One question that we often hear from the parents of food allergic children is: Why have food allergies become so common these days?

That’s a difficult question, though many researchers are working hard for the answer. There are a variety of scientific theories that are currently being discussed. One potential cause could be the relatively recent introduction of genetically modified foods.

Genetically modified crops (GMOs) were introduced in the U.S. in the early 1990s, and foods created from these crops hit our supermarkets shortly thereafter. These crops have modified genes that allow them to grow faster, bear more fruit or even create their own insecticide. In layman’s terms, this engineering is the process of taking genes from one strain of an animal, plant, virus or bacteria, etc. and then inserting them into another, with the goal of reproducing characteristics of the original host species in the receiving species.

One example is a specific soybean variety genetically modified to be virtually immune to the popular Roundup herbicide, a chemical which kills almost any other plant. Of course, we consumers are then eating these modified soybeans.

How good are these foods for the human immune system? No one really knows! But some preliminary research studies have linked genetically modified foods with the creation of food protein antibodies in mice.

Another theory is called the “hygiene hypothesis” – which basically says that because we keep our homes, schools, other public places, and general environment too clean, we don’t give our immune systems something “worthy” to work on. The result is that our immune systems turn on themselves, and create problems such as the peanut protein, for example.

The hypothesis gained some credibility in the late 1980s, when health researchers compared the rates of allergies and asthma throughout the newly unified Germany.
Researchers assumed that the children growing up in the communist East, a poorer, dirtier environment, would suffer from more allergy and asthma than youngsters in the West, with its cleaner and more modern environment.

Actually, the opposite was found to be true. Children in the polluted areas of East Germany had lower allergic reactions and fewer cases of asthma than children in the West.

This is in line with the hypothesis, which suggests that when the human immune system lacks practice fighting bacteria and viruses, perhaps from an overly sanitary lifestyle, the system then overreacts to harmless substances like pollen.

In addition to a less sanitary environment, East Germany families tended to be larger, and rely more on the use of daycare for young children, two more factors that could attribute to their children being exposed to more microbes and potential irritants.

And there are many other potential culprits for the increase in food allergies – such as overall genetics, eating allergic foods during pregnancy, or use of vaccines in children. But there are no clear-cut or obvious reason(s) for the increases in food allergies, and for now these are just educated guesses, and nothing more.

We hope that science and medical research can one day unlock the mystery of food allergies, and how we can potentially treat or even cure them sometime in our future. Until then, the only completely reliable defense is avoidance…so the Allergy Free Shop will be here to provide the most up to date information and the allergy free foods and products that you need to keep your loved ones safe.

Labels: allergens, allergic reaction, allergy free, anaphylaxis, big eight, food allergen, food allergy, ingredients, peanut allergy, peanut proteins, wheat allergy