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I don't think we really understand, Fibonacci. I've retold my story above. If it were that simple, someone with a childhood like mine would not have developed autoimmune disease, but here I am.
The theory that Fibonacci is talking about proposes that people's immunity acts up in dramatic response to things they suddenly encounter that they were not exposed to early on. The fact that you ate so clean all your life is the point. The theory proposes that had you ingested small amounts of additives and chemicals from infancy on, you would essentially have an immunity to them. Now that you're encountering things in adulthood your body never experienced as a child, your responses are going haywire.
I read a study a long time ago that looked at children raised in places with terrible pollution. Kids born in urban smog-heavy areas like Mexico City and places in Russia that have NO pollution controls for industry or cars. Those kids had virtually no allergies compared to American children. The supposition was that from birth they were immersed in this, so their bodies developed defenses that children raised in clean environments (like yours) have no opportunity to develop.
I had an experience in my own life that leads me to think there is some sense in that. I never had any allergies that caused sinusitis as a child. I didn't seem allergic to anything. Then, when I was in the 9th grade, my nose was badly broken in an accident. From then to now, I have a rather extreme response to many kinds of pollen. Newly cut grass, pine trees, almost any highly scented flower, decorative grasses, Palo Verde trees in bloom, etc., etc., all give me fits. I develop sinus infections at the drop of a hat.
After this started so suddenly, needless to say my parents sought medical help. An allergy specialist told them that the tissues inside my nose were all torn up in the accident. So it disturbed the great filtering system that we have naturally and had functioned properly in the past. I am responding to things my body had been prevented from encountering as a young child.
And to have to go throughout your life being suspicious of every food you eat is just tiring and annoying, plus, it's not ever fun to have to use an EpiPen on yourself.
But to spread the "tiring and annoying" and "not ever fun" things to the general population (those of us without the allergies) isn't the answer either.
The theory that Fibonacci is talking about proposes that people's immunity acts up in dramatic response to things they suddenly encounter that they were not exposed to early on. The fact that you ate so clean all your life is the point. The theory proposes that had you ingested small amounts of additives and chemicals from infancy on, you would essentially have an immunity to them. Now that you're encountering things in adulthood your body never experienced as a child, your responses are going haywire.
I read a study a long time ago that looked at children raised in places with terrible pollution. Kids born in urban smog-heavy areas like Mexico City and places in Russia that have NO pollution controls for industry or cars. Those kids had virtually no allergies compared to American children. The supposition was that from birth they were immersed in this, so their bodies developed defenses that children raised in clean environments (like yours) have no opportunity to develop.
I had an experience in my own life that leads me to think there is some sense in that. I never had any allergies that caused sinusitis as a child. I didn't seem allergic to anything. Then, when I was in the 9th grade, my nose was badly broken in an accident. From then to now, I have a rather extreme response to many kinds of pollen. Newly cut grass, pine trees, almost any highly scented flower, decorative grasses, Palo Verde trees in bloom, etc., etc., all give me fits. I develop sinus infections at the drop of a hat.
After this started so suddenly, needless to say my parents sought medical help. An allergy specialist told them that the tissues inside my nose were all torn up in the accident. So it disturbed the great filtering system that we have naturally and had functioned properly in the past. I am responding to things my body had been prevented from encountering as a young child.
I'm familiar with the hygiene hypothesis. What I intended to write was that I don't believe it explains all cases of immune dysfunction.
I don't think we really understand, Fibonacci. I've retold my story above. If it were that simple, someone with a childhood like mine would not have developed autoimmune disease, but here I am.
immune disorders have ALWAYS been around.... they are just more prevalent these days.... and our understanding of them is only fairly recent, as well.... your situation is in a way similar to my mother's .... she was born at home in the back woods of Colletton (sp?) County, South Carolina in 1927. Her older brothers had clear memories of riding the mule down to the mill to get corn ground... Orphaned by about the age of 6 or 7 and was raised in the Methodist Orphanage in Columbia.... she had several immune disorders throughout her life.... from Hashimoto's disease to horrific Rheumatoid arthritis that started in her early 40's.... it is suspected that there was some heriditary component in her case.... some of the older relatives remembered a grandmother with arthritis.....
growing up in the 60's we played outside, had dogs and cats as pets, all the good stuff... and I only ever had some seasonal allergies every now and again.... I did discover at the age of 30 that I am allergic to paprika (!!!) to point of all over hives after having eaten it most of my life....
When I was growing up, in the 1970s and 80s, I don't recall ever even hearing about peanut allergies, much less having to adjust my public eating habits in response to them. People ate peanut butter sandwiches and peanut snacks with abandon -- in schools, on airplanes, pretty much everywhere.
And yet, fast forward to today, and its almost like peanuts are on the same level as cigarettes. Lots of schools have completely banned peanut butter, not only from their menus but from the lunchboxes of those who bring their own food as well. You can't even get peanuts on most planes. And there are signs everywhere saying that this or that product was made in a facility that also handles nuts, or not.
What happened? Has the rate of peanut allergies been the same, but sufferers just had to grin and bear it in the old days? (And if so, how did sufferers cope with the ubiquity of peanut products in the larger society?) Or has the rate skyrocketed precisely because kids aren't exposed to peanut products nowadays, and thus their internal systems haven't had a chance to develop an immunity to it?
I have a feeling that very few people are really allergic to peanuts, most probably have an aversion to them. While there are some people who do have life-threatening reactions to them, that number is small. That being said, I do wonder how people who have such life-threatening reactions to peanuts live very long. How do they survive trips to the grocery store if people are buying peanut products and the packaging breaks and they have their food items on there? Allergies are also trendy. Look at how many people are all of a sudden allergic to gluten. Again, I'm not saying that there are not some people who have this problem, but I question if it is really that high.
Peanut allergies are not a new thing. I remember back in school in the 30s, that some kids and their parents had peanut allergies back then.
Problem today, is due to processing foods in the same equipment as peanuts are processed in, the labels on many food products say, "May contain traces of Peanuts" on the label, though no peanuts were used to make the food. For some people even a trace can cause problems.
Problem with Peanuts is some people are so allergic they will become very sick and even die from eating any amount of peanuts.
This is the reason, that some schools with children with peanut allergies, have banned peanuts and anything with peanuts, due to the danger for a few. They don't want to take a chance that children will die due to eating something with peanuts in it. Then the school can be sued for millions of dollars. Their insurance company has probably told them that they can buy liability insurance for the school at a certain amount if they ban peanuts, and twice that amount if they do not ban peanuts. Insurance companies are playing it very cautious today, and their policy holders are willing to do certain things, if they can get a better insurance rate.
And someone above, said they have read that farm children do not have allergies. I was a farm child as a youngster and can tell you that is not true. I and many others I knew, had allergies to certain things.
People keep bringing up the breastfeeding thing, but I was born in the 60s, when breastfeeding was unfashionable in middle class suburbia. Most people I know in my generation never touched a breast, and were on formula from day one. But us 40-somethings aren't the big population claiming to have all these food allergies.
Yup! Both my sister and I, born in the 1970s were formula fed from day one. Neither of us are allergic to anything.
If you don't have allergies, consider yourself lucky. And if some people really are making it up and think it is "fashionable" shame on them.
A long time ago I was involved in a discussion about allergies and the outcome was that the older people, who had been born before antibiotics had few allergies. We allergy sufferers had been brought up with antibiotics.
Turned out that breastfeeding or being exposed to dirt or playing outside or having pets--we couldn't come to any conclusions. But before and after the introduction of antibiotics there was a huge difference. I have no idea why.
If you don't have allergies, consider yourself lucky. And if some people really are making it up and think it is "fashionable" shame on them.
A long time ago I was involved in a discussion about allergies and the outcome was that the older people, who had been born before antibiotics had few allergies. We allergy sufferers had been brought up with antibiotics.
Turned out that breastfeeding or being exposed to dirt or playing outside or having pets--we couldn't come to any conclusions. But before and after the introduction of antibiotics there was a huge difference. I have no idea why.
Maybe because the children tended to die young from the diseases we now immunize against - measles, mumps, whooping cough. Not much time to see an allergy worsen to the point of anaphylaxis.
My mom, who was born in 1941, lived the barefoot life for a very long time. She is the third of five children, and developed a serious autoimmune disease at the age of 60. Had she gotten it at 40, she likely would have died, as they were just finding out how to treat what had been a 100% fatal disease. Even in 2001, she nearly didn't make it, as Wegener's Granulotmatosis is a very rare form of vasculitis.
My aunt and my mom both have dead thyroids. There's arthritis (both osteo and rheumatoid) in the family, as well as lymph edema. The arthritic disorders are the only ones that seem to have been passed down; my aunt, my sister, and I all have rheumatoid arthritis, and I have osteoarthritis due to hypermobility. I know we all ate plenty of dirt. My mom has a story of me sitting outside with the dog and a bag of dog food, sharing equally. One piece for the dog, one piece for me. (hork) I believe I was 3 or 4 years old.
I read a study a long time ago that looked at children raised in places with terrible pollution. Kids born in urban smog-heavy areas like Mexico City and places in Russia that have NO pollution controls for industry or cars. Those kids had virtually no allergies compared to American children. The supposition was that from birth they were immersed in this, so their bodies developed defenses that children raised in clean environments (like yours) have no opportunity to develop.
The thing is, if you look at child mortality rates among kids raised in those conditions they're much higher compared to the majority of Western nations. It is just as likely that kids with allergies living in those conditions just don't survive infancy. Until there's a peer reviewed study showing a direct relation it's very dangerous to speculate what that difference really means. There's also the problem of pollution or germs killing many more kids than allergies do, and exposing kids to very polluted conditions will kill many more of them than allergies ever could.
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