuit in China in February against a Chinese sportswear company, accusing the firm of unauthorized use of his name. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame recipient and former Chicago Bulls star said that Qiaodan Sports, a company located in the southern Fujian province, had built its business around his Chinese name "Qiaodan" and jersey number without his permission. The lawsuit has yet to go to trial, Chinese media have reported. France's Hermes International SCA has also had problems in China with its trademark, and in July Apple Inc agreed to pay $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China. China has insisted it is serious about tackling intellectual property violations.

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Budokon, made in America, mixes yoga with martial arts

Budokon, a workout program developed in 21st century America, blends the ancient mind-body practices of yoga and martial arts into a program that aims to reward followers with conditioning, mindful meditation and progressively colored karate-type belts. "Budokon is a yoga, martial arts and meditation trifecta," said Mimi Rieger, who teaches the not-so-ancient practice in gyms, studios and workshops in the Washington, DC area. An instructor in the 3,000-year-old practice of yoga since 2003, Rieger, founder of Pure Fitness DC, is one of approximately 400 teachers worldwide who are trained in Budokon, which did not exist before 2002. Although mainly done in the United States, Rieger said she will teach Budokon in Turkey, Denmark and Sweden next year and workshops are also scheduled in London, Germany, Korea and Japan. She says the hybrid offers the student an intense, full-body workout as it blends the integrity of the martial arts movement with the fluidity of yoga. "It's like a beautiful symphony of the two," said Rieger, who is among the first women to get a brown belt in the Budokon sequence of six belts: white, red, blue, purple, brown and black. Budokon, which is Japanese for "the way of the warrior spirit," began in 2000 as the brainchild of Cameron Shayne, a martial arts expert and yoga enthusiast originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, looking to solve a dilemma faced in his own practice. "Through martial arts I experienced meditation; both yoga and martial arts share self-reflection, but both suffered from the same disease of being stripped down to a westernized workout," said Shayne, founder of Budokon University in Miami, Florida. A typical Budokon session begins with 20 minutes of yoga sun salutations to, as Shayne says, "lighten and open the body," followed by a martial arts segment of explosive, dance-like movement. The end is a guided meditation. "There is no breath count; we don't stop," said Shayne, who describes the movements as snakelike. Observers will note echoes of Tai Chi. "Modern yoga can be very angular. Our primary series is a circular, continuous transition practice," he explained. Adam Sedlack, senior vice president of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Gym, a national chain of family fitness centers specializing in mixed martial arts training, believes the novice should begin with a specific practice before tackling hybrids like Budokon. "It's more efficient to take a karate class, then a yoga class, and then a tai chi class than it is to combine them," Sedlack said, "so the individual can focus on individual skill sets. The beautiful thing about mixed martial arts is that you're learning a skill while you're working out and burning calories." He notes that martial arts is as much about the confidence of walking down the street with your head up high as it is about learning to kick and hit. Richard Cotton, of the American College of Sports Medicine, said Budokon can offer a challenging change for people with more advanced levels of fitness. "If you're a yoga or tai chi purist, it (Budokon) is not that, but it is variety, and variety is rarely a problem," he said. He points out that one needn't do Budokon, or yoga or Pilates to have a so-called mind-body experience. "Running strength training, and certainly golf, can be a mind-body experience if you're staying in touch with your body," he said. "You can have a mind-body walk." A few years ago Shayne began offering a separate Budokon yoga practice because some people found the martial arts aspect of his practice intimidating or confrontational. "It became a necessity to give that audience what it was asking for," he explained. People either love Budokon, he added, or they hate it and that's fine with him. "I don't need a million people doing Budokon. I don't need someone who walks into class looking for a quick fix," he said. "I need people who feel it as an art.

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FDA warns doctors of counterfeit Botox

Federal regulators have warned more than 350 medical practices that Botox they may have received from a Canadian supplier is unapproved and could be counterfeit or unsafe. The Food and Drug Administration said in a letter sent last month, a letter released publicly last week, that batches of the wrinkle treatment shipped by suppliers owned by pharmacy Canada Drugs have not been approved by the FDA and that the agency cannot assure their effectiveness or their safety. The FDA said Canada Drugs was previously tied to shipping unapproved and counterfeit cancer drugs. The agency warned doctors about buying drugs from sources other than licensed U.S. pharmacies. It is the fifth warning the agency has made this year about foreign suppliers providing unapproved drugs. In February, the agency warned 19 medical practices that they had received a counterfeit version of the cancer drug Avastin. On three more occasions the FDA issued similar warnings about counterfeit Avastin and Altuzan, another brand name for the same drug. The alerts were also primarily targeted at drugs distributed by Canada Drugs. A request for comment from the drug distributor was not immediately returned. Drug shortages increased the financial incentives for some pharmacies to provide counterfeit or illegally imported drugs. The drugs subject to warnings have all been injectable treatments typically distributed through medical practices and not directly to patients. In October, the FDA ordered operators of about 4,100 websites to immediately stop selling unapproved medications to U.S. consumers. The vast majority of those sites were operated by Canada Drugs. The site was still operating Friday. Genuine Botox is made by Allergan Inc., based in Irvine, Calif. Avastin is made by Roche Holding AG's Genentech unit.

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Allergies, extra weight tied to bullying

Kids who have food allergies or are overweight may be especially likely to get bullied by their peers, two new studies suggest. Not surprisingly, researchers also found targets of bullying were more distressed and anxious and had a worse quality of life, in general, than those who weren't picked on. Bullying has become a concern among parents, doctors and school administrators since research and news stories emerged linking bullying - including online "cyberbullying" - with depression and even suicide. "There has been a shift and people are more and more recognizing that bullying has real consequences, it's not just something to be making jokes about," said Dr. Mark Schuster, chief of general pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and a professor at Harvard Medical School, who wrote a commentary published with the new research. Studies suggest between one in ten and one in three of all kids and teens are bullied - but those figures may vary by location and demographics, researchers noted. The new findings come from two studies published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. In one, Dr. Eyal Shemesh from the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and his colleagues surveyed 251 kids who were seen at an allergy clinic and their parents. The children were all between age eight and 17 with a diagnosed food allergy. Just over 45 percent of them said they'd been bullied or harassed for any reason, and 32 percent reported being bullied because of their allergy in particular. "Our finding is entirely consistently with what you find with children with a disability," Shemesh told Reuters Health. A food allergy, he said, "is a vulnerability that can be very easily exploited, so of course it will be exploited." The kids in the study were mostly white and well-off, the researcher said - a group that you'd expect would be targeted less often. So bullying may be more common in poorer and minority children who also have food allergies. But allergies aren't the only cause of teasing and harassment by peers. In another study, researchers from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, found that almost two-thirds of 361 teens enrolled in weight-loss camps had been bullied due to their size. That likelihood increased with weight, so that the heaviest kids had almost a 100 percent chance of being bullied, Rebecca Puhl and her colleagues found. Verbal teasing was the most common form of bullying, but more than half of bullied kids reported getting taunted online or through texts and emails as well. 'START THE CONVERSATION' Shemesh's team found only about half of parents knew when their food-allergic child was being bullied, and kids tended to be better off when their families were aware of the problem. He said parents should feel comfortable asking kids if they're being bothered at school or elsewhere - and that even if it only happens once, bullying shouldn't be ignored. "We want parents to know," he said. "Start the conversation." "Parents whose kids have a food allergy should really be aware that their kids have the kind of characteristic that often leads to being bullied," Schuster told Reuters Health. "They should be working with the school to handle the food allergy in a way that isn't going to make it more likely that their kids will be bullied - and they need to be attuned to their kids." That's the same for parents of overweight and obese children, he added. "Kids need their parents to be their allies in these situations," he said. "Their parents can help them still feel strong.

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Media mogul and banker Allbritton dies at 87

Joe Lewis Allbritton, a media mogul and owner of the scandal-plagued Riggs National Bank, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Houston. He was 87. Allbritton died of heart ailments, said Jerald Fritz, a senior vice president of Allbritton Communications. Allbritton's media empire included newspapers throughout the U.S. Northeast and ABC network affiliates. Allbritton's son, Robert, recently founded the influential political publication Politico. But Joe Allbritton, a Mississippi native, was famously known for owning and running Riggs, the Washington-based bank that had been a dominant force in diplomatic banking in the nation's capital. Allbritton's banking career was tarnished when it was revealed that Riggs bank failed to report suspicious activity in the accounts held by former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and Equatorial Guinea officials. Riggs bank pleaded guilty in 2005 to violating anti-money laundering laws and was fined a total of $41 million. Allbritton did not seek re-election to Riggs' board of directors and the storied bank was eventually acquired by PNC Financial Services. Allbritton is survived by his wife, son and two grandchildren.

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Legendary Indian sitarist, composer Ravi Shankar dead at 92

Sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar, who helped introduce the sitar to the Western world through his collaborations with The Beatles, died in Southern California on Tuesday, his family said. He was 92. Shankar, a three-time Grammy winner with legendary appearances at the 1967 Monterey Festival and at Woodstock, had been in fragile health for several years and last Thursday underwent surgery, his family said in a statement. "Although it is a time for sorrow and sadness, it is also a time for all of us to give thanks and to be grateful that we were able to have him as a part of our lives," the family said. "He will live forever in our hearts and in his music." In India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office posted a Twitter message calling Shankar a "national treasure and global ambassador of India's cultural heritage." "An era has passed away with ... Ravi Shankar. The nation joins me to pay tributes to his unsurpassable genius, his art and his humility," the Indian premier added. Shankar had suffered from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week at a hospital in San Diego, south of Los Angeles. The surgery was successful but he was unable to recover. "Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the surgeons and doctors taking care of him, his body was not able to withstand the strain of the surgery. We were at his side when he passed away," his wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka said. Shankar lived in both India and the United States. He is also survived by his daughter, Grammy-winning singer Norah Jones, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Shankar performed his last concert with his daughter Anoushka on November 4 in Long Beach, California, the statement said. The night before he underwent surgery, he was nominated for a Grammy for his latest album "The Living Room Sessions, Part 1." 'NORWEGIAN WOOD' TO 'WEST MEETS EAST' His family said that memorial plans will be announced at a later date and requested that donations be made to the Ravi Shankar Foundation. Shankar is credited with popularizing Indian music through his work with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and The Beatles in the late 1960s, inspiring George Harrison to learn the sitar and the British band to record songs like "Norwegian Wood" (1965) and "Within You, Without You" (1967). His friendship with Harrison led him to appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock pop festivals in the late 1960s, and the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh, becoming one of the first Indian musicians to become a household name in the West. His influence in classical music, including on composer Philip Glass, was just as large. His work with Menuhin on their "West Meets East" albums in the 1960s and 1970s earned them a Grammy, and he wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. Shankar served as a member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 1986 to 1992, after being nominated by then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. A man of many talents, he also wrote the Oscar-nominated score for 1982 film "Gandhi," several books, and mounted theatrical productions. He also built an ashram-style home and music center in India where students could live and learn, and later the Ravi Shankar Center in Delhi in 2001, which hosts an annual music festival. Yet his first brush with the arts was through dance. Born Robindra Shankar in 1920 in India's holiest city, Varanasi, he spent his first few years in relative poverty before his eldest brother took the family to Paris. For about eight years, Shankar danced in his brother's Indian classical and folk dance troupe, which toured the world. But by the late 1930s he had turned his back on show business to learn the sitar and other classical Indian instruments. Shankar earned multiple honors in his long career, including an Order of the British Empire (OBE) from Britain's Queen Elizabeth for services to music, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, and the French Legion d'Honneur.

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