Why are food allergies on the rise?

A great article on CNN!

It's not exactly a new hypothesis, but there is now more data -- being insufficiently exposed to bacteria leads to greater risk of allergies!

The children in the African village live in a community that produces its own food. The study authors say this is closer to how humans ate 10,000 years ago. Their diet is mostly vegetarian. By contrast, the local diet of European children contains more sugar, animal fat and calorie-dense foods. The study authors posit that these factors result in less biodiversity in the organisms found inside the gut of European children.

The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr. Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments.

"In a place where you can die [from] infectious diseases, but you don't get allergy, obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, the flora is different," Lionetti said.

This study only looked at a small number of children, but the findings support the widespread notion of the "hygiene hypothesis" -- the idea that cases of allergies are increasing in number and severity because children grow up in environments that are simply too clean.

The decrease in richness of gut bacteria in Westerners may have something to do with the rise in allergies in industrialized countries, said Dr. Paolo Lionetti of the department of pediatrics at Meyer Children Hospital at the University of Florence. Sanitation measures and vaccines in the West may have controlled infectious disease, but they decreased exposure to a variety of bacteria may have opened the door to these other ailments.
"In a place where you can die [from] infectious diseases, but you don't get allergy, obesity, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune disease, the flora is different," Lionetti said.

I too have wondered why the increase, and maybe it is partly due, as suggested, to our efforts of over cleanliness? I have heard that all of our cleaning substances also kill off beneficial bacteria, so maybe this is the result?
I wonder also if children "develop" the allergies or are born with them? If a child has allergies to peanut products, is that child allergic from birth or does it develop the allergies? Should we introduce small amounts of the popular allergy sources to infants to get there system ready? I don't know, just pondering.

Another article:

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 3 million school-aged children in the U.S. had a food allergy in 2007, which was up 18 percent from 10 years earlier.

Among the most common triggers of children's food allergies are peanuts and tree nuts -- such as almonds, walnuts and cashews -- milk and eggs

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston found that the number of food-induced allergic reactions treated in their ER more than doubled over six years -- from 164 cases in 2001, to 391 in 2006.

www.reuters.com...

spec


[edit on 3-8-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

My friend became allergic to pollen later in life. Then again, it happened after he moved to a different state. I think it's still possible to develop allergies later in life.

I'm allergic to certain kinds of felt and wool. Since I don't encounter it often at all, it's not a problem for me. However when it hits me I feel like I'm being gassed!

George carlin explained this perfectly!

Video here-
vids.myspace.com...
sorry there isnt a embeddable version.

But yes i would agree it is most likely due to our strive for cleanliness, which means our immune systems doesnt get the "work out" it needs.

reply to post by VonDoomen



Nice addition VonDoomen! Not to take any seriousness away from the subject, there is certainly a lot of hype involved with the marketing of cleanliness! Not that cleanliness is unnecessary but all the chemicals we "clean" our stuff and selves with makes me wonder.
Think I'll go roll around in the dirt now.

spec

True allergies can be relieved by Homeopathic Remedies.
A severe attack may be relieved by giving Homeopathic Apis.

All of what is being called "Allergy" is Not.
Much of it is reaction to food additives; there are thousands of them.
Big offenders are MSG & Aspartame.
Currently All our veggies are being treated with Amino Acid Fertilizers and Fungacides. The prime ingredient is Glutamate/Glutamic Acid. These are newurotoxins and there are a number of reactions to them.
You may find it interesting that the Symptoms of these reactions reads the same as the list of reactions to Pesticide Poisoning!

www.truthinlabeling.org...

www.safe2use.com...

Couldn't it also be genetic, due to poor breeding? back in the day people would die more often if they had allergies to common or simple things. How does one have milk allergies, wouldn't they die as a baby?

My daughter has food alleriges. I get quite angry when people say I must be a germaphobe or go let her eat dirt, because lack of germs is not the cause of her problem.
We are not overly clean. I keep the house as clean as my parents did for me, and I nor any of my siblings have allergies.
I believe she was born with them because right away we could tell there was something wrong with her. I nursed her for a year eating normally before she was diagnosed with an allergy to soy, wheat, dairy, egg, and peanut. I didn't eat very many processed foods because I like to cook. The things I did eat that were processed were peanut butter, bread, cheese and butter.
After she was diagnosed with her allergies, we went all natural and I nursed her after eating allergy free foods, with bread being homemade using teff, sorghum and tapioca flours. She ended up developing an allergy to corn. She doesn't have her soy or corn allergy anymore (she's 2 1/2) but she also became allergic to walnuts.
I believe her allergy is caused by chemicals I was exposed to before and while she was in the womb, but also the chemicals my daughter has been exposed to during her short life.
My husbands and I were in the Air Force and although I didn't work near the flightline, I could still breath in jet fuel and lord knows what else that hung in the air. I also spent time in Iraq and i'm sure the burn pit had a play in it. Also the vaccines I received in the military has to be apart of it.
We gave her all her vaccines until she was one when she was diagnosed and we found out she couldn't have the majority of them because of her allergies. Now i'm against vaccines because of the amount she was subjected to and also because she acted strange after she got her vaccines. Not like she was having a reaction, but like she wasn't there.
I also think her allergies are from the processed and GM foods. I was unknowingly eating alot of GM foods like wheat, dairy, eggs, and soy. (I count eggs because they give the chickens hormones).
So we are doing our best to detox her by limiting her exposure to pesticides and other chemicals in foods, and other chemically made products and we have her on probiotics to jump up her immune system. We've seen some improvement, but we don't know if it's enough. It's very hard to get help from doctors because all they want to do if give her drugs to treat the symptoms, but it doesn't cure the problem and the side affects are often worse than her eczema and allergy.

[edit on 3-8-2010 by collietta]

reply to post by LordBaskettIV


A milk or dairy allergy is an allergy to the protein in cows milk. Not in the mothers milk, unless the mother was also consuming this protein. Human beings really aren't supposed to be drinking milk from other animals, unless it's a last resort.
Many people can't process the proteins in milk due to genetics. This is known as lactose intolerance. These people can not break down the proteins in milk as they get older because their body stopped producing the enzymes needed to break it down when they were a baby.
An intolerance is not an allergy. An allergy is the immune system seeing the protiens as an invader and attacking it with everything the body has. The body sends out antihistamines This is why people with allergies swell up, break out in hives or eczema and it can be fatal if the throat closes.
An intolerance means you can eat it and it won't necessarily kill you because your body isn't sending out antibodies to kill the protein, but it will make you feel very sick.

Originally posted by OhZone

"All of what is being called "Allergy" is Not.
Much of it is reaction to food additives; there are thousands of them.
Big offenders are MSG & Aspartame.
Currently All our veggies are being treated with Amino Acid Fertilizers and Fungacides. The prime ingredient is Glutamate/Glutamic Acid. These are newurotoxins and there are a number of reactions to them.
You may find it interesting that the Symptoms of these reactions reads the same as the list of reactions to Pesticide Poisoning!

www.truthinlabeling.org...

www.safe2use.com... "

Thank you. I'm going to look in to this, especially for our local crops. I'm surprise at the amount of California fruits that are sprayed with this stuff, and some of our fruits and vegetables come from California.
Also the safe 2 use link isn't working for me.

reply to post by buddhasystem




I strongly believe this increase to be a combination of factors (most already mentioned here)

Over use of cleaning agents
Pesticides
Diet that is too rich in salt and sugar
Chemicals in food
Miscellaneous pollutants

I believe that all the factors combined are causing many of the modern health issues including...

Cancers
Obesity
Hyperactivity in children
Infertility issues
Heart Disease
As well as, allergies and much much more!

My advice, to anyone who is concerned by this, is to start using traditional cleaning methods and grow your own vegetables (or buy organic if you can afford it)

I touched on some areas of this in another thread...

With good intentions we poison our children

Although this was more to do with the over use of modern cleaning products and the harm that they do.

Great thread S+F




[edit on 3-8-2010 by Muckster]

reply to post by buddhasystem


GMOs are the leading cause IMO. If you are what you eat, then you are unnatural. Your body will respond as if your food is attacking your system.

Germs have been grouped into one big bucket. There are many bacteria that your body needs to be healthy, along with probiotics, enzymes, etc;

As a people, we need to get educated on the basics. How you fuel your body is important. Living on adrenaline is bad. Eating modified foods is bad. You won’t notice it overnight but after 30 years, there is no turning it around. Your body now revolts natural foods as if it is bad.

reply to post by Muckster


I totally agree with your post! I don't think it's so much what we eat (except for sugar and crap), but environmental influences that are causing more allergies and the other maladies you listed.

Good thread, buddha!

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic
reply to post by Muckster

 

I totally agree with your post! I don't think it's so much what we eat (except for sugar and crap), but environmental influences that are causing more allergies and the other maladies you listed.

Good thread, buddha!

I agree with you agreeing.
Don't ever change your avatar! He makes agreeing so easy

Well let's just go through the basics, shall we?

-pesticides
-topsoil depletion
-gmo's
-processed foods
-synthetic chemicals
-nuclear radiation
-heavy metals in the air, water, food & soil
-antibacterials
-no-deworming habits
-weak immune-systems
-rise of various super-pathogens
-demoralization


So, all of these interacting together. Some working with each other to create a synergy for a diseased bodily state, and immune system incapable of coping with all the crap we eat. The whole environment is tainted, nothing is "pure" anymore, or even really natural for that fact. For instance, within 30 generations, a lake that has had gm salmon introduced will kill out the natural salmon. I'm certain they've got into the oceans, I'm certain it's just a matter of time .. Freaking plastics can be 1,000's of times more toxic than some heavy metals !!

Yeah, but it's okay, because the elite want to live to be 700 years old, and they say everything is okay. .. maybe for them, maybe on another chunk of dirt out in space, but for the rest of us here now and in the future, we're just going to fight for our lives.

Community broken up, family unit being totally annihilated, scared people without balls, and here we are. We gave up long ago. Freaking pathetic.


...oops forgot to mention what the OP was talking about!~! Yes, the gut flora is a big deal. My gut was messed up for a while, and it led to a lot of issues -- gastrointestinal, adrenal burnout, severe depression, suicidal ideation, etc, etc..

You need to do a few things.

1. nuke the gut
a. essential oils like olive oil, peppermint oil, and oregano oil seem to work best.

2. replenish gut with beneficial bacteria
a. you can take the route of taking probiotics. try bio-k, acidophiles+biodophilus at minimum..
b. cultured food products like homemade kombucha & kefir are excellent and cheap

3. repair gut lining
a. pretty much just need glutamine powder. you can purchase 1lb cheap online, take 5-20 grams daily for at least a month, or until the lb is up.

...maintenance has to do with watching what you put back in your gut. Keep up with the beneficial bacteria sources, and limit processed foods. If you need to, you can cycle through steps 1,2 and even 3 a few times. I had to.

My concentration went from being pretty poor to phenomenal. I used to have difficulty seeing several moves ahead in chess, and integrating all the various possibilities from the overall thought process. Not any more! Game has improved quite a bit. I've got a GED and finally am at the point where I am a challenge for my SMU grad-school lawyer buddy who is obviously high gifted Used to be he beat me about 9 out of 10 games, but now it's more like 3 out of 5 Hoping to eventually flip that around and beat more overall..

[edit on 3-8-2010 by unityemissions]

collietta, for the "safe2" link - google "Symptoms of Pesticide Poisoning".
It is a list of symptoms that you will see are the same as the ones for Glutamate Poisoning.

also check out this site:
www.allergykids.com...

I react to Walnuts - they natually have a lot of Hitamine in them, as to other fruits and veggies.

Here is a list of foods high in Histamine

histame.com...

To me, the answer is fairly simple. Before the rise of advanced modern medicine and allergy screening tests, if you had a severe food allergy, you didn't know about it until you ate the thing that killed you. Chances are, this would have happened before the individual passed on his or her genes to a new generation.

That's not the case anymore, natural selection has been largely removed from the human population.

I'm NOT advocating eugenics or anything of the sort, but thats what seems to me to be the answer to your question. I could very well be wrong, it's happened once or twice before.

reply to post by unityemissions


Good post, however, using glutamine is only one part of healing these types of cases. If glutamine was all you needed, then you are very lucky. I highly recommend Spagyric medicine, which is special German homeopathic medicine that can usually only be obtained through some kind of health practitioner. This medicine has been making the biggest impact on my health out of the many things I have tried. I have been working on getting my health back for years now. My immune system was close to non-existent. I had taken large amounts of glutamine everyday for months, and it did not help me until my naturopathic doctor gave me glutamine powder which was far superior in potency and was not obtainable by anyone who is not a licensed practitioner. The potency of over the counter products vary greatly. It is important to find the best brands, derivatives and forms of whatever your body needs.