Food allergies, part 1: why so many nowadays?

Self-tutoring about health: the tutor wonders about the prevalence of food allergies these days.

When I was a kid in elementary school, I never heard of food allergies, so far as I can remember. People did get hay fever back then, and some people were allergic to bee stings, though nobody I knew.

It wasn’t until I got to the west coast, back in the late 80s, that I heard about peanut allergies, for instance. I recall hearing that at a certain sports field, one couldn’t bring any peanuts because someone who went there was known to be allergic. While I didn’t think the person saying so was lying, I didn’t believe it either. (Doesn’t the old song “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” mention “peanuts and Cracker Jack?”) One evening, out for a stroll, I happened to pass by said field. A sign on the chain-link fence said peanut products were forbidden there.

So, if at an elementary school with 700 kids, back in the early 80s, there were no food allergies to speak of, how can food allergies be so common nowadays?

Apparently, there are a few theories. One, apparently called the “hygiene hypothesis,” suggests that, with people growing up not playing much outside, and living in cleaner indoor environments as well, their immune systems just don’t get educated in the same number and variety of antigens as they traditionally did.

Another hypothesis is that people’s gut bacteria profile has changed, due to eating a more processed diet.

Yet another idea is that with kids not playing outside as much, they don’t get the same Vitamin D they used to, perhaps making them less resilient to antigens.

All three, or a combination thereof, might apply in my experience. Those kids in PEI and the Annapolis Valley, back in the 70s and early 80s, spent play time outside, mostly. Furthermore, they didn’t eat much processed food. Then and there, parents bought, or many even produced, milk, meat, bread, fruits and vegetables, then made meals from them.

So, have we left the ground in our modern way of life, with food allergies a consequence? It seems possible.

Source:

bbc.com: Why food allergies are on the rise