So many allergies! Why?

Food intolerances can be proved and lactose intolerance is one of them. Since babyhood I have been sick or nausious, when served fresh milk or lightly processed related products (Yoghourt, cream, cottage cheese), although I can eat hard cheese.

Recently, when eating out, I ordered a pasta dish served in a 'creamy sauce', usually a sauce with a spoonful of cream stirred in, but this was Normandy and it was 100% creme fraiche, stirred through generously. I quickly realised what the sauce was and stopped eating but still felt ill for the rest of the day and for the next 48 hours my stomach felt as if someone had punched it.

I agree some food intolerances are more fancy than reality, but some are real and medically attested and lactose intolerance is one of them.

Oh yes, those E numbers!

I'm sure Aspartame and artificial sweeteners are far worse than sugar. They will cause ill-health in the long-term.

When my children were young, all the chat and worries was about food colouring and E numbers. Some children were apparently allergic to them and gradually the colours were eliminated from foods. When I read the ingredients on a packet I don’t see the list of E numbers that I used to see, but there are many ingredients that I don’t recognise. I try to buy fresh food and nothing too processed, but we do have some things which are processed. I suspect that two things are at play here, one is the increased numbers of chemicals in foods and everything else, and two, there is a distinct fashion to claim food intolerances. An allergy is different, it often requires the use of an epipen to save the person’s life. That is not a fashion, however food intolerance cannot be proved and given the number of places where we’re asked for allergies/intolerances, I’m afraid I find it impossible to believe that this number is people truly suffer intolerances.

M0nica

DS has no allergies, even thoygh as an Autumn born baby, he didn't get put out in the graden much. DD, born in May and a prodigious sleeper spent most of her first 4 months in the garden. She would sleep for 6 hours between feeds. She is allergic to feathers and has close to a bird phobia.

I think it could be genetic, M0nica

Coeliac disease is hereditary.

We're a nation of namby pamby parents and we are setting our kids up for a lifetime of problems, all inflicted by you !

Well, that's us told. 🤔

The youngest of mine has allergies; she was the one breastfed for longest, put outside in her pram (they all were) and I don't think I was over-houseproud; we had pets but not cats.
After years of riding she suddenly developed an allergy to horses. An allergy to cats and some dogs.
She eats very healthily as far as I know, rarely touching processed foods.

I wonder why she seemed to inherit the same allergies that my MIL had. 🤔 What did I do wrong? Perhaps I chose the wrong father for my DC Mirren? Any suggestions?

DS has no allergies, even thoygh as an Autumn born baby, he didn't get put out in the graden much. DD, born in May and a prodigious sleeper spent most of her first 4 months in the garden. She would sleep for 6 hours between feeds. She is allergic to feathers and has close to a bird phobia.

M0nica

DS was such a huge baby and greedy feeder, I had to stop breast feedingvhim at 4.5 months. He was putting on a lb a week. I was totally exhausted and all I could do between feeds was sleep. the health Visiter suggested I begin to introduce a bit of ceral at 3 months to try and ease the pressure on me.

I was the only breast feeding mother at my baby clinic and I had the biggest fattest baby there.

My 4 boys all normal delivery, were breast fed to 4-5 months buy then all were having bottles plus our own meals liquidized. I certainly had no money for special baby food, I did have a decent washing machine so I could use terry nappies, heating wasn’t good upstairs, downstairs was filthy we had dogs in the house. The best place for baby was tucked up in a pram in the garden, right or wrong no allergies with any of them.

Exhausted, yes with the first that’s the way it’s, after that it got better.

I have never been into a house that included children that was squeaky clean with children who never got dirty.

They go off to nurseries, lay groups, mother and toddler group and lots of other activities where they are meeting other children and swapping allergens.

The hyper hygiene theory for allergies, is just another way of blaming women and mothers for everything.

As an add on to my post about cleanliness, I would like to mention Lactose intolerance.
We all , to some extent,,have the enzyme, lactase ,produced by our gut villi.
This varies around the world. The Chinese don't have it.
After a bout of diarrhoea and vomiting your gut villi are flattened..you can't produce lactase for a while, resulting in a condition called Secondary Lactose intolerance.
Some people, myself included, just don't have enough lactase.
I knew I couldn't tolerate the milk we were given at primary school in the 60s....and not just because it got horribly warm and sour after a day standing in the corridor!
In latter years, I have found cutting milk out helps my gut.... but I am NOT allergic.
I am, simply, a human being with all the variation that this brings. I am not Chinese. I may have realised earlier if I had been.
However, I don't make a,huge song and dance about it like many love to do
If there is an alternative to a lactose containing product.. I take it.
If not, drink water.
Stop being a diva !!

We are too clean !
I'm a doctor so,,I agree, everyone has an allergy these days.
Hardly surprising really. Our bodies are programed to meet and deal with infection
With no outside agents to fight, our immune system has to go somewhere.
That somewhere is our own bodies.
My Grandma used to say, " You've got to eat a peck of muck before you die '
True !!!
We no longer let our kids get mucky.
We keep them spotless and hand washed and sanitised.
Covid hasn't helped.
Even though I am medical my home waa,not 100% antiseptic, we had a home full of pets and my kids played outside and got dirty.
THAT is,how we beat infection and improve our amazing immune system.
Stop being ultra spotless . Stop preventing the children from being children.
Encourage them to get outside, active and mucky ( guessing you all have a washing!!!
We're a nation of namby pamby parents and we are setting our kids up for a lifetime of problems, all inflicted by you !

I have read the book, agree with lots but totally disagree that UPF food is addictive or even tastes good as he suggests. As various foods have been adulterated, even though I was unaware what had happened to them I went off them.

As a child I loved bread, with butter and marmite but in the 60s and 70s, I stopped eating bread I no longerenjoyed it. It was much later that learned of the development of the 'Chorley Wood' process. used to cook (not bake) all supermarket bread these days. The same applies to sugar, I have never had a sweet tooth and now avoid sugar laden foods I do not enjoy them, ditto I went off meat as animal production and feed was industrialised.

Recently I have begun to dislike farmed salmon.

I am darn sure that I am not the only one to feel like this there are probably millions of people in the UK who have not succumbed to the 'attractions' of UPF food.

I thought I’d post a picture of Chris van Tulleken’s book. Now you all know how to spell his name 😂😂😂.
My sister just gave it back to me, she didn’t finish it- too much like hard work. It’s definitely not a novel but along with Tim Spector’s books worth a read.

I can't remember when my Grandma didn't suffer from appalling skin lesions and diarrhoea .
I became aware of allergies as a teenager and suggested it to her .
The GP was annoyed and implied that I was a know it all .
A few months later , my Grandma's skin caused blood droplets to fall everywhere she went . Her abdomen ached and swelled ,
going out became a nightmare and she couldn't sleep .
The doctor prescribed some draconian new medication and my Grandma went into a coma .
These drugs had formed an incompatibility with her existing prescription .
She was rushed into hospital and extensive tests were done .
She had coeliac disease .

We are more aware of allergies and incompatibilities , but I notice that some people decide that they have them without having any tests done !

I do question the amount of childhood vaccinations that babies and children have these days as there are so many ‘conditions’, allergies, Autism, ADHD etc., than we ever had in my childhood and when my daughter was born in the 90’s. Now babies are give. 18 shots (3 x 6 in 1) during the first 16 weeks of life which seems an awful lot of toxins to inject into a baby’s bloodstream. This continues with multiple vaccines throughout their school years. It begs the question is this becoming a health hazard.

DS was such a huge baby and greedy feeder, I had to stop breast feedingvhim at 4.5 months. He was putting on a lb a week. I was totally exhausted and all I could do between feeds was sleep. the health Visiter suggested I begin to introduce a bit of ceral at 3 months to try and ease the pressure on me.

I was the only breast feeding mother at my baby clinic and I had the biggest fattest baby there.

FannyD

I read a research report recently suggesting that the rise in some allergies in young children could be down to later weaning.

That’s interesting. Babies are now not supposed to have anything but milk for 6 months. I gave mine a little baby cereal at 3 or 4 months - it was pretty routine then. My sister gave her son some sort of baby cereal at just over 2 months when he was still hungry after 2 full bottles! Now 50, perfectly healthy, never overweight, and no allergies AFAIK.

And I certainly recall Gdd1 actively reaching for her parents’ food at just 5 months.

Marydoll

Katie59

Looking for environmental causes is never going to reach a conclusion because the vast majority of us live in the same conditions without harm, the pollution levels are far lower than they were in our childhood.

Allergies are deficiencies in our individual immune system, some are DNA related some are acquired. Some factor during our childhood that damages immune response, or inhibits development. Scientists have little knowledge of how the immune system functions and how it can be damaged and repaired

Good post, Katie.

I had been thinking of posting similar points.

At least progress has been made and clinicians are better informed.. When my son suffered a secondary reaction after experiencing anaphylaxis, the locum GP treated my suggestion with disdain. He had never heard of a peanut allergy. 🤬

When I had the children I used a lot of homeopathy, little pills with no detectable active ingredient because its so dilute, the principle is that it switches the body on to cure itself, that can only be the immune system.

It worked well for minor things, but it’s not scientific for any condition there are several remedy’s, so you might need several tries. It also worked well with clearing up chronic problems after illness, it complements antibiotics used for acute illnesses.
It also works for animals

the pollution levels are far lower than they were in our childhood
Micro plastic are the silent invisible killers. If you have already cleaned your teeth you will have injested some.

www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/microplastics-and-the-human-health-impact/

Katie59

Looking for environmental causes is never going to reach a conclusion because the vast majority of us live in the same conditions without harm, the pollution levels are far lower than they were in our childhood.

Allergies are deficiencies in our individual immune system, some are DNA related some are acquired. Some factor during our childhood that damages immune response, or inhibits development. Scientists have little knowledge of how the immune system functions and how it can be damaged and repaired

Good post, Katie.

I had been thinking of posting similar points.

At least progress has been made and clinicians are better informed.. When my son suffered a secondary reaction after experiencing anaphylaxis, the locum GP treated my suggestion with disdain. He had never heard of a peanut allergy. 🤬

Looking for environmental causes is never going to reach a conclusion because the vast majority of us live in the same conditions without harm, the pollution levels are far lower than they were in our childhood.

Allergies are deficiencies in our individual immune system, some are DNA related some are acquired. Some factor during our childhood that damages immune response, or inhibits development. Scientists have little knowledge of how the immune system functions and how it can be damaged and repaired

The big thing is if you had a severe allergy you would likely have died as a small child. My father was always considered a " sickly child" until he left home, then they realised it was the animals in the house that made him so ill. I'm in my 50s and all my siblings and I have different allergies ( half requiring epipens) and all are different. We would have lost one brother within a few weeks of birth because of his, and I would have made 12 months.

On the flip side though, the number of undiagnosed allergies is increasing hugely due to Dr Google. Something that one might have considered common sense - if you eat bread at every meal you will likely feel bloated, the human body is always going to struggle with huge quantities of dairy etc... it makes life difficult for those of us with diagnoses outside the standard 13/15/4 that food service places are required to declare too.

Hygiene is unlikely to affect food allergies but more likely to affect environmental allergies and I think as we experience more in life we are more likely to come into contact with things we may react to.

I have a friend who hates cheese so doesn't eat it. ( Tests show she's incredibly allergic to it, so chances are she reacted to it and decided never to eat it again).

The guests with allergies should know what they can and can't eat. If they haven't given plenty of notice about their dietary requirements then they should also be prepared to bring something to eat just in case they can't eat the food provided.
How do I know this? Lots of experience with parties and sleepovers with my girls over the years. Never had any problems because I was always informed in plenty of time and parents usually offered to make a plate of food for their child.

The massive increase in the use of cars is another factor in the levels of pollutants and irritants our bodies are now subjected too. I would think almost certainly there is a direct link to asthma and maybe other allergies and intolerances. Not only do cars pollute the atmosphere outside, sitting inside a car exposes the occupants to significant pollution. See the quote below from the RAC web site:

"In fact, for the average car commuter who sits in traffic for just one hour each day, exposure to air pollution inside their vehicle is the equivalent to passively smoking 180 cigarettes each year.

"We all understand the risks of smoking and passive smoking, but a lot of people don't realise that just being in a vehicle can be highly damaging to your health too."

www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/motoring-news/in-car-pollution-equivalent-to-passively-smoking/#:~:text=%22In%20fact%2C%20for%20the%20average,smoking%20180%20cigarettes%20each%20year.

My two have birthdays 5 days apart so we had parties for 50 plus in the village hall. The only one with allergies was my younger daughter with food colourings. As an aside
, I have CIU which means I am allergic to most things - but , mercifully, not all at once. 😱

I guess the world is changing, the new borns are finding it difficult adapting to what has been before now. That's why they're allerged to lot of things