Why So Many Food Allergies?

Yes they are, as well as many other chronic diseases/disorders. The amount of crap we're putting into the environment and our food is not helping. If the same amount of money that is put into developing drugs and invasive techniques to cure diseases, often tested out on animals first, is put into finding out how to first prevent these disease from occuring, we might be getting somewhere!

my boyfriend is allergic to fish, talk about scary! just one little drop of fish oil and his throat could close up. all you can do is keep plenty of benedryl, an epipen, and 911 on speed dial. i can't believe how many people i know that are allergic to chocolate. my mom used to say that if you didn't give your child enough diversity growing up that he/she would be more likely to develop an intollerance for certain foods; they are also more likely to be too picky about what they eat.

I read recently that scientists are rethinking advising pregnant women against eating peanuts as this seems to have led to an increase in nut allergies. It seems that avoiding nuts during gestation means that the child suffers a reaction when he/she is exposed to them later on.

I think excessive use of chemical cleaning agents and being over-hygienic has also caused children's bodies to become less able to defend themselves naturally. People need to be exposed to antigens in order to make the antibodies that fight them.

May I state that I am so happy that I am not allergic to any known substance on this Earth?

I'm just a tiny bit allergic to pollen from a certain sort of tree. No biggie. I do believe that allergies to food are on the rise, but who are these people? A quick summary of my entire family and body of friends reveals not a single food allergy. Maybe a little lactose intolerance? I plan to eat plenty of different foods while preggers, introduce my kids to a variety of healthy foods, and continue using vinegar as the main cleaner in my household. And then I'm gonna cross my fingers.

I think part of the problem is that our food is so chemically altered. There is no nutrition in our vegetables and they are full of pesticides and our meats are full of hormones. Maybe it is not always the food but the chemicals.

I am always interested in the type of starter diet these children are fed. I thankfully have 3 children with no allergies. My kids were started out on veggies, and then fruit. I do not cook frozen or packaged meats or nuggets. I wonder if the over processing leads to these types of allergies? Or was it that I lived on peanutbutter and dairy throughout my pregnacies!

In addition to needing to be exposed to various allergens and toxins in our environment to develop antibodies, I have also read that our bodies need to have something to attack, otherwise they start attacking themselves. Thus, the rise in auto-immune disorders (was it here or somewhere else that I read that there is speculation about Type 1 diabetes being auto-immune?). I've heard of a study done with NY sewer rats and lab rats--the sewer rats were healthier than the lab rats!

So, I would say too many cleansers in our houses, too few exposures to natual bacteria/viruses, too much early dousing with vaccines, and way too many synthetic chemicals in our environment.

As a vegan family, I do NOT look forward to the possibility of not bringing nuts to school, or products with nuts in them--we make most of our baked goods with nuts & seeds instead of refined oils or dairy products. Ugh!

I've noticed a lot more people are allergic to things like soy, peanuts, tree nuts, milk, etc., lately. I think part of it is over-protectiveness of our culture. Your immune system develops based on what it's exposed to. If you never get exposed to anything, you don't build immmunity to anything.

While I feel for people with nut allergies, I have a hard time dealing with eliminating them from my diet just because they have to. Like the author said they are a handy snack and healthy. I dread the day when they become a banned substance because they make some of us ill, and the rest of us end up suffering for it. I'm not picking on those with allergies and I guess it's not a big deal if when I have kids, they can't take nuts to school but where will it end? Nuts banned from all public places?

I think it's ridiculous to ban nuts from school, even for a highly allergic child. Unless those parents never, ever take their kids out of their house to go to a shoe store, a baseball game, a bus ride, a family party or anything else, then those kids are going to be exposed to nuts in some form. There are reasonable precautions that people can take--a special lunchroom for the affected child, teachers trained in epipen use, etc. But controlling the diet of every other kid in the school is ridiculous.

Let me understand this...You may not feed your own child nuts if another child is allergic? Can that really be true?!

Kristine said:
Let me understand this...You may not feed your own child nuts if another child is allergic? Can that really be true?![...]

Actually, they will try. My mother teaches elementary school and because one child had a severe peanut allergy, this child's parents tried to have any form of peanuts banned from the school. Not just from cafeteria food, but from any bagged lunch. In the end, they had a sane compromise: whatever table that child was at, no child would be allowed to have a peanut product. That seems far more reasonable than outright banning it.

Unfortunately, the consequences can be very serious. That is probably the driving factor in the preventative efforts,

http://www.pta.org/archive_article_details_1117726816109.html

In the past, when someone had a food allergy, it was their problem. Now it's your problem because no one can take responsibility for themselves. You are supposed to accommodate them, yet they have no obligation to return the favor.

Growing up in the 50's 60's 70's to say that a person has an allergy to peanuts , folks would know u be smoking the grass.
However the food i feed my kids is NOT what grandma raise or grew. having been on the start end of food manufacturing and your food is manufactured not grown, i try to minimize the chemical bombs in our livestyles.
let us be candid, 14 yr old girls never look that way in 50-70's and no it is not the floride in the water.

I have been noticing that allergies are becoming to frequent and hopefully they find a way to aid in this health care. All I can think of is healthy eating, exercise and good genes but besides that I pray they find a cure.

I work at a birthday party place that serves food, and if even ONE CHILD is allergic to nuts we don't serve ANY, which means all the kids get a very limited dessert plate as most treats are made in factories that proccess nuts.

I understand for young children, because they may not be old enough to recognize the things they're allergic to or know that it might not look like a nut but it may still have nuts, but eventually you need to teach your kids to watch out for themselves.

Ultimately, your child's safety is YOUR responsibility and you need to do whatever it takes to make sure they're safe. We teach kids to look both ways before crossing the street, we can teach them not to accept strange food from their friend's lunch boxes.

Kristine said:
Let me understand this...You may not feed your own child nuts if another child is allergic? Can that really be true?![...]

Schools are among the most politically correct places on the planet - which is grating.

I think it is an inconvenience to others because of the child with a true significant food allergy at schools. I also think it is a real kindness that others show this child by accepting this inconvenience. Perhaps there is a lesion in humanity here. I have had to treat two true anaphylactic shock reactions. Before these experiences, I felt in the right environment, with the right medical equipment, I could save anybody. I no longer feel that way. An anaphylactic shock reaction is the fastest highway to death I have ever faced, I never want to see another one, and I feel very fortunate that in these two cases, the people survived.

Allergies are a disease of inflammation.

The increase in allegies is a result of grains subsidies, which fueled both the monstrosity of feedlot cattle and the aberration of the government food pyramid.

We are drowning in omega 6 fats. We are killed by corn.

As the parent of a child with food allergies, let me speak for most of us who are reasonable. I don't expect other children to forego their standard diets, but I do ask that they not sit near my child who might have to go to the hospital (again) because those parents are unwilling to send anything other than pb&j for lunch.

I ate loads of eggs, dairy and pb when I was pregnant with my first child, hardly nursed (while eating that same diet) - no food allergies. I repeated this with my second child, but nursed for a significant amount of time before my second's allergies developed - to eggs, dairy, fish and nuts. We could hardly serve any foods to him. He outgrew eggs, dairy and fish but developed new allergies.

Please don't complain about restrictions placed on non-food allergy kids - I can and do assume responsibility for my children but I can't be at school with my child all day every day. And in kindergarten, he is as responsible for himself as can be expected.

Short one said:
I don't expect other children to forego their standard diets, but I do ask that they not sit near my child who might have to go to the hospital (again) because those parents are unwilling to send anything other than pb&j for lunch.[...]

I still believe it is perfectly reasonable--particularly at a young age--to ask that those eating something to which your child is allergic to do so at a distance, but those who demand such things be banned from the school are simply going too far. My mother teaches in a school district that has a large number of students who are poor enough that saying they were unable to have peanut butter because of one child's allergy would deprive them of one of their affordable protein sources.

I wrote a post on my website, Sure Foods Living (www.surefoodsliving.com) called Why are food allergies on the rise?
Hope this helps!
Alison

One theory I've heard about peanut allergies is pesticides. Milk, hormones and antibiotics; eggs are in vaccines.

My son is allergic it nuts, eggs & dairy. He's known since he was 3 what he can't have and to declare his allergies to anyone who tries to give him food. My 12 year old reads labels as well as we do. Thank god we've never had to use the epipen. His school is *wonderful*.

That being said....if a child can't go for 8 hrs without peanut butter so that another child won't *die*, that's just sad. Switch to Sunbutter--guarantee your kid won't know the difference. It's not a matter of being "politically correct"--it's a part of the ADA. I think it's called a 509 plan.

We don't insist on our school being peanut free, just that he not sit near peanut butter. Some kids can't be in the same room and they shouldn't be penalized from an education. Maybe those who insist on feeding PBJs should homeschool.....that's the refrain I always hear ;)

The real reason for all these food allergies is because foods have been stripped of enzymes and nutrients that help in digesting these foods. Everything is being pasteurized to kill off "bad" bacteria, and with it go the helpful bacteria,vitamins,and nutrients. Also, our soil is being depleted by mass prodution and chemical additives, along with livestock. Try supplimenting with natural digestive enzymes like lactase, amylase, protease, lipase, and cellulase. Hope it helps!

Has anyone had any problems being diagnosed with an allergy? I've gone through so many tests and they all come back negative but yet when I eat anything with Wheat or gluten, I have severe hives to the point where even the clothes I'm wearing becomes too hot for me to keep on. I just turned 27 and was able to eat anything I wanted up until Nov 2007. I started to eat healthy and switched my diet to wheat and that's when it all started but yet the doctors tell me nothing's wrong and yet can't understand why I'm getting swollen and hivey. What's really thrown me over the edge is that up until a few weeks ago, I'm swelling up when I eat crabs and clams. So I guess now I'm allergic to shellfish? but yet no one can tell me I am officially so now I don't know what to eat. I'm afraid everything I try will create another allergy. My life has turned to normal eating habits to now I don't even want to eat. I'm from the Mass area. Does anyone know of good allergy doctor in Boston that could help get through this? I even thought I had Celiac Disease but that came back negative even though I have 80% of the symptoms til this day. This is my first blog and don't know where to turn to anymore.

If you know of anyone or anything that can help me through this, I'll take any advice: monamia337@yahoo.com
Thanks for listening...