In the last six months—ever since my youngest child was diagnosed with a sensitivity to wheat, peanuts, eggs, corn, soy, and chicken—children’s food allergies have been a constant topic of conversation whenever my wife and I get together with other parents. And everyone says the same thing: “There seems to be more kids with food allergies than there were when we growing up!”
As it turns out, there actually are more kids with food allergies nowadays, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which released a report last week confirming that the number of young people with a food allergy has increased 18% in the last 10 years alone. The CDC estimates that three million kids have a food or digestive allergy.
However, no one really knows why allergies are on the rise. Even the CDC did not speculate about the cause of the upswing. But there are a number of plausible and implausible theories for this burgeoning allergy epidemic.
One explanation may be that the same percentage of kids have allergies, but we’re just doing a better job of diagnosing them. Kids certainly seem to be getting tested more often, and for more allergens, than they were in the past. Our toddler was scratch-tested in so many places, the allergist eventually ran out of room on his back; we don’t feed him shellfish because we just don’t know if he’s allergic.
Next page: The hygiene hypothesis
Comments (10)
thks bro For the africa http://www.cinselsorunlariniz.com
I’ve never thought about pigs having snot.
most food based allergies stem from various digestive issues. the consumption of meats and wheat products are hard on our digestive systems. if you cut down or cut them out entirely, you may find that you can eat those foods again in time and in moderation.
You’re theories are close but not close enough.
Nowadays our immune systems are weakened by something hiding in highly processed foods, but the effect is seen after a long time so no doctor makes the link.
In children’s case they inherit our modern diseases and adopt our modern lifestyle quicker and the results are showing. Didn’t you said that in less developed countries there are fewer allergies? There is a reason for this, but is not more exposure to pathogens – like playing in the raw sewage. It is because in the less developed countries it is less exposure to a certain steroid that has been added in our daily food and supplements. That affects our immune system efficiency, then bacteria flourish more easily and “voala” – allergies, diseases.
There is a saying “Less is more” . In this case is is true indeed.
More info : http://www.marshallprotocol.com
This is not some advertising stuff. This is the truth. The site does not make any money, I’m not affiliated with the site. The info provided here was just to open up some eyes to the reality.
I often wonder if kids have allergies these days because when they are in the womb, the mother doesn’t eat eggs, soft cheeses, raw fish and all the other things that our parents used to eat when they were pregnant with us. It’s only an idea, but I don’t think kids are exposed to the things that we used to be exposed to. Plus I agree with the too much hygene.
I wonder how many of the kids with food sensitivities were born early. I would expect that early babies would not have a completely developed digestive system but would be exposed to the allergens as a result of their early birth. Even breast fed babies would be exposed unless their mother avoided those allergens. My son was 4 weeks early and started having problems three days after birth. He is 2 now and cannot have gluten, milk/casein, and possible red food dye or some other thing I am currently trying to figure out.
The change in pregnancy diets is a really interesting possibility. And I’m also easily convinced regarding the hygiene theory. Here’s one I heard recently from a friend who had 2 children via IVF: her doctor told her that IVF babies are more prone to food allergies. That certainly makes sense from the perspective of what’s-different-these-days-from-previous-days, simply b/c there are more IVF babies born today (compared to 15-20 yrs ago). But is there any explainable causation? One of my friend’s children has no food allergies, the other has deadly allergies to eggs and nuts (both are IVF). Is there any credible discussion of this in the medical community?
You’re not thinking 4th dimensionally enough. Many children are born allergic. Born with asthma. Born with autism. These things aren’t a fault of yours when raising your child out of the womb.
The mother, I’m sure, had her vaccines, has eaten processed foods, same as her mother before her.
There’s a few studies out there that show a sharp decline in certain ailments in children (such as allergies and asthma) when the mother overloads herself with certain foods while pregnant (in the case of allergies, its apples).
Small changes in DNA have a huge impact on our children. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they found a link to certain processed food additives or hormones and autism.
Millions of people know exactly why their kids are getting food allergies. It is called Genetically Modified food. With no labeling, contamination to organic foods, and a proven record of causing not only food allergies but DEATH. Many are NOT buying the toxic waste foods in their local grocer. Ha ha ha. And they think they will fix the global economy? No they wont. People are sick of being poisoned with GMO’s and Roundup. The bug spray is IN the food. According to Monsanto it magically disappears as if they have a magic wand up their arse. But People know better.
Our first born son has multiple food allegies/asthma starting at 9 months and our daughter seems also bullet proof. We have never been germ phobes with either child. My husband is allergic to milk and tree nuts, so I do believe there is a genetic component. I did not nurse our son and started him on soy formula from the beginning due to my husband’s milk allergy. He had colic and we ended up switching him to Nutramagen, which helped some. He was not tested or diagnosed with a food allergy until after the age of 3 despite frequent illnesses. He has had tubes placed twice, sinus surgery and a toncilectomy and adnoids removed. It has been a nightmare from a parenting perspective. I wish there was a cure. I chose not to vaccinate him, so I know that is not a factor with our son. We did do the PNU vaccine when he was five and he had a horrible reaction to it and had to be on prednisone for a week. I nursed my daughter, only used Nutramagen as an occasional supplement and she has had minimal exposure to high allergy foods due to my son’s condition. I was careful when intoducing foods-always reading the baby food jars (only on occasion did she get baby food) and I made almost all of her baby foods myself. We are more consious of the foods we eat due to my son’s allegies. I try to think of it in the positive, that we are eating healthier foods because of him. It makes me sad for him that he can’t have pizza and ice cream at birthday parties or a PBJ and just be a kid. I constantly worry about him and often wonder if there is something else wrong with him. Hopefully he will be healthier in the long run due to eating healthier than most children. He really gets ill with any “protien isolate.” I am not sure how they make this and put it in the food, but it cannot be good for you. He is very allergic to soy protien and soy milk also. I believe the soy formula was not a good choice for him as an infant, however his problems may be genetic, as well. No one has offered to due genetic testing on him. I don’t believe the FDA will ever point the finger at the makers of formula, it would be difficult to prove that formula could be causing multiple problems in children. Personally, I often wonder about the soy formula. If I could go back in time, I would have tried harder to nurse him. I just didn’t know any better at the time. Mabye it would have changed things for him, but mabye it wouldn’t. I will never know. I pray for him to be cured every day. It makes me sad to think of all of the other babies and children suffering from this. It has been a journey, we are still on. We just hope his allergies don’t get worse.