Matthew Hill asks why so little has been done to address the huge increase in allergies in the UK.
Allergic Reactions
The number of allergies in the UK has tripled in the last 30 years: one in three children is allergic, and that figure is set to rise to one in two by 2015.
The UK has the highest rate of asthma in Europe.
In addition, allergies are now more complex and life-threatening than ever before: 6% of GP consultations and 10% of the GP prescribing budget are related to allergy.
Despite these figures, only six NHS centres are staffed by full-time specialist consultants.
Repeated reports from the Royal College of Physicians and House of Commons Health Committee have recommended increasing the number of trained allergy specialists but very little has been done.
In Allergic Reactions Matthew Hill investigates the huge increase in allergies.
And if, in the absence of easy access to allergy clinics, many people are undergoing costly treatments and tests, but are they a suitable alternative?
In the UK, one in 70 children suffers from peanut allergy and the number is on the increase. Current guidelines state that avoiding peanuts early in infancy will help prevent children from developing peanut allergy in their toddler years. So why is peanut allergy on the rise? What is the best way to prevent it?
A new clinical research study will investigate whether consumption or avoidance of peanuts is the best way to prevent peanut allergy in young children. The LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut allergies) Study is being conducted by Professor Gideon Lack, a leading paediatric allergist at the Evelina Children's Hospital at St Thomas' Hospital, London.
Interested parents (who have a child less than 11 months of age with eczema or egg allergy) should contact the LEAP Study Team on 0800 234 6522 or email info@leapstudy.co.uk. Further information can be found at www.leapstudy.co.uk.
Read listener's comments
MRS TURNER, CARDIFF HAIR DYE ALLERGY IS A HUGE PROBLEM - THE PPD THAT IS USED IN DYE IS BANNED IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES BUT NOT UK. WHY IS THIS SO? MY DAUGHTER ALMOS DIED LAST WEEK FORM AN ALLERGY TO PPD FROM A HAIR DYE DISASTER AT A HAIRDRESSERS. MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO BAN THIS. SOMEBODY HAS ALREADY DIED FROM THIS, WHAT ELSE DOES IT NEED BEFORE SOMEONE TAKES THIS SERIOUSLY. MY DAUGHTER IS 15 AND I NEARLY LOST HER. I AM SO ANGRY THAT NOTHING CAN BE DONE!!
Fiona Harris I am writing in response to Brian Plunketts mail regarding hair die allergies. I have a huge problem being allergic to any hair die that has any form of fixative. I have been using a product called Clairol Loving Care which although not ideal as it washes out rather too quickly - it is at least free of two ingredients that trigger this reaction off. Tragically I have found out just today that it is being discontinued in South Africa - I suspect it is because of the small percentage of people here that suffer from this condition. I was wondering if you have any alternatives sugestions, other that henna which I really dont like, that I could possibly lay my hands on. Should you be doing some kind of allergy study I have also found myself becoming allergic to fake tan! This is going to be a very dismal ageing process for me if I cant find any answers
Matthew Bate I agree with a majority of the comments here. The 'Journalist's behaviour at York Laboratories was unforgivable. There are thresholds in every experiment because distinctions have to be made. Also, as a vegan for over eight years, how caan you explain my high bone density?It might be something to do with the fact that I eat the right foods!The BBC should immediately issue clarifications to the above points.
Jay, LEICESTER I have been diagnosed with lactose intolerane some 6 years ago. Little was done until last year with food labelling but some products still do not show full extent of ingridents. More can be done. Asle tests which can give you a positive diagnosis would help. Ther is very little reasearch on this subject and very few places that one can go for info and professional advice.
Ruby Welsford Hi, just wanted to say I am severely allergic to all treenuts, to a point where my reactions are considered life threatening. If I were to eat the tiniest trace of one, i will go into anaphylaxis and risk suffocation, and need emergency medical treatment including andrenline injections. I have to carry Epi-pens wherever I go, and even if I touch a product that has some sort of nut oil in, I can still have a pretty nasty reaction, which so far, luckily haven't been as dangerous, and have just involved mild swelling and full body hives. When I was first had my reaction to a brazil nut cookie, I had to wait a year to find out what I was allergic to, so I can see where this program is coming from.
Scotland I feel very angry at the way the York test was targeted by this programme, to the extent that the 42 food test has been withdrawn by York lab. People will be deprived of benefitting from a simple test ( completely painless, by the way - Matthew Hill) that could really help them. Presumably only the more expensive test will now be available, and I for one might never have risked £250 on the offchance that it might be some help. However the £125 pounds for the 42 food test was the best £125 I have ever spent in my life. I had been suffering for some years from dreadful IBS to the extent that I was almost afraid to leave the house. Books on IBS (including those from the NHS) recommend avoiding massive numbers of food groups - milk,wheat. fruit, vegetables etc. Where do you start? Doctors could offer nothing better than Imodium. The York test I took about 2 years ago identified only one food to avoid - Brazil nuts - which I had been eating every day for 3 years as I had read they were a good source of selenium. I stopped eating them, the IBS attacks stopped immediately. Occasionally as a test I have tried a few Brazil nuts, and had an immediate bad reaction. Apart from that I have not suffered any IBS in 2 years. In addition I was sent a thick file of really useful information about food groups and nutritional facts, including advice on substitute foods or supplements if eliminating important food groups. I didn't bother with the free telephone consultation as my problem was so easily solved. I think it is extremely misleading totake this test if you have no health problems - presumably in my case the test might have shown a few brazil nut proteins as I was eating so many , but if I had not been suffering any symptoms, how would that have been useful?
Sarah Walters If breastfeeding mothers are advised to avoid peanuts why are they not told to avoid cows milk for their infants as cows are fed peanut protein?Is it possible that peanut protein is coming through the cows milk ? This is something that has not been investigated.
Tom, Oxford This program was absolute tripe - I had expected a higher standard of reporting from the bbc. The arguments were unscientific heresay, and in places just plain wrong. Matthew Hill's comments were flimsy speculation without evidence. At one point in the programme he lapsed into a rambling argument that "being told to take a break from eating wheat every 3-4 days" was in some way vastly different from being told to cut down on wheat, to the bemusement of the doctor he was interviewing. This was painfully embarrassing to listen to.
Nutan Dattani, Leicester At the age of 14, we were eventually referred to the Leicester Royal Infirmary. They have no allergy-testing specialists in the area. Eventually, now they have given me an epipen, but thats all. I had a prick-test, and found out some things that am allergic to. I still have some food allergies, asthma problems and eczema problems. I have a restricted diet because of this. We want to know which exact things that i am allergic to, so i don't have to restrict my diet so much. In fact, the report that was made of the prick-test has not even been sent to my GP.
Farah Mendlesohn, Birmingham Mostly to agree with above. If the NHS is so brilliant and helpful why were they so unwilling to consider full testing when I was sick in my twenties (I ended up going private). I still have to advise friends that they must *demand* celiac tests. I have only one friend who was actually offered it, yet the incidence is much higher than it was thought to be ten years ago.The comments on calcium were just stupid: the latest research suggests that cheese actually strips the bones.
Chris Baskerville, Stevenage Oh dear. Still not a hint that anyone anywhere are starting to evaluate the hypothesis that allergies arise and are initiated by the body biochemical destabilisation that is being triggered by global physical pollution.This non-ionising radiation is sometimes termed electronic smog, some sources being TV, Radio, Mobile Phone transmitters, and passage of Earth orbitals through the Solar Wind.RCB (Pollution Chemist)
Anne , Aberdeen My experience with the York test is excellent. My experience with the NHS on food intolerence is dismal.Seven years ago my son had chronic stomach pains and fatigue. His GP referred him to a series of hospital specialists and appointments without any of them coming to a diagnosis.The York test showed a strong intolerence to gluten and dairy products. Since excluding them from his diet six years ago he has been fine.If he were relying on the NHS for a diagnosis and treatment he would still be suffering.
frank smith. bristol the programme did not wxamine allergies affected by subatnces. i.e. drugs, metals, ol, cement. stress too is a factor. i suffered fro 25 years but my gp used benadryl which worked . eventually all aymptons died out. my daughter still suffers.with eczema mainly caused by contact with metals or hot weather both difficult to avoid.
Frances Houghton from Bristol I have to take issue with the idea that a gluten-free diet is expensive.My younger daughter,a 26 year old married, full-time working woman who has gluten intolerance says that gluten-free diet is NOT expensive. One just needs to be willing to "cook from scratch" more. Many products such as baked beans and soups are gluten-free anyway. Gluten-free flour, baking powder and pasta are readily available in supermarkets and reasonably priced. Gluten-free bread IS expensive and NOT worth eating. Other itmes such as gluten-free biscuits are an occasional treat. The biggest problem is eating away from home. It is very difficult to trust other people to omit EVERYTHING which contains gluten from a meal. She supervises friends until they are used to cooking for her. They don't mind at all. A mistake could result in an eight-hour attack of vomiting for her. One friend's husband is a doctor and is very interested in the practicalities of living with the problem.
Maureen, London Relating Allergic reaction to degenerative disease, Roger McDougal proved that the "hunter/gatherer" diet ie selection and avoidance of certain food enabled him to overcome MS. Why has this not been investigated further?
Dr Damien Downing, London and York I set up the precursor to the York laboratory 25 years ago, and have been working as a doctor in the field ever since. I have had no involvement with the lab for over a decade, and I hold no brief for what it does now, but your reporter has even less expertise in the field. This was the blind challenging the driving of the blind. The grim reality, mentioned by no-one, is that all lab tests in immunology and allergy are pretty unreliable, but we all like a piece of paper. Next time ask the grown-ups; the British Society for Ecological Medicine represents doctors who work in this area, and know what happens with real patients in real life.
Chris Lees Wiltshire Such a poor programme, I am seriously losing confidence in the impartiality of the BBC. Very confused, poor thought process. Were you looking into allergies or rubbishing anything other than conventional medical treatment which would actually be the system you are suggesting is not able to handle, or to find the reasons for, such an increase in allergies. The fact is there is a huge increase in allergies and Conventional medicine is failing to help. Patients go to other systems at their own expense, usually when their free NHS has not helped. The trial on peanuts is an investigation of the blindingly obvious, how many of us UK war babies or our parents, who never saw a peanut until we were at least in our teens, or those of similar age in USA brought up on peanut butter had peanut allegies at all? Its a very new issue, there has to be some other factor.
Elke, Edinburgh I have been stuck in the GP system 'being ill' for years and years, and have completely run out of ideas. I am a 32 year old Mum of one (little boy aged 21 months), living in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the past I have had severe problems with palpitations, diarrhoea, extreme fatigue and dizzieness, which, after lots of tests (incl being on 24 heart rate monitors etc.), was finally diagnosed by a GP as an allergic reaction to wheat. I was told to avoid eating it, and, with the help of a kinesiologist finally managed to find out other food intolerances and allergens, and managed to get my life back on track. I then fell pregnant and had my little baby boy in August 2005. When I stopped breastfeeding in January this year, a lot of my symptoms came back, and a few new ones were thrown in, including severe occasional night sweats. I went back to my GP who did a blood test. It came back positive for 5 out of 8 tested substances, incl wheat, barley, rye and others. My kinesiologist's advice has been slightly contradictory though, and I am now in limbo. My GP reckons he has done all of the tests he can, that it surely must be IBS, and refused to take another blood sample to test for other allergens. When I asked to be referred to an allergy specialist his answer was simply that there wasn't one in Edinburgh or in Scotland, and that was that. I went to a different GP in the same practice, whose answer also was that there was nobody I could be referred to. I am now on the waiting list for the GI unit in Edinburgh, but, I understand that there is no-one with a special interest in the field of allergies. Does anybody know who else I could turn to, or where in the country I might be able to get help? Even privately? I am really not sure what to do any more, and it is very frightening to experience my symptoms without really knowing how to tackle them, or indeed how serious they might be. I have, in the past, experienced swelling of the lips and eyes as well, even though I have not been diagnosed as anaphylactic and do not carry an epi pen. I know I am also allergic to latex, grass pollen, cats and various other things, and am on a very restrictive diet. Again, my GP just shrugs his shoulders and says 'next'! Can anybody help? I am fast running out of fighting spirit, as this has been going on for about 10 years now. Please help.
Peter Ingot, Korea So people are selling cures but no one know what the root cause is. The best this program could come up with was that allergies were either caused by eating too much of a food, or not eating enough. Fish, milk, wheat and most nuts have been in our diets for centuries. Hay fever was unknown before the industrial revolution.I often get mild allergic reactions to dairy products, but milk from grass fed cows is less likely to affect me than whey powder in junk food. Could pesticide residues or other pollutants be a trigger?
Elaine Lea - Cannes Regarding dairy intolerance. I had a similar test as the one used on one of your interviewees using a metal machine. This was 10 years ago and I immediately started to use soya milk with added calcium. It had an immediate beneficial result as I previously suffered with bad migraines. I have not had an attack since. I realise that I suffered all my life from dairy intolerance but it was known about years ago.My doctor was unable to offer any help except tablets which were no use at all. I have no ulterior motive for informing you of this as I have not had to return to the person who did the test which was at a Health Shop in the area I lived in England.
Brian Plunkett As I listened to "Alergic reactions"I was surprised that allergies to hair dye were not mentioned as part of a serious programme and a serious problem in the UK. Ironically I received an email telling me of an adverse reactions to permanent hair dye, this is my third today. I am collecting data on reactions to hair dye, I think I the only one who does!!
Lynn Williams Thank you, thank you. This subject needs more airtime as it is still misunderstood by the majority of the population. My main issue relates to Coeliac Disease and the lack of knowledge of our GP's. My experience shows them to have their heads stuck in the ground - unwilling to listen because they don't have enough information. The point about lack of knowledge costing the NHS is very true, Coeliac Disease, once properly diagnosed, needs nothing more than a gluten free diet to sustain a 'normal' health life. Any chance of following this programme up with one on the availability of suitable foods and food labelling please
Adrienne Flynn, Leeds This program was an absolute scandal. A long string of pseudo scientific rubbish aimed at rubbishing other pseudo science. If you have evidence that 75% of the world who do not consume milk are suffering from a lack of calcium please back it up before airing such nonsense. Most people don't consume milk. One that is linked with brittle bone diseases, alzheimers and cancer by scientists. Published by reputable scientific journals.
Deborah, Birmingham While I agree that the vega test and others like it are inaccurate, I think it's unfair to assume not eating wheat causes constipation and not eating dairy causes calcium deficiency. There are plenty of ways to include these in your diet without wheat and dairy, and many societies manage it!
philippines hello: I have to admit that medicines for Allergies are very expensive. I am allergic to Chicken, everytime I eat one, I have to make sure I've taken anti-histamine. Thnks...
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MRS TURNER, CARDIFF
HAIR DYE ALLERGY IS A HUGE PROBLEM - THE PPD THAT IS USED IN DYE IS BANNED IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES BUT NOT UK. WHY IS THIS SO? MY DAUGHTER ALMOS DIED LAST WEEK FORM AN ALLERGY TO PPD FROM A HAIR DYE DISASTER AT A HAIRDRESSERS. MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO BAN THIS. SOMEBODY HAS ALREADY DIED FROM THIS, WHAT ELSE DOES IT NEED BEFORE SOMEONE TAKES THIS SERIOUSLY. MY DAUGHTER IS 15 AND I NEARLY LOST HER. I AM SO ANGRY THAT NOTHING CAN BE DONE!!
Fiona Harris
I am writing in response to Brian Plunketts mail regarding hair die allergies. I have a huge problem being allergic to any hair die that has any form of fixative. I have been using a product called Clairol Loving Care which although not ideal as it washes out rather too quickly - it is at least free of two ingredients that trigger this reaction off. Tragically I have found out just today that it is being discontinued in South Africa - I suspect it is because of the small percentage of people here that suffer from this condition. I was wondering if you have any alternatives sugestions, other that henna which I really dont like, that I could possibly lay my hands on. Should you be doing some kind of allergy study I have also found myself becoming allergic to fake tan! This is going to be a very dismal ageing process for me if I cant find any answers
Matthew Bate
I agree with a majority of the comments here. The 'Journalist's behaviour at York Laboratories was unforgivable. There are thresholds in every experiment because distinctions have to be made. Also, as a vegan for over eight years, how caan you explain my high bone density?It might be something to do with the fact that I eat the right foods!The BBC should immediately issue clarifications to the above points.
Jay, LEICESTER
I have been diagnosed with lactose intolerane some 6 years ago. Little was done until last year with food labelling but some products still do not show full extent of ingridents. More can be done. Asle tests which can give you a positive diagnosis would help. Ther is very little reasearch on this subject and very few places that one can go for info and professional advice.
Ruby Welsford
Hi, just wanted to say I am severely allergic to all treenuts, to a point where my reactions are considered life threatening. If I were to eat the tiniest trace of one, i will go into anaphylaxis and risk suffocation, and need emergency medical treatment including andrenline injections. I have to carry Epi-pens wherever I go, and even if I touch a product that has some sort of nut oil in, I can still have a pretty nasty reaction, which so far, luckily haven't been as dangerous, and have just involved mild swelling and full body hives. When I was first had my reaction to a brazil nut cookie, I had to wait a year to find out what I was allergic to, so I can see where this program is coming from.
Scotland
I feel very angry at the way the York test was targeted by this programme, to the extent that the 42 food test has been withdrawn by York lab. People will be deprived of benefitting from a simple test ( completely painless, by the way - Matthew Hill) that could really help them. Presumably only the more expensive test will now be available, and I for one might never have risked £250 on the offchance that it might be some help. However the £125 pounds for the 42 food test was the best £125 I have ever spent in my life. I had been suffering for some years from dreadful IBS to the extent that I was almost afraid to leave the house. Books on IBS (including those from the NHS) recommend avoiding massive numbers of food groups - milk,wheat. fruit, vegetables etc. Where do you start? Doctors could offer nothing better than Imodium. The York test I took about 2 years ago identified only one food to avoid - Brazil nuts - which I had been eating every day for 3 years as I had read they were a good source of selenium. I stopped eating them, the IBS attacks stopped immediately. Occasionally as a test I have tried a few Brazil nuts, and had an immediate bad reaction. Apart from that I have not suffered any IBS in 2 years. In addition I was sent a thick file of really useful information about food groups and nutritional facts, including advice on substitute foods or supplements if eliminating important food groups. I didn't bother with the free telephone consultation as my problem was so easily solved. I think it is extremely misleading totake this test if you have no health problems - presumably in my case the test might have shown a few brazil nut proteins as I was eating so many , but if I had not been suffering any symptoms, how would that have been useful?
Sarah Walters
If breastfeeding mothers are advised to avoid peanuts why are they not told to avoid cows milk for their infants as cows are fed peanut protein?Is it possible that peanut protein is coming through the cows milk ? This is something that has not been investigated.
Tom, Oxford
This program was absolute tripe - I had expected a higher standard of reporting from the bbc. The arguments were unscientific heresay, and in places just plain wrong. Matthew Hill's comments were flimsy speculation without evidence. At one point in the programme he lapsed into a rambling argument that "being told to take a break from eating wheat every 3-4 days" was in some way vastly different from being told to cut down on wheat, to the bemusement of the doctor he was interviewing. This was painfully embarrassing to listen to.
Nutan Dattani, Leicester
At the age of 14, we were eventually referred to the Leicester Royal Infirmary. They have no allergy-testing specialists in the area. Eventually, now they have given me an epipen, but thats all. I had a prick-test, and found out some things that am allergic to. I still have some food allergies, asthma problems and eczema problems. I have a restricted diet because of this. We want to know which exact things that i am allergic to, so i don't have to restrict my diet so much. In fact, the report that was made of the prick-test has not even been sent to my GP.
Farah Mendlesohn, Birmingham
Mostly to agree with above. If the NHS is so brilliant and helpful why were they so unwilling to consider full testing when I was sick in my twenties (I ended up going private). I still have to advise friends that they must *demand* celiac tests. I have only one friend who was actually offered it, yet the incidence is much higher than it was thought to be ten years ago.The comments on calcium were just stupid: the latest research suggests that cheese actually strips the bones.
Chris Baskerville, Stevenage
Oh dear. Still not a hint that anyone anywhere are starting to evaluate the hypothesis that allergies arise and are initiated by the body biochemical destabilisation that is being triggered by global physical pollution.This non-ionising radiation is sometimes termed electronic smog, some sources being TV, Radio, Mobile Phone transmitters, and passage of Earth orbitals through the Solar Wind.RCB (Pollution Chemist)
Anne , Aberdeen
My experience with the York test is excellent. My experience with the NHS on food intolerence is dismal.Seven years ago my son had chronic stomach pains and fatigue. His GP referred him to a series of hospital specialists and appointments without any of them coming to a diagnosis.The York test showed a strong intolerence to gluten and dairy products. Since excluding them from his diet six years ago he has been fine.If he were relying on the NHS for a diagnosis and treatment he would still be suffering.
frank smith. bristol
the programme did not wxamine allergies affected by subatnces. i.e. drugs, metals, ol, cement. stress too is a factor. i suffered fro 25 years but my gp used benadryl which worked . eventually all aymptons died out. my daughter still suffers.with eczema mainly caused by contact with metals or hot weather both difficult to avoid.
Frances Houghton from Bristol
I have to take issue with the idea that a gluten-free diet is expensive.My younger daughter,a 26 year old married, full-time working woman who has gluten intolerance says that gluten-free diet is NOT expensive. One just needs to be willing to "cook from scratch" more. Many products such as baked beans and soups are gluten-free anyway. Gluten-free flour, baking powder and pasta are readily available in supermarkets and reasonably priced. Gluten-free bread IS expensive and NOT worth eating. Other itmes such as gluten-free biscuits are an occasional treat. The biggest problem is eating away from home. It is very difficult to trust other people to omit EVERYTHING which contains gluten from a meal. She supervises friends until they are used to cooking for her. They don't mind at all. A mistake could result in an eight-hour attack of vomiting for her. One friend's husband is a doctor and is very interested in the practicalities of living with the problem.
Maureen, London
Relating Allergic reaction to degenerative disease, Roger McDougal proved that the "hunter/gatherer" diet ie selection and avoidance of certain food enabled him to overcome MS. Why has this not been investigated further?
Dr Damien Downing, London and York
I set up the precursor to the York laboratory 25 years ago, and have been working as a doctor in the field ever since. I have had no involvement with the lab for over a decade, and I hold no brief for what it does now, but your reporter has even less expertise in the field. This was the blind challenging the driving of the blind. The grim reality, mentioned by no-one, is that all lab tests in immunology and allergy are pretty unreliable, but we all like a piece of paper. Next time ask the grown-ups; the British Society for Ecological Medicine represents doctors who work in this area, and know what happens with real patients in real life.
Chris Lees Wiltshire
Such a poor programme, I am seriously losing confidence in the impartiality of the BBC. Very confused, poor thought process. Were you looking into allergies or rubbishing anything other than conventional medical treatment which would actually be the system you are suggesting is not able to handle, or to find the reasons for, such an increase in allergies. The fact is there is a huge increase in allergies and Conventional medicine is failing to help. Patients go to other systems at their own expense, usually when their free NHS has not helped. The trial on peanuts is an investigation of the blindingly obvious, how many of us UK war babies or our parents, who never saw a peanut until we were at least in our teens, or those of similar age in USA brought up on peanut butter had peanut allegies at all? Its a very new issue, there has to be some other factor.
Elke, Edinburgh
I have been stuck in the GP system 'being ill' for years and years, and have completely run out of ideas. I am a 32 year old Mum of one (little boy aged 21 months), living in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the past I have had severe problems with palpitations, diarrhoea, extreme fatigue and dizzieness, which, after lots of tests (incl being on 24 heart rate monitors etc.), was finally diagnosed by a GP as an allergic reaction to wheat. I was told to avoid eating it, and, with the help of a kinesiologist finally managed to find out other food intolerances and allergens, and managed to get my life back on track. I then fell pregnant and had my little baby boy in August 2005. When I stopped breastfeeding in January this year, a lot of my symptoms came back, and a few new ones were thrown in, including severe occasional night sweats. I went back to my GP who did a blood test. It came back positive for 5 out of 8 tested substances, incl wheat, barley, rye and others. My kinesiologist's advice has been slightly contradictory though, and I am now in limbo. My GP reckons he has done all of the tests he can, that it surely must be IBS, and refused to take another blood sample to test for other allergens. When I asked to be referred to an allergy specialist his answer was simply that there wasn't one in Edinburgh or in Scotland, and that was that. I went to a different GP in the same practice, whose answer also was that there was nobody I could be referred to. I am now on the waiting list for the GI unit in Edinburgh, but, I understand that there is no-one with a special interest in the field of allergies. Does anybody know who else I could turn to, or where in the country I might be able to get help? Even privately? I am really not sure what to do any more, and it is very frightening to experience my symptoms without really knowing how to tackle them, or indeed how serious they might be. I have, in the past, experienced swelling of the lips and eyes as well, even though I have not been diagnosed as anaphylactic and do not carry an epi pen. I know I am also allergic to latex, grass pollen, cats and various other things, and am on a very restrictive diet. Again, my GP just shrugs his shoulders and says 'next'! Can anybody help? I am fast running out of fighting spirit, as this has been going on for about 10 years now. Please help.
Peter Ingot, Korea
So people are selling cures but no one know what the root cause is. The best this program could come up with was that allergies were either caused by eating too much of a food, or not eating enough. Fish, milk, wheat and most nuts have been in our diets for centuries. Hay fever was unknown before the industrial revolution.I often get mild allergic reactions to dairy products, but milk from grass fed cows is less likely to affect me than whey powder in junk food. Could pesticide residues or other pollutants be a trigger?
Elaine Lea - Cannes
Regarding dairy intolerance. I had a similar test as the one used on one of your interviewees using a metal machine. This was 10 years ago and I immediately started to use soya milk with added calcium. It had an immediate beneficial result as I previously suffered with bad migraines. I have not had an attack since. I realise that I suffered all my life from dairy intolerance but it was known about years ago.My doctor was unable to offer any help except tablets which were no use at all. I have no ulterior motive for informing you of this as I have not had to return to the person who did the test which was at a Health Shop in the area I lived in England.
Brian Plunkett
As I listened to "Alergic reactions"I was surprised that allergies to hair dye were not mentioned as part of a serious programme and a serious problem in the UK. Ironically I received an email telling me of an adverse reactions to permanent hair dye, this is my third today. I am collecting data on reactions to hair dye, I think I the only one who does!!
Lynn Williams
Thank you, thank you. This subject needs more airtime as it is still misunderstood by the majority of the population. My main issue relates to Coeliac Disease and the lack of knowledge of our GP's. My experience shows them to have their heads stuck in the ground - unwilling to listen because they don't have enough information. The point about lack of knowledge costing the NHS is very true, Coeliac Disease, once properly diagnosed, needs nothing more than a gluten free diet to sustain a 'normal' health life. Any chance of following this programme up with one on the availability of suitable foods and food labelling please
Adrienne Flynn, Leeds
This program was an absolute scandal. A long string of pseudo scientific rubbish aimed at rubbishing other pseudo science. If you have evidence that 75% of the world who do not consume milk are suffering from a lack of calcium please back it up before airing such nonsense. Most people don't consume milk. One that is linked with brittle bone diseases, alzheimers and cancer by scientists. Published by reputable scientific journals.
Deborah, Birmingham
While I agree that the vega test and others like it are inaccurate, I think it's unfair to assume not eating wheat causes constipation and not eating dairy causes calcium deficiency. There are plenty of ways to include these in your diet without wheat and dairy, and many societies manage it!
philippines
hello: I have to admit that medicines for Allergies are very expensive. I am allergic to Chicken, everytime I eat one, I have to make sure I've taken anti-histamine. Thnks...