Hello, I read a really interesting article in The Observer Food Monthly for June on Allergies written about Professor Gideon Lack who works at the Evelina Children’s Hospital, London as a paediatric allergy specialist.
He is at the top of his field in treating children with Allergies and he is noticing that Britain is undergoing an epidemic of food allergies and no one knows why. He says that one in three of us will suffer with some kind of allergy during our lifetime but many food allergies begin in early childhood, typically between 18 and 24 months of age.
It was an interesting article and they are testing young babies in a controlled environment to work out whether it is better to completely cut out the foods that cause the allergy but now they are researching whether it would be better to expose a young child to the allergen so their immune systems will cope with the allergy from toddlers. My understanding of this method of study is whether they can eradicate the allergy so that the child does not have to have a life long allergy and in rare cases can be fatal.
Professor Lack’s clinic opened up 6 months ago and the staff already has enough work for a year, he points out that there are only 3 paediatric allergists in England and there are 180,000 children in Britain with peanut allergies. In 2005 there were 681 children admitted to hospital with anaphylaxis, food allergy being the most common cause.
In my pregnancy, I was given a list of don’t eats and apart from blue cheeses, coffee and alcohol, I did eat peanut butter, much to my sisters horror, but I feel that this could be a reason why my child has no allergy to peanuts, but saying that it could have been the case either way . My sister’s children all suffer from some sort of allergies, the oldest having to carry adrenalin stick with her at all times. I also make a point and again did in my pregnancy of eating mostly organic foods as I feel that nowadays even fresh foods are mucked around with too much, for example why are so many fruits and vegetables the same size and perfect and the colour of salmon which is not organic?
Here at the clinic, I do allergy testing, using homeopathic and herbal remedies to support the system. I do treat a lot of children and have treated many with behavioural problems as well as allergies suffered especially hay fever sufferers with good results.
If you would like to read more about Prof Lack’s work go to www.leapstudy.co.uk
I have looked and read the articles and will be following the findings as I to have noticed how allergies are so very much on the increase, even in adults.