Now I am curious. Why are food allergies so much more severe than they use to be?

[lynn]

why can somekids not even touch peanut butter without having a reaction. Are there any studies as to how allergies have evolved over the years and why they are so bad in some kids and not others.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

if you ever find the answer you'll be up for the Nobel in medicine.

 

There are hypothesises but none that really hold water.

[Mrs Mungo]

Are they actually worse or is it:

 

1. People are more aware of them? It took quite some time to pinpoint my son's allergy to apples. If people were not aware of food allergies would they realize that was the reason for his face always having a rash? But his is an oral allergy, not a deadly one.

 

2. Really bad allergies in the past just killed people.

[Desert Rat]

Hmm. I don't know. My 7yo was diagnosed with severe tree nut allergies just 4 months ago. His biggies are pecans, cashews and hazelnuts. What's weird for us is that he's had all of those nuts and the rest in the tree nut family hundreds of times before. His body just picked now to revolt. It's just dang scary.

I do know that dust allergies have gotten worse because we live too cleanly, or so the experts say. I'm still gonna dust every week!

Maybe someone will have good answers. I'm wondering if it's just a case of being more in the news.

[Chris in VA]

I agree with Mrs. Mungo about death being the result in the past.

Latex allergy has been linked to potato allergy. Exposure to latex is a heck of a lot more common now, since it's used more (tho now more people are allergic to it so other things are being used in the medical community for gloves and tubes and such). Perhaps other things we are not aware of yet have caused sensitivities to peanuts and other foods.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

It's not just a case of it being in the news.

The numbers are growing on a yearly basis.

When my son was born, it was at 1% (it being kids deadly allergic to peanuts)

Now it's at 5%. That's just within 12 years.

 

Anecdotaly, my dad has bad hay fever. I inherited his hay fever and developped animal allergies. My kids have inherited the hay fever, the animal allergies and added food allergies. Each generation gets worse.

[lovetobehome]

Just got a book on this very topic...

The UNhealthy Truth: How our food is making us sick-and what we can do about it. Authored by Robyn O'Brien

"The UNhealthy Truth reveals the alarming relationship between the manipulation of our food and the increase in dangerous allergies in our children....O'Brien turns to accredited research conducted in Europe that confirms the toxicity of America's food supply, and traces the relationship between Big Food and Big Money that has ensured that the US is one of the only developed countries in the world to allow hidden toxins in our food-toxins that can be blamed for the alarming recent increases in allergies, ADHD, cancer, and asthma in our children."

[creekland]

There are theories... the one I prefer (maybe I'm biased?) is that we are far too clean and germphobic in this day and age and young (babies) bodies immune systems don't develop properly. Then they do weird things - like bad allergies. I was first clued in to this by a polio stricken family friend when my oldest was a baby. I bought into the "sterilize everything" scene and she stopped me. She said in her generation many people got polio, but it seemed to always be the "clean" people (like her household). Those that lived in filth never caught it even though the exposure should have been greater... she surmised their immune systems could handle it better. It's hearsay, of course, but it made me think - and change my ways. We don't live in filth - 'cept maybe when we're camping - but I don't clean all that much compared to most people either - and we're one of the healthiest families I know. We have no allergies of any sort, no medications of any sort, and rarely even the common cold.

 

Since then, I've read more about it and recall a study done in England where farm families - kids raised with dirt and animals - had far less allergies and asthma than their city counterparts.

 

At the very least, it's an interesting theory and correlation and one that should be studied more.

 

Then too... as others have said, more people LIVE with allergies now and therefore can pass anything genetic on.

[lovetobehome]

I have a DD who was born with serious allergies to foods (eggs being the big one). I firmly believe it was due to my diet while pregnant with her. We lived on a farm while pregnant and for the first 6 months of her life...had heaps of cats, dogs and ferrets in the house with us. I don't think we were clean, LOL! She could barely tolerate anything as a newborn...even breastmilk.

[dangermom]

There are theories... the one I prefer (maybe I'm biased?) is that we are far too clean and germphobic in this day and age and young (babies) bodies immune systems don't develop properly. Then they do weird things - like bad allergies.

[snip]

 

We don't live in filth - 'cept maybe when we're camping - but I don't clean all that much compared to most people either - and we're one of the healthiest families I know. We have no allergies of any sort, no medications of any sort, and rarely even the common cold.

 

Since then, I've read more about it and recall a study done in England where farm families - kids raised with dirt and animals - had far less allergies and asthma than their city counterparts.

 

At the very least, it's an interesting theory and correlation and one that should be studied more.

 

Then too... as others have said, more people LIVE with allergies now and therefore can pass anything genetic on.

 

OTOH, I'm a not-very-good housekeeper and my daughter had severe allergies from the time she started eating food. Be careful about blaming parents for their children's health problems--it's very easy for it to be a coping mechanism. That woman is has allergic children--she is a bad mother. I am a good mother, therefore my children will be safe.

 

I have a lot to say on this topic, clearly, but we are out the door now.

[creekland]

I have a DD who was born with serious allergies to foods (eggs being the big one). I firmly believe it was due to my diet while pregnant with her. We lived on a farm while pregnant and for the first 6 months of her life...had heaps of cats, dogs and ferrets in the house with us. I don't think we were clean, LOL! She could barely tolerate anything as a newborn...even breastmilk.

 

Well, it is a correlation and not an absolute... even in the old days there were people with allergies.

 

Of course, I'm not 100% against it being some of the more modern food too, but my diet when pregnant was definitely "all American" (PLENTY of fast food) with no ill effects on my boys. We lived in a city then for whatever that's worth. We're on a farm now, but didn't move here till my oldest was 5 and my youngest was 18 months.

[Jennifer in MI]

:iagree: I actually had a friend tell me that the reason my family had been so sick this school year was because I kept my house too clean. I felt like you-know-what about that. Thing is, I don't think my house is THAT clean. I wipe things down, but the deep cleaning gets done 1x/week or so.

 

I don't know for sure about allergies. My ds9 has life threatening allergies to peanuts and tree nuts. He's outgrown many others - egg, chocolate, soy, seafood and others. Anyway, the things he was allergic to are exactly the things I survived on during his pregnancy. I was terribly sick and very few things appealed to me. So, he's born and 18 months later I hear his list of allergies and I can't tell you how guilty I felt.

 

I wonder about all the changes we're making to our food too. It has to have some impact.

[creekland]

Be careful about blaming parents for their children's health problems--it's very easy for it to be a coping mechanism. That woman is has allergic children--she is a bad mother. I am a good mother, therefore my children will be safe.

 

 

 

WHOA! I'm not blaming anyone! We all make the best decisions we can based on our knowledge at the time... We're merely sharing theories about what might be the cause of the current situation. I don't expect anyone to have had fortune telling glasses to know what wasn't known at the time (and still isn't certain now)! Even my polio friend never blamed her parents, but that didn't stop her from coming to her conclusions and wanting to share them.

 

If we look back on history and say YYY is to blame for what happened 10 years from now when YYY was considered "good" at the time - or just not considered "bad" at the time, why assess blame??? Who knew?

[FairProspects]

There have been a couple of studies about the impact of refined sugar on diet and that complications like auto-immune problems and severe allergies/asthma start to show up, but not until 3 generations out in rats. When refined sugar was eliminated, it took 3 more rat generations to work itself (and the resulting health issues out).

[RoughCollie]

I have a DS who is highly allergic to latex, and another who is highly allergic to apples (related to birch trees).

 

In DS-latex's case, his lips and the whites of his eyes swell up if he touches latex. Of course, he and I do everything possible to see that he is not exposed to it.

 

I think we are fortunate that these allergies are not life-threatening. If any of my children were allergic to life-threatening things, I would be totally beside myself with anxiety all the time.

 

So many people are allergic to various foods, that I ask about that when I invite someone over for dinner. I also ask about diabetes and other health problems that require dietary measures to be taken.

[Snickerdoodle]

There have been a couple of studies about the impact of refined sugar on diet and that complications like auto-immune problems and severe allergies/asthma start to show up, but not until 3 generations out in rats. When refined sugar was eliminated, it took 3 more rat generations to work itself (and the resulting health issues out).

 

 

Wow. If you have any links, I'd love to see them.

[Mrs Mungo]

another who is highly allergic to apples (related to birch trees).

 

 

Yes, this is what my son has, he has the same problem with pears. It's actually a fairly common problem.

[Tonia]

Yes, this is what my son has, he has the same problem with pears. It's actually a fairly common problem.

 

Can he eat the fruit when it's cooked? My dh is allergic to apples in their raw state but is fine if they are cooked. (Which is good news for him since he loves apple pie!)

[elegantlion]

In the last five years I've developed seasonal allergies and food sensitivities (I think that's the correct term). The seasonal allergies I could blame on our current location, but the food stuff baffles me.

[Mrs Mungo]

Can he eat the fruit when it's cooked? My dh is allergic to apples in their raw state but is fine if they are cooked. (Which is good news for him since he loves apple pie!)

 

Yes, he can eat them cooked, just not raw.

 

He can't have juice though, which is weird since I think it's pasteurized? Maybe the pasteurization process isn't hot enough?

 

eta: I also wonder if part of the rise in allergies is that we're exposed to a greater number of foods, plants and other materials?

[HayesW]

I think it has to do with the simple fact that there is so much more chance of exposure to allergens. Peanuts, for example, are in millions of processed foods as well as cross contamination in restaurants. Fifty or one hundred years ago, you were only exposed to peanuts if you ate peanuts.

 

With more contaimination of multiple allergens, I imagine more and more allergies will be diagnosed over the next few years.

[sbgrace]

My son is anaphylactic to tree nuts and sesame and he has other allergies and asthma as well. No one else (myself, my husband, his brother) have allergies. However, my father has anaphylactic allergies.

 

I think some likely causes of increases are:

1. We're a nation of vitamin D deficiency--from pregnancy on. Vitamin D plays a role in autoimmune reactions.

2. Some of it is our food supply. We're simply exposed to a larger range of allergenic foods much more frequently than we would have been in the past. I think it's likely a shock to anyone dealing with life threatening allergies to find how much those things are in our food supply. We are very limited because nuts and sesame are in almost everything. Corn and/or soy are in nearly everything in at least trace amounts. Worse, corn is largely genetically engineered so that we are exposed to exactly the same "genetic" corn each time. That's likely a coming disaster for those predisposed to allergies. Sesame is in all commercial wheat bread, all crackers, etc. Nuts contaminate oils and baked goods. In the past when we made everything from scratch we weren't exposed to these potent allergens every single day in our foods. We also prepared things (say soaked or fermented foods) in ways that probably made hard to digest things like wheat easier to digest. We've changed the way we eat.

3. Kids aren't dealing with infections like parasites like they did in the past. This is why allergies/asthma aren't issues in third world countries (and less, in my understanding, among farm kids as well). I think this, and not dusting, is the true germ theory. I'm not a stellar housekeeper. But my kids weren't/aren't in a life style that has a lot of parasitic exposure.

4. I'd imagine epigenetics may well have something to do with the increase. I believe we're finding that lifestyle choices actual change genetic code affecting future generations.

 

My kid was born reacting--literally from birth--to things. I know I was vitamin D deficient in pregnancy. But clearly there are genetic things at play. His twin has no allergies. They ate the same foods, lived in the same environment, etc.

Edited March 24, 2010 by sbgrace

[Sandra in FL]

My house was never too clean - in fact, it's on the messy side and my son has severe allergies. Most of them are food but a few environment. Whenever we travel, he starts sneezing as soon as we enter the hotel room. So I run an air cleaner, and then he's fine for the week.

 

Ds also has never had refined sugar in his life (8 years) although I did have some (not overly much as I don't like sweets) during my pregnancy. Neither my husband or I have any allergies. No one I knew growing up had any.

 

I think it's a combination of the food we eat and the toxic environment we live in. Each successive child has worse health than the previous. My first is very healthy but I was much younger and ate much better during her pregnancy. I was almost 40 by the time my youngest was born so maybe the age of the egg, not having time to exercise and eat as well as with the first child?

 

Boy, I sure wish I could go back in time and redo his pregnancy. His allergies are life threatening and have changed our family lifestyle so much eg. we can only travel by car because I have to tow his food around.

 

Sandra

[Lorax]

Yes, he can eat them cooked, just not raw.

 

He can't have juice though, which is weird since I think it's pasteurized? Maybe the pasteurization process isn't hot enough?

 

eta: I also wonder if part of the rise in allergies is that we're exposed to a greater number of foods, plants and other materials?

 

You may want to do a search on Oral Allergy Syndrome. For a certain percentage of us who have seasonal allergies, our bodies recognize the proteins in certain fruits and vegetable as the pollens we have allergies to. Cooking generally breaks those proteins down enough that we can tolerate them. I thought I was crazy when this first started happening to me in college.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome

[Tess in the Burbs]

My son had egg and dairy allergies as a baby that I had to fight to get diagnosed. He was also allergic our pets and the allergist swore no baby could be allergic already to pets....but I pushed and he tested and apologized to me when it was very positive!

 

He supposedly outgrew the allergies at age 4 but it was another 6 months before he would touch dairy or egg products. Dairy tears up his stomach. He is doing Lactaid milk now after our recent allergy discovery ruled out our rice milk.

 

So last year I had him retested. The stomach problems were getting worse. I assumed the dairy and egg were still the culprits. Imagine my SHOCK of a peanut allergy!!! Soy also was skin positive but negative on RAST. So we spent 6 months with no improvement. Tested tree nuts and it's 3 times worse than peanut!!! WHY????????

 

I too suspect there is something about our food supply/pesticides. I read an article about not consuming peanut butter when pregnant or it caused allergies. I didn't avoid it with son and he has all these food allergies. My dd I did avoid it for fear she would have different food allergies than my son at that point, lol. She has no food allergies. So there is something to avoiding certain foods when pregnant!!!

 

At this point my son is still having issues. Some medical things are popping up again(that went away in the past) and my dh suspects it's food related. At this point we may drop the lactaid milk and also try to rid of SOY just in case that is the problem. He doesn't go back for retesting until next year.

 

It's frustrating. We have had to avoid all sorts of foods over the years. The tree nut allergy blows my mind the most. We aren't nut people. Coconut is on his list but he's never had it in his life unless in other foods(common in choc chip cookies). We did eat peanut butter. but not any other kind of nut. I hate them. So why is he so allergic to them NOW? His body is getting worse with allergies and not better. WHY?

 

I wish I had more answers. We are trying to eat healthier to help my son. We are about to get his diet very controlled in regards to calories/protein/iron/fiber and veggie intake. We hope to fix the medical issue that has popped up again through diet. It's hard on a parent. It was so hard to go from no allergies to new allergies. I can do it, but it's hard. My heart breaks for him. I wish he had these earlier but we know the tree nut allergy may never resolve. The odds are so slim at this point. :-(

[Jen500]

Interesting topic.

I have identical twins, who have been exposed to the same environment and foods. One has environmental allergies, the other doesn't.

[delaney]

There are theories... the one I prefer (maybe I'm biased?) is that we are far too clean and germphobic in this day and age and young (babies) bodies immune systems don't develop properly. Then they do weird things - like bad allergies. I was first clued in to this by a polio stricken family friend when my oldest was a baby. I bought into the "sterilize everything" scene and she stopped me. She said in her generation many people got polio, but it seemed to always be the "clean" people (like her household). Those that lived in filth never caught it even though the exposure should have been greater... she surmised their immune systems could handle it better. It's hearsay, of course, but it made me think - and change my ways. We don't live in filth - 'cept maybe when we're camping - but I don't clean all that much compared to most people either - and we're one of the healthiest families I know. We have no allergies of any sort, no medications of any sort, and rarely even the common cold.

 

Since then, I've read more about it and recall a study done in England where farm families - kids raised with dirt and animals - had far less allergies and asthma than their city counterparts.

 

At the very least, it's an interesting theory and correlation and one that should be studied more.

 

Then too... as others have said, more people LIVE with allergies now and therefore can pass anything genetic on.

Well I can only imagine what my kids would be like if I kept a super clean house! I have 3 our of 6 allergic to peanuts and I am all for a daily dose of germs and dirt.

Our allergist said that the tendency to be allergic is what is inherited. How it manifests itself is unknown. Neither DH nor I have allergies, so to speak, but food and seasonal allergies run in the family. Really weird that 5 out of 6 have some sort of allergy issue.

[Sandra in FL]

I did eat peanuts when I was pregnant with youngest ds. Dd played soccer, and they sold hot peanuts at the field ...mmm I'm not usually a nut eater, but I remember those peanuts smelled so good. Aargh, why torture myself? I knew nothing about allergies back then.

 

 

Sandra

[Catherine]

A few years back a study showed that children who had gotten exposure to peanut antigens through the skin, via ointments and creams, had a far higher risk of peanut allergy when ingested. I can only assume that this means the route of first exposure makes some kind of difference to developing allergies.

[Cricket]

I think it's a combination of the food we eat and the toxic environment we live in. Each successive child has worse health than the previous. My first is very healthy but I was much younger and ate much better during her pregnancy. I was almost 40 by the time my youngest was born so maybe the age of the egg, not having time to exercise and eat as well as with the first child?

 

That is interesting about the age of the eggs. Women are waiting longer and longer to have children.

[tex-mex]

Are they actually worse or is it:

 

1. People are more aware of them? It took quite some time to pinpoint my son's allergy to apples. If people were not aware of food allergies would they realize that was the reason for his face always having a rash? But his is an oral allergy, not a deadly one.

 

2. Really bad allergies in the past just killed people.

 

 

:iagree:

[creekland]

4. I'd imagine epigenetics may well have something to do with the increase. I believe we're finding that lifestyle choices actual change genetic code affecting future generations.

 

 

 

I wonder how much we're going to find that this comes into play. It's a fascinating, but scary, field. I doubt there's any one answer, but I suspect a lot of the theories involve epigentics. Time will tell I suppose (maybe).

[2squared]

Thing is, I don't think my house is THAT clean. I wipe things down, but the deep cleaning gets done 1x/week or so.

 

I have nothing to add other than any house that gets deep cleaned once/week is impeccably clean to me!! I can't even imagine being anywhere near that clean. :)

[creekland]

I have nothing to add other than any house that gets deep cleaned once/week is impeccably clean to me!! I can't even imagine being anywhere near that clean. :)

 

Ah, but remember that those studies don't really pertain to now, they pertain to when each person was an infant/young and how much "stuff" they were exposed to then. The farm vs city study had to extrapolate back (always a risky business in studies) so in reality, only showed a correlation. There was a strong correlation. Whether there was any cause to it all has yet to be figured out.

 

Other studies about cleanliness - those about resistant bacteria, etc, apply to now and antibiotics being overused everywhere from the household to animal feed, but I don't know that those affect allergies and asthma. They affect resistance to antibiotics when treating bacterial infections. I suppose they could affect other things, but it's all theorizing - as is much of this thread.

 

If epigenetics are involved, then it won't matter as much what the youngster came in contact with as their parents or possibly grandparents... There were many things used then that aren't considered safe now, much of it in the environment. I'm sure there are many now that won't be considered safe in another generation. Yet, there were also many killers back then that aren't around now, so not all progress is bad. Still... one has to wish they knew in time to prevent things if things are preventable. So... we share ideas and decide whether to opt to change based on what seems reasonable. I know I've changed our diet a ton since my younger days... but I also no longer worry about being "clean" enough for a baby (as was advertised for some cleaners back then).

[keptwoman]

I have theories, but they are all my own and I have very little to back them up. I do think it's something to do with something mucking with the immune system, perhaps too many vaccinations and too many anti-bacterials making super clean houses. But then neither of those apply for me personally or my children, so I don't know.

 

I have developed a number of allergies as I have got older, latex, penicillian and gluten. I already had dust and hayfever issues.

 

I know exactly how my latex allergy developed; 4 surgeries as a child with folks clad in latex digging around in my abdomen, many hours in the dentist chair with the latex clad dentist when I broke my tooth, then working at a job where I had to wear latex gloves. There is a very strong correlation between many surgeries as a child and latex allergy developing. Hence the trend away from latex in theatres.

[asta]

Wow. If you have any links, I'd love to see them.

 

There are links on my epigenetics thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163423

 

 

Also, I don't think this subject can really be examined if one is only looking at the United States. There really is only an "increase in allergies, etc." if it is happening worldwide. Otherwise, there is simply an increase in allergies amongst a particular population (the people living in the US, and even then, perhaps only people living in certain places within the US).

 

 

a

[babysparkler]

I have nothing to add other than any house that gets deep cleaned once/week is impeccably clean to me!! I can't even imagine being anywhere near that clean. :)

 

I was thinking the same thing :lol:

[creekland]

There are links on my epigenetics thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163423

 

 

Also, I don't think this subject can really be examined if one is only looking at the United States. There really is only an "increase in allergies, etc." if it is happening worldwide. Otherwise, there is simply an increase in allergies amongst a particular population (the people living in the US, and even then, perhaps only people living in certain places within the US).

 

 

a

 

I believe the increase is more than just the US. In one reading it was talking about the increase being in pretty much all 1st world countries - yet not seen in 3rd world and surmising possibilities. If I'd have known we were going to be having a thread on it, I'd have bookmarked the news site I read it on. Right now I don't have time to search for it. I suspect it was under health news though.

[Wheres Toto]

Very interesting thread. Personally, I have a lot of environmental allergies. I recently went for testing because I felt my allergies weren't under control. A few times in the past, when my allergies weren't controlled well, I had severe asthma attacks. I'm allergic to just about everything environmental - trees, grasses, ragweed, dust, dogs, cats, rats, cockroaches, etc. I was told that food testing comes up with many false positives and that you need to do elimination testing to see what's really a problem. That came with an extensive list as well but I'm only seeing signs of an allergy with pepper, paprika, pecans, mustard and maybe peanuts. Obviously none of them are life threatening (mostly headaches). I've been told repeatedly that being around cigarette smoke frequently as a child has likely contributed to my problems (I had bronchitis on a yearly basis).

 

None of my children have any allergies other than very mild hayfever in my oldest (maybe a handful of days out of the year when counts are high, she gets a stuffy nose) and maybe my son (he seems to get mildly stuffy on days I'm really bad). I lived on peanut butter with all my pregnancies (and my son still does), have always had pets (a lot with oldest dd - dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, reptiles, birds), don't keep a spotless house by a long shot (not filthy but cleaning kicks my allergies up), all kids are fully vaccinated, we eat processed food occasionally......

 

I think some people may be born with a tendency that if they are exposed to the right trigger, they will develop allergies. While others, exposed to the same trigger, will have no effect. Certainly our environment (in general - air, water, foods, soil, etc.) is not nearly as clean/in its natural state, as it was in the past (although here in the Northeast it got pretty disgusting shortly after the Industrial Revolution.)

 

It may be another one of those things that they are never able to prove conclusively.

[Snickerdoodle]

There are links on my epigenetics thread:

 

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163423

 

 

It makes sense in that we are several generations from the industrial revolution and science based agricultural and farming practices. We also don't know how the interaction between various xenobiotics will affect the biology of the planet. And that's all I can say before a cup of coffee.

[Peela]

I would say it is a multi faceted issue that involves a lot of toxins and changes in our environment in the last decades, and changes in the food chain. And just because this generation is coming out with masses of allergies, doesnt mean it has happened suddenly...we as their parents may not have manifested allergies, but we may have passed on a susceptibility due to a build up of poisons, or poorer nutrition, or environmental toxins.

We know that babies who are exposed to food too young are more likely to develop allergies to the foods, because their systems are too immature. The later we can introduce foods to babies the better, and it pays to be really careful what we introduce, when, and how much.

Allergy to rice is common in Asia, I understand, the same as wheat is common here- we eat so much of it, and it's hybridized, chemicalised, stripped of its nutritional coating and bleached. Its not really food anymore.

A large percentage of our foods are now hybridized. If your fruit doesnt have seeds in it, it is hybrid, and bred for higher sugar levels- and not for higher nturient levels. They are compromsed.

So much has been done to our food. Our kids are more sensitive than we are, and maybe we have adapted over time. We jsut get other autoimmune diseases instead, or degenerative diseases, or we become obese or any one of many other diseases which are very common nowadays.

I have heard that asthma in particular can be connected to too clean an environment- asthma is common in Australia. It's good for kids to eat a bit of dirt, to get sick even- it builds immunity.

And then there is the whole immunisation issue, mucking around with our immune systems with an ever increasng number of immunisations- far more than when we were kids.

Each generation is possibly getting sicker now, even though we have th wealth ad technology to be very healthy. Maybe our kids' generation will fight the real wars- against the large companies like Monsanto- for their own survival.

But for each specific case..we may never be able to pin it down. And it's way too complex to pin it down to one or 2 causes.

[Wyndie]

I would say it is a multi faceted issue that involves a lot of toxins and changes in our environment in the last decades, and changes in the food chain. And just because this generation is coming out with masses of allergies, doesnt mean it has happened suddenly...we as their parents may not have manifested allergies, but we may have passed on a susceptibility due to a build up of poisons, or poorer nutrition, or environmental toxins.

We know that babies who are exposed to food too young are more likely to develop allergies to the foods, because their systems are too immature. The later we can introduce foods to babies the better, and it pays to be really careful what we introduce, when, and how much.

Allergy to rice is common in Asia, I understand, the same as wheat is common here- we eat so much of it, and it's hybridized, chemicalised, stripped of its nutritional coating and bleached. Its not really food anymore.

A large percentage of our foods are now hybridized. If your fruit doesnt have seeds in it, it is hybrid, and bred for higher sugar levels- and not for higher nturient levels. They are compromsed.

So much has been done to our food. Our kids are more sensitive than we are, and maybe we have adapted over time. We jsut get other autoimmune diseases instead, or degenerative diseases, or we become obese or any one of many other diseases which are very common nowadays.

I have heard that asthma in particular can be connected to too clean an environment- asthma is common in Australia. It's good for kids to eat a bit of dirt, to get sick even- it builds immunity.

And then there is the whole immunisation issue, mucking around with our immune systems with an ever increasng number of immunisations- far more than when we were kids.

Each generation is possibly getting sicker now, even though we have th wealth ad technology to be very healthy. Maybe our kids' generation will fight the real wars- against the large companies like Monsanto- for their own survival.

But for each specific case..we may never be able to pin it down. And it's way too complex to pin it down to one or 2 causes.

 

:iagree:

 

I had mild food allergies as a child. DH had mild food allergies as a child. We both grew out of them (sorta; really all that happened was our symptoms changed so we didn't recognize them). Put us together and what do you get? Three children who have anaphylactic reactions to touching various foods. My mother has had health problems her entire life, a few years ago we figured out she is allergic to corn. It's now anaphylactic b/c she ate corn all the time not connecting her breathing problems with that food. As people become more and more toxic from eating chemicals that look like food, inject chemicals and poisons into their bodies and breathing less than clean air, I don't see how you can't end up with a population of people with more and more severe allergies. The body can only take so much.

[KidsHappen]

I have read that there has been a dramatic increase in not just allergies but also asthma, auto-immune disorders and austitic spectrum issues. No one knows why yet or even whether they all of the same causal realtionship or not. I personally believe that a combination of issues come into play such as food, pollution, immunizations, and many more.

[Brilliant]

I followed some Raw Milk (non-pasteurized) links the other day. One of them claimed that the increase in modern allergies is because we don't eat/drink raw dairy which somehow protects us from allergies.

[StartingOver]

I agree that people probably just died of allergies a lot in the past.

 

When my daughter was born she had jaundice and was losing weight. My ped suggested supplimenting breastfeeding with formula. She got worse, lost more weight, actually turned orange. We added lights, no help. I started researching. I don't know why, I never had a child allergic to anything but I knew something wasnt' right. I found out about the elimination diet, and started it. Immediately she started to gain weight and her jaundice disappeared in about 3 days. I slowly added back foods for me. I went to the ped, telling him I think she is allergic to milk. He told me that is only 2-3% of the population and that it wouldn't be an issue with breastfeeding.

 

He was wrong....... she tested later with the highest reaction to cows milk, and second highest to eggs. She also has a wheat allergy but it is low.

 

Now I have heard over and over that this could have been caused by my eating massive amounts of those foods when I was pregnant with her. I have no idea if it is true, but it would fit. I had hyperemisis, 90% of the foods I ate while pregnant were cereal, milk and eggs.

 

I wonder all the time if she would have lived....... if I hadn't listened to my mommy instincts and changed my diet anyway. She was born at 7 lbs 3 oz. And at her lowest weight before I figured it out she was 4 lbs 8 ozs at 6 weeks old.

 

(The first picture is newborn, the second in pink was her lowest weight, the third is one month after stopping milk and eggs. )

[emubird]

1. One hypothesis that I've heard to explain the polio-clean house link is that filthy houses allowed kids to be exposed to polio when they were infants -- when the disease wasn't as bad. In cleaner houses, kids and adults didn't get the disease until they were older, when it can be much worse.

 

But that's just another hypothesis.

 

2. On the "evils" of sugar, here's a youtube video:

 

If the link doesn't work, you can google sugar the bitter truth lustig. (or if you don't have an hour to watch the video, you can google robert lustig and see if there are any print versions of his theories). The take home message of his talk seems to be that too much sugar without fiber is a bad thing for your body. Fruit is ok because the sugars in it come with fiber.

[OnTheBrink]

I have zero facts to base this on, but my theory is that with all the synthetic and toxic ingredients that go into our food, we've corrupted our food. Dyes, pesticides, preservatives, artificial this and that--we weren't made to ingest all that and our bodies can't deal with it. Some bodies can't deal with it worse than others.

 

JMO, YMMV, TYAHAND :001_smile:

[Jennifer in MI]

I agree that people probably just died of allergies a lot in the past.

 

When my daughter was born she had jaundice and was losing weight. My ped suggested supplimenting breastfeeding with formula. She got worse, lost more weight, actually turned orange. We added lights, no help. I started researching. I don't know why, I never had a child allergic to anything but I knew something wasnt' right. I found out about the elimination diet, and started it. Immediately she started to gain weight and her jaundice disappeared in about 3 days. I slowly added back foods for me. I went to the ped, telling him I think she is allergic to milk. He told me that is only 2-3% of the population and that it wouldn't be an issue with breastfeeding.

 

He was wrong....... she tested later with the highest reaction to cows milk, and second highest to eggs. She also has a wheat allergy but it is low.

 

Now I have heard over and over that this could have been caused by my eating massive amounts of those foods when I was pregnant with her. I have no idea if it is true, but it would fit. I had hyperemisis, 90% of the foods I ate while pregnant were cereal, milk and eggs.

 

I wonder all the time if she would have lived....... if I hadn't listened to my mommy instincts and changed my diet anyway. She was born at 7 lbs 3 oz. And at her lowest weight before I figured it out she was 4 lbs 8 ozs at 6 weeks old.

 

(The first picture is newborn, the second in pink was her lowest weight, the third is one month after stopping milk and eggs. )

 

WOW!!!! Those pictures are really telling aren't they? I'm surprised they weren't more freaked out about her weight loss!

 

My d.s. had TERRIBLE eczema from the time he was about 3 months old. His cheeks would bleed. Later on, his hands and feet would bleed too. He'd leave bloody finger and footprints around the house. He was allergic to all the things I ate most during pregnancy. Luckily he didn't have any trouble gaining weight. But he looked awful!!!

[StartingOver]

WOW!!!! Those pictures are really telling aren't they? I'm surprised they weren't more freaked out about her weight loss!

 

My d.s. had TERRIBLE eczema from the time he was about 3 months old. His cheeks would bleed. Later on, his hands and feet would bleed too. He'd leave bloody finger and footprints around the house. He was allergic to all the things I ate most during pregnancy. Luckily he didn't have any trouble gaining weight. But he looked awful!!!

 

Oh poor baby !! It is so difficult when we don't know the answers.

 

My ped just figured it was jaundice...... and he knew I was an experienced mom. We were taking her in every 3 days for weight checks. He did apologize profusely after we found out that it is allergies. He said he had never seen any that severe in his 20 years. He REALLY listens to me now. :lol:

[Lovedtodeath]

 

There have been a couple of studies about the impact of refined sugar on diet and that complications like auto-immune problems and severe allergies/asthma start to show up, but not until 3 generations out in rats. When refined sugar was eliminated, it took 3 more rat generations to work itself (and the resulting health issues out).

Yes. It takes generations. Thank you!