Flutterby™! : Peanut allergy treatment 2009-03-17 14:03:36.581265+00

Peanut allergy treatment

2009-03-17 14:03:36.581265+00 by Dan Lyke 8 comments

Treatment of peanut allergies by starting out with small doses of peanuts is showing promise (alternate article, alternate article).

I wonder if the recent explosion in food allergies might be related to the harm that obsessive cleanliness seems to be doing on other fronts, like asthma and such. Seems like kids these days need to be eating more dirt.

I find the more I refine my diet, the more sensitive I become to "food issues". But I also find it doesn't matter what crap I eat as long as I get out and exercise hard every day... Going for a run!

The kids' doctor warned Marilyn to not use things like antibacterial soap and hand sanitizer with the kids in the house. Without exposure to bacteria and viruses like cold and flu every year, she would run the risk of weakening their immune systems as adults. We swim in the lake, we go camping and get dirty for days at a time, the three second rule has lasted as long as 10 seconds in our house, and the kids have no allergies, asthma, or apparent immune issues. Maybe the doc did know what she was talking about.

Eric, it's been my observation that people who frequent health food stores tend to have worse health.

JT, I wish I could find an old NPR interview I heard on a study in England that found that poor kids had better immune systems than rich ones. One of the study authors, in a very crisp British accent, was describing how they believed that part of the difference was "...a higher incidence of oral fecal transmission...". If I could find the recording opf that phrase again I think it's deserving of some sort of remix, or a YTMND.

I use to be horribly afflicted with a sensitivity to poison ivy when I was a kid. My doctor put me on a regimen of poison ivy drops for about a month where I would drink a glass of water with a drop of poison ivy extract weakened to some known amount. The next week two drops were added to the glass and so on. I'm still sensitive to poison ivy but I've only had very, very mild cases of it since the treatment. I was about ten when I went through this. I understand that studies say this treatment isn't effective but it seemed to do some good for me.

Dan, I refuse to believe that the girls from 2girls1cup are possibly healthier from their act, no matter how much data there is to back it up. (smile)

#Comment Re: made: 2009-03-17 17:30:58.28308+00 by: igor' [edit history]

Have to say "eating more dirt" theory makes sense to me. When in the US I have been terribly allergic past 5 or so years. When outside the US, usually in a "dirtier" type 3rd world country - magically no allergies. There have been studies that show a reduction in allergies in people that interact with farm animals, who are pretty dirty http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/468666.stm

#Comment Re: made: 2009-03-17 19:42:13.119602+00 by: andylyke [edit history]

My brother in law is a bona fide "dumpster diver" - simple schizophrenic, painfully honest, wonderful guy, but horrible to the sight and smell. He's seldom sick at all, but does have a gluten intolerance. Not sure how that factors in.

Related - I wonder how the hormone (e.g. BGH, etc.) antibiotics (seee CAFO, Combined animal feeding operations) overprocessing, hybridization, etc that we impose on our food sources relates.

#Comment Re: made: 2009-03-18 05:38:42.726537+00 by: Mark A. Hershberger

it's been my observation that people who frequent health food stores tend to have worse health.

I dunno. My grandmother worked at her local co-op and was somewhat of a food nut (*not* a foodie) but she lived to a ripe old 80+ years old. She didn't seem to have many health problems.

Of course, I don't think she was using health food products, and she worked in her garden till she died, so maybe I'm making your point.