I often check up on a facebook page that I think everyone should check called Y-files. It began asking the "Why" questions and it's quest is to find the answers. It is a page filled with current updated articles and reports that concerns our health. It was just recently that I read an article - Food allergies affect 1-in-12 kids.
It didn't surprise me, but it was an interesting article to read. It was just a few days after that I saw the Today show video raising the same issues - Today Health.
This is truly becoming an issue and becoming widespread. We have all heard of someone having a reaction to a food and swelling up or breaking out, but as the article states, they are finding out that most (3 out of 5) reactions are not severe or life threatening. This is just the beginning when starting to understand food allergies. Most allergies go unnoticed. Most food allergies are considered a Type 1 reaction, which are reactions that occur within minutes to hours. However, most food allergies are probably a delayed reaction which occur unknowingly. When we get "food poisoning", we often think of the last thing we ate and not often think back to what we ate two days ago that could have been the cause. And since most are mild reactions, we often just live through it without giving it much of a thought. Reactions could be as simple as feeling fatigued or a headache. It seems more now than ever I hear constantly about allergies. Someone states, "Oh, it's just my allergies." without giving it any thought, almost like second nature. The alarming thing about these studies is that it is becoming much more prevalent now in children and it is important to understand why.
Food allergies can generally be considered an auto-immune reaction. There is a condition that is becoming more understood called Leaky Gut. The gut is lined with small holes that allow for absorption. Leaky Gut is when these hole become larger and allow larger particles through that shouldn't be absorbed. The gut of a newborn is not fully formed, considered "leaky" until about 1 years old, but probably not completely formed until later in life (about 5-10 years old). Adults can also receive a Leaky Gut by infections, poor diet, or imbalance of normal bacteria which perforates the gut. When the dysfunctional gut allows passage of larger, foreign particles, our immune system tags them as foreign. When we expose ourselves again, our immune system already knows these particles as foreign and continues to attack - creating a reaction.
Both articles state that the most common food allergies are Peanuts, Milk, and Shellfish. I don't think this list is surprising. I would probably put Milk as the number one cause, but most reactions and allergies to Milk are the ones that go unnoticed, or at least unaware of any association. Even the nutritional expert on the show tries her best to raise the fact that Dairy is unnecessary in our diet without saying too much. Here is a list of more severe reactions that can occur
- Tingling in mouth
- Hives
- Swelling
- Wheezing/difficulty breathing
- Abdominal pain
- Dizziness
- Anaphylactic shock
Just as the articles are congruent with the concern of the rise of allergies in children, they both ask WHY? The video brought up a few thoughts, and I have my own. There are four ideas that I think may be a factor.
- Bacterial Imbalance - The Doctor in the video called it being "germaphobe". I don't know if this is completely accurate, but it can be a factor. We are entering a phase of Anti-bacteria. The misunderstanding is that most of the bacteria on and in our body is beneficial and helpful. When we kill the bacteria, we rid of the good bacteria along with the bad. Unfortunately, this doesn't last and when the bad bacteria resurfaces, there is no longer the overgrowth of good bacteria to counteract thus causing infections. There has been research to show that most children with milk allergies lack certain probiotics in the gut.
- Early Introduction of Foods - This goes back to the Leaky Gut concept. The Doctor in the video also mentioned this. Not only are we introducing foods too early, but we are bombarding them with several foods at once instead of one at a time. The most common for this is milk (cow's milk, powdered milk, formula milk). With the numerous excuses for not breastfeeding (work, it's uncomfortable, don't have the time, my husband doesn't like it, whatever) more and more women are choosing to opt out on nursing or only nurse for a short while. Milk is introduced way too soon to an infant child whose gut is not formed fully. Formula milk associated with childhood Diabetes. Too many new foods introduced at one time can also cause immune chaos.
- Poor Diet - This is more of my thoughts, but a poor diet can create a poor immune function. This may be included with the bacterial infection idea, or even early introduction of foods, but the article stated that most of these allergies are found in minority groups. It's more an association than anything, but minority groups live in a more economically poor areas associated often with poor diets which includes processed foods, sugary diets, and less healthy choices. These types of foods are health destroying while whole foods are health promoting.
- Genetics - Again, this is just a theory. I don't blame genetics like most people blame genetics. Rather, there has been a study done on animals showing that a disease in the parent subject continues down to the offspring and it took several generations to rid of the disease among any offspring. Meaning, we carry the potential diseases from generations before. I believe this is why so many diseases and conditions are becoming so prevalent as we are not only exposing ourselves to these diseases but we also have been made genetically susceptible to others. We are genetically susceptible which seems to keep a running tally, adding up until it becomes too much. This isn't a reason to blame genetics and think we are absolutely doomed. However, this means we need to do more than ever before to keep ourselves protected and healthy - and most importantly, it means we need to make these decisions now to provide a better future for the next rising generation, instead of continuing cycle.
I believe these are the major factors and possibly and most likely a combination of them all. The next phase is now to ask what can we do? I think it simply comes down to Prevention (avoid the risk factors mentioned) and Repair. I don't know if we can fully get rid of allergies, but we can certainly provide better protection. We can introduce a detoxifying diet to rid of the causing agents, and then repair our systems with a health promoting diet and probiotics. It may only be 8% that we know of, but food allergies effect us all. These stats are only evidence of the digression of health we are facing. It's time to take back our Health
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