Why do so many people suffer from allergies etc these days?

[carbonhed]

The trufe will set you free.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443686004577633400584241864.html

[Subike]

Nothing new there really. modern hygiene is often over the top when it comes to kids learning to play in the mud. Some of today's children are never exposed to anything other than a sterile environment from a baby, mother keeping kids too clean is a bigger health problem than letting them get dirty having fun in the back yard or sand pit.

[sinfull]

Interesting read there mate, cheers

[Geeen]

Kinda obvious really. But then I grew up on a farm....

[Ocean1]

Aye. Dirt sandwiches all round at playschool.

Never did me any harm...

[cynna]

i started getting hayfever about 2 years ago and this year got it really bad. to top it off i went to the dr today and found out ive got asthma - i thought i was jsut unfit

[SMOKEU]

Fuck being dirty, as I have no tolerance for people who have poor personal hygiene. It's disgusting and being exposed to other people all day long is bad enough as it is, as that's how disease spreads. If they're unclean then that makes things even worse.

[Asher]

I had always thought allergies were from immune system "malfunctions" where your body reacts badly to otherwise harmless things and has little to do with what environment you grow up in.

[pete376403]

like me when I was a kid, our kids grew up playing outside, there were always cats and dogs around, they have no allergies, asthma, etc at all.
This has nothing to do with bad personal hygiene, more like a very mild form of "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger"

[tigertim20]

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead based paint
No child proof lids, no seat belts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets and still here we are, still here we are

We got daddy's belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside, playin' outside

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

School always started the same every day
The pledge of allegiance then someone would pray
Not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed and that was all right, we turned out all right

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

No bottled water, we drank from a garden hose
And every Sunday, all the stores were closed

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
It was a different world

[Tigadee]

Asher - I think that's auto-immune dysfunction...

SmokeU - The gents talking about playing in the dirt are referring to children while they are growing up, not adults who should have already a fully-function immune system that has been widely exposed.

I think it's the screwed up sense of freedom we confer on our kids these days. Kids are allowed to sleep when they want, eat and drink what they want, watch as much TV or Youtube as they want, and yet we bubble-wrap them from the actual outside world.

Many a time I've debated with my wife about letting our kids just play outside, even if it's drizzling or raining. How are their immune systems supposed to get stronger sooner if we coddle them and protect them and keep them indoors?

Level of fitness also plays a role - being physical and strengthening one's body corresponds to how strong one's immune system is. Before I found out I was diabetic, I was lazy, over ate [still do!], often depressed, got stressed easily, tired easily, bad-tempered, constipated, sweated easily and caught every cold and cough that came within 10 feet of me.

Since then, I vowed I would be there for my epileptic wife and for our kids well into the future and started exercising regularly, lost 15 kgs, went down two sizes from XL to M, gained more energy, handled stress better, not so quick-tempered, seldom depressed and hardly catch any colds or coughs! Not to mention, my sex life improved but no need to go into details... :whistle:

So being fit can help a lot for one's immune system...

[Daffyd]

I recall reading somewhere that kids should not be discouraged from picking their nose and eating the results. Apparently this boosts the immune system.

I believe the use of anti-bacterial soap is one of the culprits... it not only kills the bad bacteria but kills the good bacteria which kills the bad bacteria. Same deal with immunisation, but don't get me started on that one.

[Asher]

Welll..... from wiki:
"An allergy is a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system.[1] Allergic reactions occur when a person's immune system reacts to normally harmless substances in the environment"
Sure playing outside may give you a stronger immune system but i cant see how that translates into less allergies.

[Tigadee]

Perhaps having more antibodies in your body helps? Or if your body is efficient in producing antibodies to counter many foreign matter, then it should be able to deal with allergens more easily too?

:innocent: I'm just guessing here... For all we know, having a strong immune system may backfire if the immune system gets confused and starts strongly attacking the body [auto-immune disorder].

[Virago]

The trufe will set you free...

Bollocks.

There's always people who think they have "the simple answer" to complex medical issues. They're full of shit.

My 25-year-old daughter has extreme and wide-ranging allergies. She has Coeliac disease and wheat allergy. Extreme (life-threatening) allergy to beans / legumes, allergy to all sea food, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, soy, seeds, all dairy products. She recently developed an allergy to eggs. Minor allergic reaction to many other foods. She has multiple contact allergies to many every-day products - latex allergy is so severe she actually blisters. She has multiple allergies to medications such and pain-killers and antibiotics. She suffers from chronic pain, as her body's immune system often turns on itself.

When she was first tested by a specialist allergy professional, she showed a substantial reaction to 37 of the 45 allergens tested.

The extreme life-changing effects of such allergies cannot be over-estimated. Those of us who help her deal with it can see it better than most, as we help her pick up the pieces of a shattered life.


I had always thought allergies were from immune system "malfunctions" where your body reacts badly to otherwise harmless things and has little to do with what environment you grow up in.

Bingo.

Many people have suggested that my daughter's allergies would have been brought on by excessively clinical hygiene as she grew up. Those members here who have seen our home (and lifestyle) may wish to comment on such - when they've stopped laughing.

Those others who suggest that such allergies are simply a middle-class self-indulgence can go fuck themselves. They don't know jack shit.

Extreme allergies are indeed caused by an out-of-control immune system, which goes into a vicious cycle of heightened and extreme response. When it goes to extreme, it is almost impossible to arrest.

There's usually a trigger allergen - often it's hayfever related. Once the extreme levels of histamines generated trigger the heightened immune response, it can go downhill rapidly.

My daughter's only option is to undergo long-term desensitisation. Basically regular (and very unpleasant) injections of multiple "trigger" allergens, which will continue for many years - without any guarantee of success. It's costing tens of thousands.

[Berries]

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead based paint


....snip...

Loyal by Dave Dobbyn?

[imdying]

To agree with that first you'd have to accept the incorrect premise that there are more people suffering from allergies these days (presumably compared to a generation ago).

[Pwalo]

Seem to be a pretty simplistic article to base any conclusions on. Rather have the modern cleanliness thingy, and risk living longer.

Always interesting the way that a lot of 'health' articles try and measure different countries to back up their slant. I wonder how well Estonia measure/reports it's health stats compared to Sweden.

[XxKiTtiExX]

I call bullshit. My son is nearly 3 and taking daily antihistamines on a long term basis to help control allergies. We have pets in the house, we live on 18 acres of partial farm. He plays in dirt. Hell I've even seen that damn kid eat an ice cream in a cone sand and all. I'm not excessive with having a clean house, and making him wash his hands etc (in saying that we don't live filthily). He falls over in the mud. Plays in the rain. Picks up food off the floor and eats it. To top that whole lot off, we just found out someone I am close to at 48 has an autoimmune disease (she has NEVER been excessively clean, worked on a farm etc, played in dirt as a kid). Maybe is not that there has been a rise in people who are suffering from allergies and autoimmune diseases, more that fact that times have changed and we have found better ways of actually diagnosing and managing allergy and autoimmune diseases that years ago we didn't really know much about, let alone that they existed.

[Laava]

I have question, if you have a cold or similar where you have a lot of mucus that you either cough up or such, does this condition make you less susceptible to other airborne forms of virus etc? Also, when you have a tape worm or worms in general, is it likely that this will actually reduce your chances of certain other afflictions in the guts?
In a similar way to how a lining on your stomach can be a barrier to toxins etc.

[yungatart]

My grandmother had allergies, my grand children have allergies, and all the generations in between have allergies.
They are not a new phenomenon, my granny would be nearly 130 if she were still alive.

[Berries]

They are not a new phenomenon, my granny would be nearly 130 if she were still alive.
My great great great great grandma would be over 200 now.

[nodrog]

what sort of motorcycle gang are they?

[MSTRS]

Hands up all those old/er members who often caught a summer cold. Nowadays it is known as hayfever. Hence allergies being more common now?
I am a firm believer in A little dirt never hurt anyone. Just as too much (or too little) is not necessarily a good thing.
My mother had a saying "A home should be clean enough to be happy, and dirty enough to be healthy". Or something...

[scracha]

I'm wondering if it's all the complex chemicals we encounter these days. The antibiotics in our kiwifruit. The pesticide residue in other fruit. The preservatives, flavoring and coloring in our food. The fumigation shit they spray on imported clothing. The chemicals we breathe from vehicles. ?

[Hans]

I think it's probably a mix of several factors:

a) Overly clean environment in which the kid is raised... Now now, before you start yelling, I know the article was poorly written, but that doesn't mean the idea is without merit.

b) Exposure to all sorts of funky chemicals... There are many examples of unintended consequences...Think Paraquat and Parkinson's disease as an example...

c) And to top it off, my pet theory about partner selection under the influence of hormonal contraceptives. It is well known that we choose sexual partners largely based on smell. It has been proven (don't ask me for a reference here...ok, ask if you must, I can probably dig it up somewhere) that whether a person "smells attractive" is an indication of how different, yet compatible, the genetics behind our immune systems are. In short, if you smell nice, our kids will most likely have a healthy, well adjusted immune system.
It is a well known fact that hormonal contraceptives alter a female's sense of smell, as well as the type of partner she prefers.

Draw your own conclusions...

[Daffyd]

I'm wondering if it's all the complex chemicals we encounter these days. The antibiotics in our kiwifruit. The pesticide residue in other fruit. The preservatives, flavoring and coloring in our food. The fumigation shit they spray on imported clothing. The chemicals we breathe from vehicles. ?

Hit the nail on the head in my book!