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I recently had a puzzling experience and wonder whether you might be able to shed some light on it. Over the past few years I’ve become increasingly unable to eat wheat without experiencing significant gastrointestinal distress, and I’ve been eating a gluten-free diet for about two years as a result. A couple of weeks ago, I traveled to Hungary and succumbed to the temptation of eating some irresistibly fabulous, crusty European bread. I figured I’d pay the price but that it would be worth it. However, nothing happened. By the end of the trip I was feasting on croissants, thin-crust...

Cathryn Nagler PhD, a food allergy professor at the University of Chicago discusses her research on the cause of food allergies and states: Environmental stimuli such as antibiotic overuse, high fat diets, caesarean birth, removal of common pathogens and even formula feeding have affected the microbiota with which we’ve co-evolved. Our results suggest this could contribute to the increasing susceptibility to food allergies. Interestingly, current research on the cause of food allergies does not consider vaccination as a contributing factor. However, in the past, there have been studies demonstrating an association between vaccine ingredients and development of food allergies. This...

Did your grandparents have food allergies? Mine sure didn’t. A stark comparison to the growing epidemic of food allergies, worsening with every generation. So why didn’t your grandparents have food allergies? It’s really quite simple… 1) THEY ATE SEASONAL REAL FOOD. Food came from farms and small markets in the early 1900’s, and because food preservatives were not widely used yet, food was fresh. Because of the lack of processed food, their diets were nutrient dense, allowing them to get the nutrition they needed from their food. For babies, breast milk was valued and it was always in season. 2)...

HARTFORD, Conn. — Kerry Adamowicz hoped that a meeting with Hartford Yard Goats officials might lead to a few peanut-free days or maybe a peanut-free section at the Double-A baseball team’s stadium, so her son and other children with food allergies could enjoy a game. The team decided to go a bit further. The Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies announced this month it is going completely peanut free — no more peanuts, Cracker Jack or any other food that could put kids with the potentially deadly peanut allergy in anaphylactic shock.

The exploding segment of the population suffering from certain food ailments is skyrocketing, and experts are stumped on the reasons why.

The spring allergy season is hitting much of the country especially hard — and researchers are blaming climate change for more intense pollen counts. There's been a spike in the number of people suffering seasonal allergies, also called hay fever or allergic rhinitis, for the first time, and people in the northwest and southwest are getting the worst of it, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.

A mother on a New York parenting blog wrote Monday that while shopping at the retailer, she gave her four-year-old daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and "a woman stopped me to lecture me about peanut allergies." The child's mother then asked other moms on UrbanBaby if it was unacceptable to eat peanut butter in public. The anti-peanut butter backlash was swift and brutal. Most responses attacked the mother for potentially endangering children with peanut allergies. Some criticized her for feeding her daughter in a shopping cart, which they considered disgusting. "That's really inconsiderate," one person wrote. "So many...

If you're sniffling and sneezing a lot more lately, you're hardly alone. Climate change is making seasonal allergies worse, an expert says. "With the combination of increased temperature and carbon dioxide, we are seeing a dramatic change, and allergy sufferers can probably feel that change," said Dr. Richard Weber, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. "We are experiencing longer allergy seasons, earlier onset and there is just more pollen in the air," said Weber, who's also an allergist at National Jewish Health in Denver. About 40 million Americans have seasonal allergies -- also known as hay...

Maine's Republican governor says people on opiates who get free shots of Narcan have an advantage over people with allergies who have to pay for their own medication. Gov. Paul LePage said during a Tuesday radio call-in that he got a letter from a dad whose family members have to carry allergy pens for reactions to peanuts and bee stings. LePage discussed his bill to fine local governments that don't charge individuals who repeatedly overdose for the cost of administering opioid antidotes. The governor says people with allergies have "done nothing" but have to pay for it.

One of the most popular way doctors get true allergy test results is by doing skin tests. They can be itchy and uncomfortable. You can also get results by drawing blood. But there's a new test on the market that can identify more than 100 allergens, and it's as simple as a finger prick. Mia, 2, is the daughter of someone working for Allergypro, so when she started to shows signs of allergies, they wanted the test. "I wanted to bring her in because she was having reactions," Mia's mother Claudia Handrick said. Dr. Janet Pate with Nurture Pediatrics in...

We all live in an increasingly toxic world Do you remember the line in the musical “Showboat”, the one that says, “It’s summertime and the living is easy”? Maybe it is for some people. But the worst summer I ever endured was during World War II. We all had to contribute to the war effort and my job was to pick peaches on a farm. But for years I had suffered from Hay Fever! Peaches and their fuzz were a Perfect Storm! Could I have avoided this allergy today? It’s estimated that 40 million North Americans now suffer from mild...

If you need a reason to become a dog lover, how about their ability to help protect kids from allergies and obesity? A new University of Alberta study showed that babies from families with pets -- 70 per cent of which were dogs -- showed higher levels of two types of microbes associated with lower risks of allergic disease and obesity. But don't rush out to adopt a furry friend just yet. "There's definitely a critical window of time when gut immunity and microbes co-develop, and when disruptions to the process result in changes to gut immunity," said Anita Kozyrskyj,...

Spring is right around the corner, which means allergy season is on its way. While many Southeastern cities top the list, there are many factors that go into deciding the worst allergy locations around the country. The cities on the list were picked due to the length of allergy seasons. A longer warm season, with an earlier start to spring and a later end to warmth in fall, extends the growing season for allergen-producing plants. According to the Center for Disease Control, more than $18 billion is spent on nasal allergy health costs annually for more than 50 million Americans...

New research shows children, some as young as nine-months-old, with peanut allergies can successfully become desensitized to nuts by eating small doses of peanut protein. To reduce the risk of life-threatening allergic reactions, researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have been studying the use of oral immunotherapy to reduce sensitivity to peanut proteins. The published a new report that found the therapy to be 81 percent effective in preschool-aged children. Only a handful of oral immunotherapy programs exist in Texas. Medical City Dallas has been running its current program for eight years with high success, according...

Hillary 3.45 How long will she last

AllergicLiving: Inside the EpiPen Price Backlash Amid a firestorm of controversy over price hikes on lifesaving EpiPens, drug manufacturer Mylan made a dramatic and unusual move this week – it announced the launch of a lower cost generic replica of its brand-name epinephrine auto-injector. Mylan has been under relentless pressure over the pricing of its EpiPen epineprhine auto-injectors since it surfaced that the list price for a set of two devices reached $609 in May 2016, an increase of more than 500 percent from 2008. To alleviate widespread sticker shock at pharmacy counters, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch’s initial response...

Afterward, Mae and I ducked behind a curtained-off partition to consider our sleeping arrangements: two metal cots, one broken, and zero blankets, (because blankets are absorbent and, according to local logic, our pores were still “off-gassing” dangerous chemicals). Nighttime in the desert is freezing, and Susie’s house did not have heating. I wanted to be unconscious and regretted my semi-recent decision to start weaning off sedatives.

Myriam Ducre-Lemay, 20, died in 2012 after kissing her boyfriend — he'd eaten a peanut butter sandwich and wasn't aware of her peanut allergy (or the severity of it) and she was not carrying her EpiPen with her at the time, CTV News reports. Her mother is just now publicizing the story to help others avoid the same situation. According to CJAD, Ducre-Lemay and her boyfriend had been out at a party earlier that night, which is why she didn't have her medication or her Medic Alert bracelet on her. After the kiss, she had trouble breathing, tried using her...

A fresh food lawsuit has emerged in Massachusetts following an incident at Panera. Boston Magazine reports that back in January, a New England family placed an online order for a meal from the chain's location in Natick. They ordered a grilled cheese sandwich for their six-year-old daughter, noting that it was for a child with a peanut allergy. The parents claim that after taking a bite, the young girl suffered a reaction that sent her to the hospital, and they discovered a dollop of peanut butter inside the sandwich. Luckily an epi pen saved the girl's life, but the family...

Oh boy. Thanks to those among us that have a peanut allergy, everyone else has to have a crappy Halloween. That’s what it means to be a sensitive, “responsible” American these days. Here’s the sign asking parents to only hand out carrot sticks, raisins and other boring treats: