LATimes, Nut Allergies
A loyal Allergic Girl reader alerted me to this op/ed piece about nut allergies in the Los Angeles Times from January 9, 2009 entitled:
“Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention: Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad reactions to their parents' mass hysteria."
It's really a reaction to a reaction to a reaction. But still, I say read it. It important to know what's out there. And remember, this is just one dude's opinion.
UPDATE: Here's an excellent response from Dr. Wood to the Stein Op/Ed.
“Nut allergies -- a Yuppie invention: Some kids really do have food allergies. But most just have bad reactions to their parents' mass hysteria."
It's really a reaction to a reaction to a reaction. But still, I say read it. It important to know what's out there. And remember, this is just one dude's opinion.
UPDATE: Here's an excellent response from Dr. Wood to the Stein Op/Ed.
Comments
Granted, we may not be mutating at an X-Men rate, but considering the massive changes towards eating mostly processed foods, and flooding our environment with chemicals that act as endocrine disrupters, among other things over the past 100 years, it's no wonder to me that we have obesity & diabetes epidemics and have a higher instance of food allergy and food intolerance. Genetics is not the only factor at play here; thanks to modern food manufacturing, we've simply made it harder to avoid hidden allergens.
The author needs to learn more about the difference between "true" allergy and food intolerance, and that intolerances can be just as bad. Just because a particular food isn't going to send us into anaphylactic shock doesn't mean it doesn't do serious harm to our bodies and make us really sick (take Celiac Disease for instance.) It's really a shame he doesn't understand that. Perhaps in the future he'll research the topic more fully, rather than simply citing one or two articles that he may or may not have interpreted correctly.
I will never understand how people like Joel Stein believe that those with food allergies themselves, or parents of kids with this condition have powers of magical thinking that will "force" a person to severely react to nuts.
I didn't even know what nut allergies were when my daughter reacted for the first time. What parent would want this?
He's clearly very uniformed and trying to be snarky about something deadly serious.
Maybe Joel Stein should stick to reviewing the '80s for VH1.