UK: Fruit and vegetable allergies on the rise in children

[heart]

Fruit and vegies new allergy fear - National Rural News - Agribusiness and General - General - The Land

Allergy specialists in Britain say the alarming rise in fruit and vegetable allergies has mainly affected younger children.


Pamela Ewan, an allergy consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, told the BBC that most patients suffered symptoms including swelling in the mouth and throat and breathing difficulties.


"We have seen a big rise in the number of cases in the past four to five years. It is a bit like the peanut allergy was the epidemic of the 1990s," she said.


"I think fruit and vegetables are becoming the epidemic now. In terms of numbers, fruit and vegetables are the new form of peanut allergy."

There has been an increase in adverse reactions to bananas and kiwi fruits, but peanuts and tree nuts remain the most common triggers for severe allergic attacks in Australia, according to Maria Said, president of Anaphylaxis Australia.

 

[OrangeAppled]

I wonder how much this has to do with genetic modification of crops.

 

[Haphazard]

Apparently what makes peanuts an allergen is the exposure to peanut dust after it's roasted. In places where peanuts are not roasted, this allergy is unheard of.

It may not have to do with them being "GM" at all, probably more to do with how they're harvested, stored, or prepared.

 

[Phantonym]

I wonder how much this has to do with genetic modification of crops.

That, plus the pesticides used and the overall pollution and all kinds of chemical compounds used to process food and who knows what else. Put all that together and you get nasty results.

 

[Queen Kat]

Maybe children eat less healthy nowadays and their bodies are simply not used to fruits and vegetables? Maybe it works just like how children who grow up in ultraclean environments get all kinds of allergies for dust etc.

 

[niffer]

^ Kids have been veggie-hating little brats since the beginning of time.

Perhaps with all the "go green" and attempts to eat healthier nowadays, fruits and vegetables are undergoing experimental methods of processing which are somehow affecting the food products themselves or the environment of the people living nearby.

Perhaps they are taking out allergens that are naturally present in these foods which cause people to become immune to them throughout life when they eat them at a young age. Without being exposed to these in small amounts early on, when these kids are offered larger amounts of fruits/vegetables their body suffers an adverse reaction to them.

In addition, exotic fruits such as bananas and kiwis are picked far before they are ripe before they are sent to places such as North America or the UK. Without being able to ripen naturally, the fruits probably still have certain compounds in them that they produce during their growing phase which are broken down once they are ripe. These, in combination with pesticides and other industrial chemicals, may create an allergenic or even toxic effect in the human body.

This is my guess.

edit:

I wonder how much this has to do with genetic modification of crops.

Btw, this is entirely possible. A lot of produce nowadays is GM'ed or selectively bred to have higher natural sugar content, or higher content of other nutrients. Other things too, such as to be naturally resistant to crop disease or chemical execution from the very pesticides that prevent wildlife from eating them. Vulnerable young bodies especially may not be able to handle these high-fructose or very nutritionally dense foods.