Are food allergies increasing?

6-08-2006 @2:19PM Dmnkly said... Allergies may or may not be on the rise (remains to be seen), but allergy-inspired hypochondria is, without question. I am immediately reminded of the Massachusetts General Hospital lactose "intolerance" study oft cited by Jeffrey Steingarten, wherein only 30% of those who insisted they had severe lactose intolerance actually did. And furthermore, when asked to spend a week drinking either a full glass of milk every morning or a placebo (in this case, milk treated with lactase, the absence of which causes lactose intolerance), the subjects did not notice any difference between the two, and when asked to rate their daily gastrointestinal discomfort on a scale of 1-5, none ever gave any rating higher than a 1.

To be fair, this was a single casual experiment with a very small sample, and lactose intolerance isn't an allergy, per se, but the point remains that for whatever reason, a psychology seems to exist today wherein people cling to their purported "allergies" like cherished keepsakes, despite all evidence to the contrary. I suspect it is similar to the phenomenon wherein somebody cannot discuss the subject of mothers-in-law without insisting that theirs is the worst ever, or childbirth without insisting that nobody else's labor was even close to as long or as painful as theirs was. As such, if this anecdotal evidence is at all reliant on self-reporting, I would tend to think it's fairly useless.

But, since there isn't good data on the subject, if, in fact, there HAS been an increase of actual, real allergic responses reported, instead of being due to an increase in allergies, as is often assumed by the general population, might it instead be a matter of increased exposure? As the culinary palette of the United States expands (explodes might be a better word, given the incredible growth in the past two decades) and more ingredients work themselves into the mainstream, could it simply be that allergies that would have gone undetected 30 years ago aren't more numerous, but simply more likely to be triggered?

Just a thought.
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6-08-2006 @3:22PM Stephanie said... Any speculation that people with food allergies are clinging to them like cherished keepsakes is insulting and dangerous for those with real life-threatening allergies. As a previous commenter noted, food allergies can be tested for and are a real medical, physiological problem, NOT a psychological one. If anyone thinks that my son's hives from milk are psychological, then they are putting a bit much on a 19 month old.

We have encountered maybe who doubt his allergy and challenge us with "how do you _know_ he is allergic"? Our response, "He had 1 tsp of cottage cheese and within 1 minute has hives all over his face", is greeted with "oh" and then silence.

So, yes, we "claim" that he has allergies, because, in fact he does. Now, does that mean that some people don't say they are allergic just because they don't like something? No, I'm sure that happens. That occurrence, however, does not make real food allergies any less serious.

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6-08-2006 @3:37PM thinkbefoyukrapbull said... Lactose intolerance is not milk allergy (making your whole point MOOT). Lactose intolerance is inability of your digestive system to breakdown lactose. This lets intestinal bacteria feed and thrive on the lactose and produce additional gas. It is NOT an immune system reaction to food!

Milk allergy causes rashes/irritation/itching/swelling of the gut and skin. People with food allergy DO KNOW THAT THEY HAVE AN ALLERGIC REACTION.

DO NOT GIVE YOUR SELF CENTERED OPINION JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE IT!
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6-08-2006 @3:42PM Dmnkly said... Stephanie...

To be absolutely clear, you are absolutely right. To question a specific person's allergy is insulting and dangerous and inappropriately addressing what is a very, very serious health issue.

But please understand, I am NOT questioning anybody's specific allergy, but speaking about a broad phenomenon. If anything, I think the "allergy" phenomenon is an important one to call out specifically BECAUSE it only makes life more difficult for those who have real, actual, serious allergies. My wife is a pathologist, and she is constantly frustrated by those who insist they have allergies when they do not, not because she doesn't understand the seriousness of the problem (obviously), but because the hypochondriacs drown out the people with real health problems who need real attention.
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6-08-2006 @6:14PM Hawk said... Being non-diagnosed with gluten intolerance (I recall that it's expensive to test for, and may only test for actual celiac's, which I probably don't have), I can say that not only do people think I'm nuts when I tell them (oh, you have one of those pretend allergies?)... but sometimes, *I* think I'm just splitting hairs.

Of course, I can eat a muffin and feel stiff and spacey within 15 minutes, but eat a gluten-free muffin and feel fine.

Sometimes I wonder if people have unusual food sensitivities and never know it... I've known people who can barely tell where something hurts. "my leg hurts" vs "the left side of my kneecap has this stabbing pain". "my stomach hurts" vs "I have this really dull ache on the right side."
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6-08-2006 @10:20PM Hoolie said... As a child with severe food allergies, I remember adults not believing when I said I could not eat certain foods, pb&j and milk for example. It was very frustrating as a kid who had been taught what they could and could not eat, to make sure adults don't screw up and feed me something that would likely kill me. That said, I have grown out of almost all my allergies, but something an allergist once said to me sticks in my mind. *You are allergic if your reaction includes hives, swelling and especially itching.* The severity of the reaction can vary, but that's how you know, and hopefully if it's a surprise you'll have time to get help.
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6-09-2006 @12:15AM Dmnkly said... Uh... thinkbefoyukrapbull... if you bothered to actually read what I wrote, you'd see that I said myself that lactose intolerance isn't a food allergy, so... um... thanks for telling me exactly what I said.

The point was not that allergies don't exist (they do), nor that lactose intolerance doesn't exist (it does), nor that lactose intolerance is an allergy (it isn't), but rather my comment was attempting to address the EXACT QUESTION raised by the post... are real, actual medical allergies becoming more prevalent, or are more people claiming to have them when they do not? I mentioned the lactose intolerance study (and even went so far as to outright state that it was simply one small example and by no means a body of evidence) as one particular illustrative example of how when it comes to food allergies and intolerances, there are many more people who claim to have them than actually do.

I never said that everybody who says they have allergies or intolerances don't (that would be absolutely absurd), I never said that the proper approach is to doubt everybody who says they have allergies (that would be rude and potentially dangerous), and I never suggested that these allergies and intolerances aren't very serious and very real medical conditions (I'm well aware that they are). I said two things:

1) People who incorrectly misdiagnose themselves as allergic to or intolerant of certain foods are clearly and demonstrably prevalent, and MAY be contributing to an anecdotally observed increase in the incidence of allergies.

2) If data shows this is NOT the case (which is certainly very possible and I never stated otherwise), I wondered if it might be due to exposure to a more varied diet rather than an actual increase in the number of people suffering from allergies.

So... now that we've established that you are apparently very upset about something I didn't actually say, are you upset about anything else that I actually DID say?
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