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Food Allergy Epidemic A Myth? Asks Harpers


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An interesting analysis this month's Harper's. The gist of the argument is that there has been no increase in allergies, just an increase in self-fulfilling hype that is causing paranoia and psychosomatic problems. Not to minimize the problem for those who truly suffer -- or whose loved ones truly suffer -- from life-threatening allergies, but their points are pretty persuasive:

"Since 2005, more than 400 news stories have used FAAN's [Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network] estimates that allergic reactions to food send 30,000 Americans to emergency rooms each year and that 150-200 ultimately die...The Center for Disease Control and Prevention ...recorded onkly 12 deaths...in all of 2004."
"In 2005, every major American media outlet covered the story of a teenager who died after kissing a boy who earlier on the day had eaten a peanut butter sandwich...a coroner later ruled, with no fanfare, that the girl had smoked pot soon before the embrace and actually died from an asthma attack."

"Just about all the leading food allergists also have ties to FAAN or the FFood Allergu Initiative (FAI)...This intimacy helps explain why suspect statistical findings get published."
"[E]xaggerating the threat may actually do as much harm as the allergies themselves.  THe peril is now perceived as so greatthat psychosomatic reactions to foods and their odors are not uncommon...surveys have also showed that children thought to have food allergies are more overwhelmed by anxiety ...than even children with diabetes...such psychological distress is exacerbated by parents...."
"Having been fed a steady diet of fear...we have become, it appears, what we eat."

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Very interesting. I'd like to read the whole article.

From my experience, in France there is nothing like this seemingly rampant spate of food allergies amongst America's children (and adults). But I'd assumed it had something to do with diet, artificial XYZ, pollution, who knows what... My sister (in the U.S.) has two young sons who both have multiple allergies (peach peel, eggs, etc. etc.). Yet when my 30-something-year-old cousins came down with celiac disease, or was it lyme's disease, or was it... I started to wonder. My mother became allergic to chocolate when she had children in the 1970s. By the late '90s she was eating chocolate just fine but became lactose intolerant.

I think a lot of it may indeed be psychosomatic. The only people I know in France who have something similar are people who can't drink white wine, or red wine... My boyfriend's sister-in-law believes firmly that she is allergic to red Burgundy. Once her husband served her a Côte de Beaune, pretending it was a Côtes du Rhône, and apparently she had migranes for the next two days.

I am a skeptic and am wholeheartedly in favor of shining bright lights onto the food allergy world.

edited: diet is not spelled with a "d" at the end...

Edited by sharonb (log)
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I am absolutely sure folks have nut allergies...especially kids!!!...I have cared for folks with full blown anaphylaxis from eating nuts or being in accidental contact with nuts who were afraid to use their epi pens

it is not psychosomatic! it is real ....I have considered dairy an "overhyped" allergy and many foods are blamed for causing many that may be crap ...

but a defined food allergy especially a nut allergy ..well you should at least be glad I believe it is not psychosomatic when I am keeping an airway open during one of these most life threatening reactions...

life or death it is not overhyped to keep nuts away from a nut allergic kid!!! trust me I have been there and know ...very very scary!

I worked with an allergy doctor who insisted on doing "food challanges" on little kids ..I would star the IV stand by with epi and benadryl and he would give them the offending food ..

in that case my endorphins were pumping and none of the kids reacted thank goodness ..it was a very nerve wracking moment ...

many people say when they can not tolorate food they are allergic to it ..that is entirely different ...

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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There is a food reaction spectrum from life-threatening allergy with a strong possibility of anaphylactic shock to a food that doesn't sit very well in your stomach. Very few people have the former, darn near everybody has the latter. I think that what people call "allergy" has been sliding steadily from the former towards the latter, to our collective detriment.

I have a friend with a life-threatening nut allergy. She's clearly allergic by anyone's definition. I have another friend who gets hives if she eats eggs. Not deadly, but a clear immune system response; she's allergic (but wouldn't show up in those emergency room stats). Another friend is intolerant of lactose. She vomits if she eats dairy. Definitely intolerant, not allergic. I get stomach aches if I eat fried food. Sorry, not allergic.

It's OK to decide what you will and will not eat based on any criteria you choose. But keep it in perspective, and call it what it really is.

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What makes you think that mushrooms/garlic/onions/etc. don't contain proteins? Almost everything contains proteins, and there are certainly plenty of people who are allergic to, e.g., mushrooms.

I'm also not sure I buy the idea that "a food allergy is an immunologic response to a food protein" and only a protein. All that is required is for the food to contain an something that produces an allergic response (I believe, e.g., some polysaccharides can act as antigens). If one were eating a dish dusted with ragweed pollen, that could produce an allergic response and would therefore constitute a food allergy.

Edited by slkinsey (log)

--

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I am absolutely sure folks have nut allergies...especially kids!!!...I have cared for folks with full blown anaphylaxis from eating nuts or being in accidental contact with nuts who were afraid to use their epi pens

it is not psychosomatic! it is real ....I have considered dairy an "overhyped" allergy and many foods are blamed for causing many that may be crap ...

but a defined food allergy especially a nut allergy ..well you should at least be glad I believe it is not psychosomatic when I am keeping an airway open during one of these most life threatening reactions...

life or death it is not overhyped to keep nuts away from a nut allergic kid!!!  trust me I have been there and know ...very very scary!

I worked with an allergy doctor who insisted on doing "food challanges" on little kids ..I would star the IV stand by with epi and benadryl and he would give them the offending food ..

in that case my endorphins were pumping and none of the kids reacted thank goodness ..it was a very nerve wracking moment ...

many people say when they can not tolorate food they are allergic to it ..that is entirely different ...

The analysis doesn't say that food allergies are mythical, it says that the "epidemic" that won food allergies (among other coverage) a Newsweek cover story is -- that paranoid parents, a credulous press and a small cottage industry of researchers, advocates and manufacturers have created the perception of a growing problem when, in fact, there's no hard evidence to support the "epidemic" claim.

Kind of reminds me disappearing child hysteria of the early 80s (?) when some claimed that tens of thousands of children disappeared every year.

Here's another interesting article, from the Boston Globe:

... today about 25 percent of parents believe that their children have food allergies, although only about 4 percent really do....And even among children with true allergies caused by harmful IgE, only a tiny fraction will have life-threatening reactions, called anaphylaxis....A well-publicized household telephone survey published last year in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggested that rates of peanut allergies among children had doubled from 0.4 percent of the total population to 0.8 percent between 1997 and 2002. But the data were not verified by allergy tests, and it's not clear whether the numbers are meaningful.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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Allergy is a specific and much overused and abused term. Though clearly they do exist and can certainly be life-threatening and even life taking. In my job, I see a lot of patients who claim to have "allergies" to various medications including morphine and codeine. Allergies to penicillin and Sulfa are never questioned, however, most of the "allergies" people claim are either due to dose-related side effects, sensitivities or or other situation-specific, non-allergic complications. Food allergies are not much different. Nut and shellfish allergies are real, not uncommon and potentially very dangerous. Fruit allergies, though generally less dangerous are also real and may indicate allergies to other compounds such as latex. Regarding latex, there seemed to be a real outbreak of allergies to latex in the mid-90's, especially in the health care industry. This appeared to be due to decreased availability of quality product and alternate production methods. For whatever reason(s), the incidence of latex allergies seems to have diminished markedly over the last 5-10 years. That doesn't mean the allergies weren't real before that, just that the development of allergies is a complex phenomenon that can shift depending upon current factors. The incidence of food allergies is likely to go along the same path. Of course when something generates press and public interest, some people will feel that they are effected when they really are not. Despite that real and serious cases do exist underneath and the issue should certainly be taken seriously though not necessarily accepted at face value.

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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Doc,

you've nicely illustrated a problem with medical questionaires. There's no place to enter "adverse reaction to". The only place I can find to list those meds which family members should avoid is under "allergies".

Perhaps, slowly, as a group, we can help those we know change their vocabulary from "I'm allergic to onions" to "I have an adverse reaction to onions" or "Onions upset my stomach", or whatever. "Allergy" is perceived as a useful shorthand. Maybe, leading by example, eGullet members can start a wave of clearer communication.

"You dont know everything in the world! You just know how to read!" -an ah-hah! moment for 6-yr old Miss O.

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There has been some speculation that an increase in allergic reactions may in fact be due to our immune system being deprived of minor infections due to the over use of antibacterial cleaners. Don't know if there is any truth to this.

Peanut allergies are unheard of in 3rd world countries.

My wife has many allergies, not adverse reactions. Many nuts, fruits and even vegetables cause itching and a sensation of her throat closing. I had my first allergic reaction to crab with a full body rash and itching. I'm not sure if it was the crab or some preservative but I can eat all other shell fish at this time.

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Trust me, shellfish allergy is very real and very dangerous. I would know.

As far as the other points, I do tend to agree, people seem to say they're allergic to a food when in fact, it doesn't agree with them.

I'm violently allergic to shellfish, but garlic doesn't agree with me, is an example of what I'm trying to say.

---------------------------------------

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I am a credentialed allergy nurse ...I want to say people who get hives from foods can also end up with hives in their throat it can swell up and they can die from them ..hives are considered an allergic reaction .. and can life threatening one.... people who get hives from foods should avoid those foods period.

our clinic recently has defined two catagories for asking about allergies ..we actually ask "what happens when you take or eat blah blah blah" then we catagorize it accordingly as either an intolorance or an allergy ..both are significant and both are important to the patient as well as us when we are considering therapy...

people do get nuts (pun intended) over food period and love to blame it for everything ..I blame sugar for making me gain weight!

I also get headaches when I stop it ..I think I have a low capacity for tolorating sugar but am not by any means allergic to it ..more addicted!!!

sorry if this a bit discombobulate but I am at work and taking care of an "allergic" patient as we speak ...ironic?

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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PS side note I for sure blame drug companies for hyping a lot of crap to push product ..just like any industry.....folks (even healthcare providers) hear hype ithen they relate it to themselves or their patients and want that product..but I would never ever not take someone telling me they had an allergy in less than a serious way ...unless proven otherwise that is for sure ...I am way to obsessed with my job to do that ...

sometimes however I do roll my eyes when folks blame an eggplant for autism ok??? (sarcastic no one has ever done that but you get my point!)

Edited by hummingbirdkiss (log)
why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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This allergy/intolerance subject is a real conundrum to me. I've been treated with so many drugs over the past few years, and I've developed some terrible 'intolerances'. That anaphylactic shock thing is THE singular worst experience I've had, next to the whole closing of the throat business. So, the doctors and nurses keep adding item after item to my no-no list, and I am left wondering, how did I get here? Actually, my main oncologist seems to have the idea that I find most logical- my immune system is damaged, and it overreacts to certain things.

Now, if only if it would overreact to the cancer! I want to wire my immune system a message"Go kill those cancer cells, Dearie, and leave the blue cheese alone!". :raz:

More Than Salt

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An interesting analysis in this month's Harper's.  Not linkable,

Try this:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/01/0081878

shel

I did, first thing. The article is available to subscribers only, unless you can read the teeny-tiny font in the thumbnails.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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"please make sure there are no mushrooms/garlic/onions/ because I am deathly allergic to them"

Not to argue that people aren't allergic to these things, but as a side note.... from experience I know that there are some people who say they're "allergic" just because they hate a food so much or have a psychological "eek!" reaction to them that they refuse to see it or touch it.

The article seems to raise some interesting points. Too bad I don't subscribe to Harper's. :hmmm:

Hummingbirdkiss, I have to agree on your side note... it applies to lots of things, not just food-related. I think a lot of things are being diagnosed more than they were before... so even if those medical complaints are legitimate, it doesn't mean that they didn't exist before. And no, no one has blamed eggplants for autism, but of course there is a school of thought that believes a gluten- and dairy-free diet can lessen the symptoms of autism. The jury seems to be out on the effectiveness of that.. since we don't know much about the disease, it's hard to know if certain foods really do make symptoms worse outside of anecdotal evidence (it's not like PKU).

"I know it's the bugs, that's what cheese is. Gone off milk with bugs and mould - that's why it tastes so good. Cows and bugs together have a good deal going down."

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An interesting analysis in this month's Harper's.  Not linkable,

Try this:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/01/0081878

shel

I did, first thing. The article is available to subscribers only, unless you can read the teeny-tiny font in the thumbnails.

Click the link above, and then click on "Read the article in your browser." Worked for me.

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An interesting analysis in this month's Harper's.  Not linkable,

Try this:

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/01/0081878

shel

I did, first thing. The article is available to subscribers only, unless you can read the teeny-tiny font in the thumbnails.

Click the link above, and then click on "Read the article in your browser." Worked for me.

Cool. Guess I'm such a sucker for graphics I never read the text any more.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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I have a reaction to a chemical used in commercial tomato growing. In 2 to 4 hours after eating a "bad" tomato my tongue swells, not enough to close down swallowing, but enough that the sides of my tongue get abraded from constant contact with my molars and I can end up speaking unclearly because the pain in my tongue while forming some sounds. This lasts from 2 to 4 days. I can eat home-grown tomatoes safely. Since my reaction to the unknown chemical is consistent I have always figured it was an allergy. Whatever you want to call it, as much as I LOVE tomatoes, I order my food without tomatoes.

Interesting topic...

Porthos Potwatcher
The Once and Future Cook

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Peanut allergies are unheard of in 3rd world countries. 

A friend of mine with a severe legume allergy pointed out that no one understood what he was talking about during his stay in Bangladesh... because any local who had a similar allergy would be dead due to lack of accessible, prompt medical care. So it's not necessarily that there are no peanut allergies in third-world countries, it's just that there are no survivors with peanut allergies.

Matthew Kayahara

Kayahara.ca

@mtkayahara

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When I was about 7 or 8 years old I was away at summer camp. I really couldn't stand swiss cheese at the time (go figure!) and when they tried to make me eat it, I told them that I was allergic to it really believing it because I didn't really understand what the word meant. It worked and I got away without having to eat it. :raz:

I agree that one must always take it seriously when someone claims an allergy, just that depending on the situation, one should not necessarily take it at face value. That doesn't mean that if someone says that they are "allergic" to a particular food, that person should be grilled and served it anyway. Some things are simply not worth questioning that much. OTOH, if a person really thinks they have an allergy but doesn't, it may be a disservice to that person to ignore the question and let the person go on believing something untrue. Ultimately I was very happy to discover that I was not really allergic to swiss cheese. :wink:

John Sconzo, M.D. aka "docsconz"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

- Ferran Adria on eGullet 12/16/2004.

Docsconz - Musings on Food and Life

Slow Food Saratoga Region - Co-Founder

Twitter - @docsconz

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I was recently berated by a customer for using Latex gloves while packaging foods. Apparently Latex can have the same deathly reaction for people.

Luckily I had Nitrile gloves on hand (but damn they are expensive!) so I went to get another tray to package up some more for her, latex free.

I have now got a nice supply of not so expensive vinyl gloves. At least my hands don't smell like the latex anymore!

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What makes you think that mushrooms/garlic/onions/etc. don't contain proteins?  Almost everything contains proteins, and there are certainly plenty of people who are allergic to, e.g., mushrooms.

I'm also not sure I buy the idea that "a food allergy is an immunologic response to a food protein" and only a protein.  All that is required is for the food to contain an something that produces an allergic response (I believe, e.g.,  some polysaccharides can act as antigens).  If one were eating a dish dusted with ragweed pollen, that could produce an allergic response and would therefore constitute a food allergy.

Sorry, I posted that without doing the research. I would like to know more about these types of allergies though. They can't be as common as it seems. I'm sure a lot of people say they are allergic when they mean "I don't like..." I have asked people to clarify but they get really defensive so I tend to avoid it. Trying to be sensitive to dietary restrictions is a double edged sword.

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I really can't stand the words 'allergic' and 'intolerant'! I want my grapes, my fungii, all those good things! And, I imagine that there are a lot of people like me, made 'allergic/intolerant' later in life, and boiling over about it!

I am going to have a slice of blue next week, with some fruit. We'll see. Doctors don't know EVERYTHING.

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