Can Real Food Help Prevent Allergies?
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Food allergies have become a serious and scary health concern that has grown exponentially in the past few decades.
The western world has seen the most rapid rise in the kinds of allergies people are suffering from as well as the intensity of reactions that can occur when exposed to allergenic foods.
One in every 13 children has a food allergy of some sort. This is an alarming statistic.
About 40% of children are actually allergic to more than one food. Peanut allergies which were once rarely diagnosed, are now found in one child out of every 70 children. These dire statistics are very worrisome and scientists are racing to figure out treatments and therapies that may lessen the risk posed towards children due to food allergies.
Common Allergenic Foods
So, which are the most common foods that are causing these allergies? Milk, eggs, tree nuts (how long do nuts last?), wheat, peanuts, soy, shellfish (What wine goes well with shellfish?) and fish are responsible for 90% of reactions in our country.
What Happens In A Food Allergic Reaction?
How do these reactions happen? What happens in a food allergy? A food allergy is a result of a chain of chemical misunderstandings. The immune system recognizes a protein as an invader harmful to the body, and in response it triggers a production of an antibody known as immunoglobin E. These antibodies will then circulate through the blood and give out histamines to deal with the attack. Depending on the reaction, the damage done to the person ranges from uncomfortable to deadly.
As a parent I don't just worry about my own children, but also the future generations that will follow this generation. Why is this health issue going out of hand in this side of the world? Why is the more developed, more advanced part of the world falling victim to food allergies? How bad is it going to get from here on? What are we looking at in the coming 25 to 30 years? Is there anything we can do to curb the dangers of food allergies other than restrict them in our diet?
Nobody can tell for certain , but there are is a strong explanation as to why food allergies are so widespread today.
The Western Diet
This seems like a resonating factor. The modern Western diet is very high in sugars (how long does sugar last?), carbohydrates, and unhealthy fats. There is no regulation to how much sugar is consumed by children in a day. Social influences target families through attractive marketing campaigns that offer you foods empty in nutrition.
Not only this, but much of conventionally grown produce is laden with herbicides and pesticides. Animals are pumped with drugs, antibiotics and growth hormones. Too many of our food crops are genetically modified. Industrialization has increased output but drastically reduced nutrition per meal.
And what can one say about the obsession us Americans have toward fast food. The trend of families with both parents working has forced us to abandon home cooking and resort to last moment, quickly available foods which do no good to our health, rather aid in the over consumption of sugar, starch and fiber-less foods.
Before I go on a completely different tangent, let me quickly come back to the connection food allergies have with our diets. The absence of a variety of real and whole fruits, vegetables and grains can severely impact our body’s ecosystem and immunity which can then fall prey to response attacks when we finally do eat them.
What Research Tells Us
In a study published in the ‘Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences’, researchers compared the gut microbiome of 15 children living in an urban area in Italy with 14 children living in rural parts of Africa. The results were drastically different and unfortunately, expected.
The research showed that the diets of the African children comprised mainly of plants based food, which was all grown locally and devoid of dangerous chemicals. These kids ate high amounts of grains and legumes so they were having a whole lot of fiber and complex carbs and low in fat content. Their periodic meat intake came from locally raised chickens.
This group of children had rich and favorable gut bacteria strains which was natural given their fiber intake.
In stark contrast were the diets of the urban children. High in fat, high in animal protein, high in sugar and starch, LOW in fiber.- the diet we typically get to see in “modernized” countries. This resulted in a less rich, less favorable gut microbiome since bad bacteria thrives on sugar.
A consequence of this low amounts of favorable bacteria and less diversity in gut life is food allergies.
What You Should Eat To Help Prevent Allergies:
You diet plays a major role in controlling and preventing food allergies. Follow a diet that has :
Fiber
Probiotics and ferments
Fish and olive oils
For the love of your health and well being, try to restrict unhealthy fats, sugars and simple carbohydrates in your diet so, watch out for processed and genetically modified food products whenever you can.
If you are expecting a baby, consider eating allergenic foods. Research has shown reduced risks of food allergies in a newborn whose mom ate allergenic foods in her pregnancy.
At the end of the day, there are several factors that contribute to food allergies in a person, but diet is a major factor that can be controlled and improved to our benefit.
