Which of course might suffer from that problem of being simple and wrong:
One possible explanation is the rise of the “western” diet, which is high in ultra-processed foods. A 2022 study of nearly 3,000 children and 4,256 adults in the US suggested that consuming ultra-processed foods was associated with allergy symptoms in children and adolescents. Perhaps the full detrimental impacts of ultra-processed foods are only now being recognised, as data is collected and analysed. There are close links between the gut microbiome and the immune system; similar concerns have been raised about their possible link to digestive-tract cancers in young people.
Another theory is that those who develop allergies are deficient in vitamin D, the vitamin our body produces when exposed to sunlight. Surveys have shown that children are spending an increasing amount of time indoors on screens instead of outdoors playing. This isn’t just a post-pandemic trend: it has been happening for more than a decade, alongside the growing use of tablets, games consoles and phones.
Other explanations have included the widespread use of antibiotics in young children (for ear infections or other ailments), which affect the digestive tract, rising air pollution and early exposure to skin infections. The health community will continue to look to scientists such as Turner, who is also a paediatric allergy consultant, to test the various hypotheses on why these allergies are developing and what can be done to prevent them in children.
The previous 50% death rate in children cdovered up a number of allergy deaths. Add in a bit of genetics – those who would have died did not and so the genes pass on down the generations – and here we are, two to three generations after the collapse of the child death rate with allergy problems.
It explains the available information but whether it’s correct or not is another thing.
It is not so much ultra processing, but how we treat food is the oroblem.
I have developed an intolerance to nightshade ( pots, toms, possibly aubergines although I haven’t tried them since developing this ). It was almost cetainly caused by accidentally eating a green spud. I notice that fruit and veg go off a lot quicker than they used to and I put that down to overzealous cleaning. Potatoes were going green after a couple of days and apples, pears and bananas are rotten very rapidly.
ps I can eat chips and similarly treated spuds, I guess the fat or very high cooking temperature helps. Pizzas are alright too, again I gsuppose because of the cooking process.
“ultra-processed foods” is a made up, meaningless, thing so I’m highly sceptical that it’s involved as anything other than a convenient scapegoat for grift.
I’d guess there weren’t tests for some of these allergies before so they didn’t get diagnosed, or they’re being picked up at lower levels because of improvements in the tests.
Simple. Obvious. Pessimistic. And there’s nothing we can do.
You really do think like me, Tim.
I really hate all these ‘food science’ studies which use weasel words like ‘suggest’ and ‘linked to’ in order to pretend they have found proof of something.
I notice that fruit and veg go off a lot quicker than they used to
Do they? I am not so sure. I find that if you remove the packaging from fresh veg and store it in the fridge, it keeps for ages. The same for unpackaged potatoes, carrots and onions stored in a cool dark place.
The only time I find myself having to throw things away is if I leave them in plastic; they soon get mouldy.
“It has been happening for more than a decade, alongside the growing use of tablets, games consoles and phones.”
They should definitely stop taking the tablets.
No comment on the number of ‘vaccines’ (they are of course concoctions of drugs / chemicals, but they call them ‘vaccines’ to make them sound benign) our ‘experts’ inject into kids before the age of 16?
It’s 72 in the States, i’ve no idea about blighty…..
I also saw a study showing that 99% of the pesticides we consume are natural, from the plants themselves.
I love this article from 5 months ago which has everything:
https://news.wales/south/monmouthshire-council/children-preferring-processed-food-over-free-school-dinners-suggests-report-2024-04-45802.html
Children from low incomes less likely to take up the free food, changes have to be approved by central bureaucrats, and equal portions leading to food waste (what – kids can’t trade food then)
My hypothesis is that improved hygiene is one of contributory factors. In my yoofage (1940s & 50s) kids played outside a lot, got dirty and as a result built up a battery of immunities that has served those who survived well.
It follows that if you use medical and other interventions to stop infants dying who otherwise would, and therefore collapse the infant mortality rate, you’re going get those infants hanging around in the population, growing into adults and breeding, and passing into the population (or, at least, not removing from it) the genetic weaknesses that might otherwise have resulted in their deaths as infants.
Guilty as charged. Prone to bronchitis as a kid and having suffered all my life from hay fever, my offspring also has allergies, and IBS. My wife was also physically weak as a child and wouldn’t have survived without intervention.
No wonder younger generations are increasingly becoming ill, fat mentalists. It’s becoming survival of the fattest. From a species point of view, getting rid of wolves and bears may not have been the best strategy.
My hypothesis is that improved hygiene is one of contributory factors. In my yoofage (1940s & 50s) kids played outside a lot, got dirty and as a result built up a battery of immunities that has served those who survived well.
One plausible theory that I came across a couple of years ago was that for all of mankind our immune systems were constantly fighting infections and need to be active. Now we are so hygienic and healthy the immune system doesn’t have much to do and in a “devil makes work for idle hands” way it starts attacking healthy system, hence the rise in autoimmune diseases.
@asiaseen – October 1, 2024 at 10:03 am
My hypothesis is that improved hygiene is one of contributory factors. In my yoofage (1940s & 50s) kids played outside a lot, got dirty and as a result built up a battery of immunities that has served those who survived well.
That’s the hypothesis that I’d also seen. Kids today are brought up in much “cleaner” environments than were we old fogies, as a result are exposed to fewer pathogens and end up with compromised immune systems – resulting in increases in allergies and a massive increase in asthma.
@BJ
I’ve always been a believer in that. And a practiser. I’m largely indifferent to food hygiene. I’ll eat anything. Mostly without washing it. And it is intentional.
And it seems to work. The last episode of dodgy guts I’ve had was so long ago I’d have trouble remembering the decade let alone the year. And that’s including a sojourn in a peasant village in the Algerian Sahara where inevitable everything you eat has been thoroughly inspected by flies before you get to it. And during.
Christ, it’s by that bloody lunatic who gave such appalling advice to the SNP government during Covid.
Wokeypedia: Bachelor’s degree in biology, MPhil in medical anthropology, DPhil in anthropology.
The biology degree was a two-year effort so, its having been done in the US, perhaps got her to about A-level standard. She has no medical qualifications at all nor any remotely useful qualifications in the medical sciences.
Bah humbug.
‘One possible explanation is the rise of the “western” diet, which is high in ultra-processed foods.’
Aye, partly because of the preposterous government propaganda that people should avoid butter and eat margarine instead, avoid lard or dripping and cook with seed oils instead, and so forth. Fucking maniacs.
So why should I believe their new religion when their old one was so pernicious?
My hypothesis is that improved hygiene is one of contributory factors. In my yoofage (1940s & 50s) kids played outside a lot, got dirty and as a result built up a battery of immunities that has served those who survived well.
Anyone who was at school during the 50s and 60s will confirm that there was essentially nobody who suffered from modern ‘allergic reactions’ whereby opening a pack of roasted peanuts in the same room is a death sentence. I agree with the take that we were exposed to much more dirt, or even fresh air, than today’s kids. Maybe the fact that the air was usually full of tobacco smoke played a part, as well ? 🙂
Warning: newspaper articles about diet may contain nuts.
“ US suggested that consuming ultra-processed foods was associated with allergy symptoms in children and adolescents. ”
But not umpteen immune system disrupting and altering vaccinations starting in infancy before the immune system has properly developed?
Our Western diet was essentially meat and two veg, eggs, dairy – who told us to eschew these and munch on an almost uniquely carbohydrate diet – as found in rice, pasta, fruit (much of which in the firm.of sugars) and most veg?
Stop eating fat which slows down digestion and delays feeling of hunger and helps absorption of vitamins and instead eat bowls of weeds and tofu – hungry five minutes later so snack on cakes, biscuits, chocolate, sweets.
Never mind ultra processed foods.
@Addolff – I saw a story (on X – so take it as you like) that the Amish in the USA have a much lower incidence of autism than would be expected for their population. The finger was pointed at vaccines, but I can think of many other possibilites including food & breeding.
Also, kids these days don’t develop so much Vitamin D, since they are told that sunshine is deadly and if ever exposed to any of it, must be totally covered in SPF 50.
In my yoof I spent most of my time sitting indoors reading books. Blame books for my low vitamin D levels.
As far as the US goes, the number of extra ingredients in most branded foods (compared to their UK equivalents), must play a significant role. RFK Jr posted a short video looking at this subject a few days ago, and I’ve also seen a number of memes with side-by-side ingredient labels.
“ In my yoof I spent most of my time sitting indoors reading books. Blame books for my low vitamin D levels.”
In my yoof I spent most of my life outside (my parents often complained that I used the house like hotel) and even in my adult life I spent a lot of time outside, and I still had very low Vit D.
Since I’ve had it prescribed I haven’t had a cough or cold, although that just about coincided with me stopping travelling to London.
“‘ultra-processed foods’ is a made up, meaningless, thing”
It’s pretty much just short-hand for “food products high in sugars, refined carbohydrates and/or seed oils.”
“ultra-processed” seems as good a term as any.
“So why should I believe their new religion when their old one was so pernicious?”
It’s necessary to investigate this stuff for yourself, for your own sake, because the stakes are so high: your health and healthspan.
No good crossing your arms and waiting to be persuaded. As the saying goes, ‘no one is coming to save you.’
You can expect to live actively and healthily into a ripe old age if you eschew ultra-processed food. A diet based around red-meat, saturated fat and eggs – our species-appropriate diet – will give you the constitution of an ox, and the waistline of your younger years.
@ Raffles
Neurodivergence (the politically correct term for autism and a few other conditions of normal but different humans) is genetically-determined, so the Amish may well have a lower frequency [genetics are mostly hereditary but subjectto occasional mutations]
“In February 2023, 13-year-old Hannah Jacobs died from a severe allergic reaction after drinking a hot chocolate from Costa Coffee. Hannah suffered from allergies to dairy, fish and eggs, and her mother had asked for soy milk, but the hot chocolate contained cows’ milk. In July 2016, 15-year-old Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died on a flight after eating a Pret a Manger baguette she had bought at Heathrow. She had a severe allergic reaction to sesame, which had been baked into the bread but wasn’t listed on the ingredients label.”
As the parent of a child with allergies my theory on this is partly about how much more exotic our foods are (so, more sesame around), but also how much we eat out now. People rarely did, and made up a ham sandwich with Mother’s Pride, zero risk.
“A recent study in the Lancet Public Health journal provides answers. Led by Paul Turner of Imperial College London, it found that food allergies had doubled between 2008 and 2018. Most of these affect children. By reviewing data from GP surgeries in England, the researchers found that across all age groups, food allergies had increased from 0.4% to 1.1% of the population.”
No, there is better diagnosis of child allergies. Food allergies are genetic. Like peanut allergies tend to come from a parent with a peanut allergy or asthma. You can’t treble it in a decade.
“Since 2014, the rise has been less notable, which is possibly due to advice from NHS and medical staff to introduce potential food allergens into the diet of children before the age of 12 months.”
This is some useful research, like microdosing, but I doubt many parents are following this. I would guess what is happening is that testing for food allergies reached the saturation point. No more kids to do.
“A food allergy is caused by the immune system overreacting to certain foods, releasing chemicals that cause symptoms such as itchy skin and hives, a swollen face, eyes, or lips, breathing difficulties and even cardiac arrest”
No, a food allergy is not caused by that. The food allergy is there, introducing the food triggers a reaction.
“One possible explanation is the rise of the “western” diet, which is high in ultra-processed foods. A 2022 study of nearly 3,000 children and 4,256 adults in the US suggested that consuming ultra-processed foods was associated with allergy symptoms in children and adolescents. Perhaps the full detrimental impacts of ultra-processed foods are only now being recognised, as data is collected and analysed”
This term has no meaning, but I would argue that pre-prepared foods might cause a problem because of all the things in a shop chocolate cake that aren’t in one you make. Like chocolate cake from Tesco might have soya in it, which you wouldn’t put into home-made.
“Another theory is that those who develop allergies are deficient in vitamin D, the vitamin our body produces when exposed to sunlight. Surveys have shown that children are spending an increasing amount of time indoors on screens instead of outdoors playing. This isn’t just a post-pandemic trend: it has been happening for more than a decade, alongside the growing use of tablets, games consoles and phones.”
This is just political quackery. We know that nut allergies are genetic and you can detect it very young.
“We need to support those who have severe allergies by raising awareness in the food and drinks business to ensure proper labelling and stop cross-contamination”
No. We don’t. They’re already doing it. They’re also creating more allergy-free foods. I know these people would like a trough to feed from, but it’s being done.
@BiS…
I think that I’ve ben blessed with “the digestion system of a dog” and thus I’m in agreement with you, and have a very similar outlook. Last “bad time” was after eating a dodgy burger in a Wimpy Bar in Nairobi in 1983… Spent 72 hours “chained to the mahogany” with a full-blown bout of dysentery! 🙂