Epidemic of Allergies in Developed Countries?

There is a so-called epidemic of allergies in the developed countries such as the US and Europe. You may have seen or heard of kids being allergic to peanuts, seafood, and chocolate. In fact, you may have seen an increasing trend of people being allergic to several different foods. What is the explanation behind this? Well, there’s a theory known as the hygiene hypothesis: the total elimination of certain parasitic creatures and pathogens has resulted in an arm of our adaptive immune system losing its focus and becoming tuned to harmless antigens. Antigens are the agents behind allergy itself, and when our immune system fails to find a target to fire at, they will end up reacting to harmless food allergens. Fortunately, exposure to common foods allergens like those in peanuts at a young age can decrease the advent of allergic reaction

Knowing this, do you think you will expose your younger family members to common food allergens, and maybe let them play in the dirt and mud?

1. The Food Allergy Epidemic. Atlanta Allergy & Asthma. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2022, from https://www.atlantaallergy.com/articles/view/319-the-food-allergy-epidemic