Allergies Around the World

[umsami]

I find this completely fascinating.  I knew kids in Africa were less likely to be allergic to peanuts, and that's why PlumpyNut works there for refeeding programs.  I had no idea that allergies were so different around the world.  Allergic to beef? Never heard of that!  http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/map-of-allergies-around-the-world

[Katy]

Yeah, one of the tick infections can lead to a beef allergy here.  I think it's Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but I'm not certain.

[nansk]

I had never heard of allergies until I moved to the first world. Back there, people lived through dust, pollution, and pollen, and ate peanuts and milk products every day. I have a doctor friend whose theory is that the increased (what he terms excessive) hygiene practices in the first world have resulted in children not developing antibodies to everyday foods and substances

[Guest]

I had never heard of allergies until I moved to the first world. Back there, people lived through dust, pollution, and pollen, and ate peanuts and milk products every day. I have a doctor friend whose theory is that the increased (what he terms excessive) hygiene practices in the first world have resulted in children not developing antibodies to everyday foods and substances

 

It's called the hygiene hypothesis.

 

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What's going on in Eastern Russia? Just like low population? haha

[Soror]

Yeah, one of the tick infections can lead to a beef allergy here.  I think it's Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, but I'm not certain.

I have a couple of friends that have trouble with red meat so I looked this up. From my understanding it is not the RMSF but rather the ticks that carry that also make you allergic to beef.

[Miss Tick]

I thought the "hygiene hypothesis" was not really about dust and peanuts and similar, but rather that fewer kids in the first world are exposed to parasitic worms or tape worms that suppress your immune system as part of their survival strategy. Those are more common in areas where waste products are not as assiduously separated from living areas, and where people are more likely to walk barefoot (spine enter through your feet).

 

Totally removed my first impression, first-world guilt about my ds' peanut allergy!

[Guest]

I thought the "hygiene hypothesis" was not really about dust and peanuts and similar, but rather that fewer kids in the first world are exposed to parasitic worms or tape worms that suppress your immune system as part of their survival strategy. Those are more common in areas where waste products are not as assiduously separated from living areas, and where people are more likely to walk barefoot (spine enter through your feet).

 

 

 

Nope.

 

According to the “hygiene hypothesis,†the problem with extremely clean environments is that they fail to provide the necessary exposure to germs required to “educate†the immune system so it can learn to launch its defense responses to infectious organisms. Instead, its defense responses end up being so inadequate that they actually contribute to the development of asthma.

 

The “hygiene hypothesis†is supported by epidemiologic studies demonstrating that allergic diseases and asthma are more likely to occur when the incidence and levels of endotoxin (bacterial lipopolysaccharide, or LPS) in the home are low. LPS is a bacterial molecule that stimulates and educates the immune system by triggering signals through a molecular “switch†called TLR4, which is found on certain immune system cells.

 

 

Note that the use of the word "supported" in that quote (from the FDA) is slightly misleading. The hygiene hypothesis is unproven.

[Ravin]

I thought the "hygiene hypothesis" was not really about dust and peanuts and similar, but rather that fewer kids in the first world are exposed to parasitic worms or tape worms that suppress your immune system as part of their survival strategy. Those are more common in areas where waste products are not as assiduously separated from living areas, and where people are more likely to walk barefoot (spine enter through your feet).

 

Totally removed my first impression, first-world guilt about my ds' peanut allergy!

 

The way I recall it explained to me in college, there are several broad environmental burden phases that populations may go through, where you see shifts in what makes people sick. When a population is first contacted, communicable pathogenic diseases hit them hard, as do parasitic infections that are newly introduced. When the communicable diseases, foreign parasites, and endemic parasites are all brought under control through a combination of medical intervention and hygiene practices, the theory is that the human immune system, having nothing better to do, starts reacting to stuff it shouldn't--there is an increase in allergies as well as autoimmune diseases. 

 

 

 

Some of the differences around the world in what people are allergic to might be genetic, others are probably environmental, based on what is in the typical diet that people have the opportunity to become allergic to.

[creekland]

Interesting map - thanks for sharing!

 

I have to wonder what folks in Columbia eat (those with allergies anyway) if the main allergies are fruit and vegetables followed by shellfish and beef.  I guess chicken still works - and perhaps grains?