It’s proven at last! Westernised lifestyles cause allergies and it doesn’t matter in which country you live. A recent study in the USA on Amish families in Indiana, showed that their traditional farming lifestyles with lack of westernised foods and modern appliances have resulted in a very low incidence of allergy when compaired to other [...]
There is good evidence that physiological saline (salt water) nasal sprays, help control hay fever. These sprays and nasal irrigation solutions will wash away pollen grains that cause nasal allergies resulting in hay fever and chronic rhinitis. They also aid and restore the normal muco-ciliary clearance of mucus which is very important for the normal [...]
Atopic dermatitis AD (otherwise known as Infantile Eczema) is a common skin condition affecting 15-20% of children under the age of 2 years, manifesting with an itchy dry dermatitis in the skin creases (flexures) and often associated with a family or personal history of rhinitis and asthma (UK diagnostic criteria). Of great interest is that [...]
We see many patients with presumed wheat intolerance, but who test negative for gluten intolerance and wheat allergy despite debilitating symptoms such as bloating, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea with constipation. Despite these negative tests, they respond favorably to a wheat exclusion diet. These symptoms may be attributed to fructans (sugars derived from fruit juice such [...]
Skin Prick and Challenge allergy testing remain the “gold standard” in diagnosing allergies. Blood testing for specific IgE antibodies can occasionally give misleading and falsely elevated positive results. For example a number of previously non-allergic people stung by Honey bee’s develop an antibody to a glycoprotein which seems to precipitate multiple unrelated positive allergy RAST [...]
The recent epidemic of allergic disease seen in developed countries has been difficult to explain. We have seen four-fold increases in allergic diseases such as asthma, rhinitis, eczema and food allergies. Changes in lifestyle and eating habits seem to be implicated and clean, sterile and infection-free “westernised” homes seem to be the probable trigger. One’s [...]
For many years indoor Christmas trees have bee suspected to be a source of allergen induced asthma, rhinitis and respiratory problems during the period from mid December to early January. It was thought that coniferous tree pollen, incidental grass and weed pollens on the tree and oleoresins secreted by Fir trees were to blame. However [...]
Although often suspected by many clients as being the cause for localized body rashes, we hardly ever come across anyone with a confirmed allergy to commercial pigment dyes in clothing. One is more likely to develop contact dermatitis from dyes and rubber found in leather footwear, paraphenylene diamine (PPD) in hair dye and latex elastic [...]
There is a well established myth that fish and shellfish allergy is linked to the iodine content of fish and that iodine allergy and shellfish allergy are interrelated. This is untrue. Shellfish such as shrimp, prawn, crab and lobster are crustaceans (crawl around) and have a protein in their flesh that can cause allergies, they [...]
A recent venom allergy guideline¹ published by the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (BSACI) this year, makes interesting reading. They report a lifetime-risk between 60 and 90% for the UK population of being stung by a wasp (Vespid) or bee (Apis). Of those stung, up to 26% will report large painful local reactions, but significant allergic reactions only [...]