I had a friend who had an anaphylactic reaction to MRI dye last Monday.  In for an MRI to determine answers for a health issue, she had never before had an anaphylactic reaction to anything and had no food allergies.  Her only previous reaction to anything was a very swollen leg last year after a bee sting.

The scary part to me is what happened when she told the technician she was feeling funny and hit the panic button.  To be fair, MRIs and CAT scans are rather tight spaces and more than one patient has been known to have panic attacks so this was how she was initially treated.  A doctor was called in who took her vitals which appeared to be fine so she was led through breathing exercises to “calm down”.  When she began to have difficulty talking due to a swelling throat and tongue, they then noticed that her back was covered in hives.  This is when she asked, “Can’t you give me something to stop this?” Read more »

Did you miss me last week?  I flew to Chicago to attend a food allergens/gluten conference specific to food manufacturers. 

There were 41 companies represented with anywhere from 1 to 12 attendees per company.  The companies ranged in size from tiny, like Nonuttin’ Foods, to large, like Kraft.  Amongst those attendees, I met people who had different roles in the companies such as quality assurance manager for 39 facilities across the United States to Consumer Relations people, the ones who answer your questions when you phone in about food allergens. Read more »

The CBC ( Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) had a really informative documentary recently on their Passionate Eye program called Allergy Planet.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware that the documentary was on and I only caught the last half hour.

What I did see was fascinating.  What I thought was really interesting was that scientistis believe the antibody Immunoglobulin E (IgE) was created in the body to fight parasites.  Since our bodies generally no longer fight parasites, the IgE has turned on what should be innocuous substances such as food, creating a surge in food allergies but also in other immune diseases such as asthma.  This gives further credence to the Hygiene Theory.

I saw a small part of the program that followed a woman who believed she had allergies and sensitivities to essentially everything from the car steering wheel to her fridge and wore gloves and used oxygen constantly.  While scientific studies hadn’t been able to bear out all of those allergies, she felt she couldn’t cope in the outside world and had isolated herself to get some relief. 

One portion of the program dealt with scientific studies of Barbados due to the significant increase in asthma and allergies there over the last several decades.  So far, the studies have shown that the air pollution is non-existent on the island due to its isolation.  Conclusions drawn from the studies so far seem to indicate that modernization (including better hygiene) and genetics seem to be creating the perfect storm for asthma and allergies to explode.  See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7766656.stm for further information on this particular issue.

Overall, the portion of the documentary I saw was very well done and I’ll try to keep an eye on when it might be on again.  You can also watch the schedule for your own interest at:  http://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/passionateeyemonday/2009/allergyplanet/.

I’m on a lot of different news lists and have been absolutely inundated over the last 10 days or so with research, interviews and more coming from the allergy world.   Here are some links that may be of interest to you:

Black male children have a 4 times greater possibility of developing food allergies:  http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/03/18/2009-03-18_black_male_children_are_four_times_more_.html

Parents of Australian food allergic children found to lack food allergy awareness in a recent study:   http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-03/ra-cpl031609.php

Kids found to be misdiagnosed with food allergies on a regular basis and that skin and blood tests aren’t reliable on their own:  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101944263