I was twelve when I went into anaphylactic shock from eating tree nuts. For those of you who don’t know, anaphylaxis, is a severe allergic reaction, that could lead to death. I had eaten nuts my entire life, my dad used to bring home huge sacks of macadamias, and we spend the night cracking them open and eating them by the handful.
I was never given a straight answer as to why I developed my allergies later in life, most doctors said that I had built up an immunity, like peanuts were a disease that my body didn’t want. But for the most part, the reasons behind allergies, especially ones to food, remain simply speculation. Why do our eyes get itchy from grass? Why do our throats literally close when confronted with a strawberry? The most popular hypothesis is that we live in a first world country where our bodies no longer build up immunity to the allergens. This hypothesis is supported widely in the scientific community and is not without solid background, it would explain why the amount of people with allergies has steadily increased, and why less developed countries don’t usually have a similar problem, but another hypothesis can also support both of these claims.
The food we eat in today’s day and age is simply too processed, or too’fake’. GMO’s have been blamed, as well as the lack of healthy food that we intake every day, it;s the idea that our bodies have rejected our daily diet and are shutting down. Personally this hypothesis seems a little too much like an old man telling me that my generation is doing something wrong, because back in his day there wasn’t any such thing as allergies. Though it could make sense scientifically, nobody has proven anything, and the food industry would have to change absolutely everything on speculation to prove it correct, which is costly and unlikely. It also doesn’t focus enough of outside allergies, or hay fever, which is the leading allergen, so it really would only explain half the problem anyways.
I’m certainly more inclined to agree with the first guess, but I’m still speculative. Why do I and many members of my family in America, have allergies, and my cousins in Ireland, which is also a first world country, don’t? Is it the food in America that is forcing our bodies to develop these defense mechanisms? Perhaps allergies are becoming more common because they have more ways to save the people suffering from them or simply to detect them, maybe a child choking to death in the seventies was an allergic reaction. For now science is divided on this topic, are you?
http://www.everydayhealth.com/allergies/cleaning-and-allergies.aspx
http://fooddrugallergy.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=40
http://www.aaaai.org/about-the-aaaai/newsroom/allergy-statistics.aspx
There isn’t actually any confirmed reason for nut allergies being the worst, or most common. It’s one of those things that just is, but if I had to guess, it would probably be due to the fact the most nuts are grown from trees, which as we know, many people are allergic to, it may just be something that certain bodies can’t take. This also true for fruit, and fruit allergies are really increasing in number themselves. While people can be allergic to gluten, there is also a disease with the same reaction called celiac disease, and it has to do with the lining of the intestines wearing down and the body being unable to process the food, so it’s not considered an allergy.
It’s interesting that you bring this up because I’ve heard that if you’re allergic to some nuts here in the US, if you eat the same nuts in, say, Europe, you won’t be allergic there. Mostly because they have different genetic makeups. Also, a question I have is why are peanuts/ tree nuts known for being the worst allergy-causers. I know that gluten is a severe allergy for some and causes them to be sick for weeks but I’m just not sure why nuts are so bad. I could understand allergies like bee stings because they’re bad for everyone even without allergies.