bearisgray

For starters, I am 78 years old - - -

I grew up in a rural area in southern Minnesota.

At that time, I only knew of one person that had food allergies - and from what I heard, her list was about two pages long.

Are food allergies more common now? And if so, what is your theory as to the cause(s)?

Tartan

I have a few sensitivities but they are manageable. The current scientific theory is we are living too clean. Being exposed to lots of different things growing up improve the immune system to better handle allergens.

nativetexan

they seem more common to me. perhaps some is the chemicals we put into our grown foods.

grannie cheechee

​Allergies can change. You may not have ever been allergic to shrimp, but it can happen later. And yes I agree with NativeTexan about chemicals. We also use the soap that can take the natural good flora off your skin. I think we are hearing about more allergies because of media too.

Iceblossom

I think there are a number of factors involved. There are a lot of good reasons for eating as local as you can because you become part of the natural biodiversity.

I think some of us can only tolerate so much of the pollution and environment around us and become more sensitive. I'm the only one in my family with "allergies" although most of them have terrible hay fever which is just a grass/pollen allergy. Dust mites and molds are the big things that bother me but I'm also allergic to down and am not supposed to ever keep birds or chickens much less down pillows. I have a few other problems but fortunately no food and very few plant based allergies.

For the most part, in order to react to something you have to be exposed to it first, so you may have been able to tolerate something like shrimp the first few times you had it, but you hit the overload point and your body reacted. Once it reacts, typically it continues to react, and you can have progressively worse reactions.

And then I think genetics come into play in a number of ways, the ability to digest milk and many other things. There are people who are very anti particular things, among them nightshade family plants (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant among others), or corn or soy. I think there is a lot to be said for their ideas in relation to ethnic groups but not a one-size fits all humans.

cashs_mom

I think that's a lot of the problem. Plus all the processed foods we eat. My food sensitivities are kept under control much easier if I only eat whole foods and prepare things myself. Whatever is added to food in the processing is not good for me.

illinois

I'm hearing some of my children's generation saying they won't put a microwave in their house now. Remember when those first came out, we were cautioned about radiation possibilities? Think of all that has changed over the years--a lot of pre-made/pre-mixed artificially colored foods. Chemicals are added as preservatives for longer shelf life or transportation. Now our pots and pans have coatings to make them easier to clean but is that leaching into our food? More chemicals are being applied to plants and the roadside instead of simply cutting them off. Our ecosystem is also changing so there may be more in the air that we breathe and the products we use. We wash our clothes and immediately put more chemicals on the surface with fabric softeners!

farmquilter

I am seeing a lot of ads on tv about the weed chemical causing cancer it is in/on the food fed to animals and humans.
Recently I saw an article that tells people, what you put on your skin, gets your body. Who did not know that from all the ads for 'patches' on the skin for pain.

I am a widow on the family farm and DH did not use chemicals like big farmers do. We grew what we fed to our beef cattle and they also had a tub of vitamins/minerals to round out their diet. I really miss our good beef but get some from a friend.
Illinois, I make my own laundry soap from castle bar soap and use white vinegar in place of fabric softeners.
Yes, we are seeing way too much rare cancers etc and there has to be a connection to chemicals of any sort.

tranum

Don’t dismiss “bromate” that USA allows to be added to flour. I’ve been told Canada & Europe don’t add it. My friend winters in AZ & her Canadian neighbors bring flour from home. I see King Arthur flour sack says it’s “bromate free”.

zozee

From my observation, most people with food allergies (not mere sensitivities) are millenials.
My theories as to the cause are:

1. The trend toward formula for babies rather than breastmilk. Breastfeeding became less popular in the 80s and 90s as more women went to work, and as a result, more and more babies have had weaker immune systems.
2. Lack of outdoor play. Not only does Vitamin D (from sunshine) aid in digestion and immunity-building, so does activity. I think kids' bodies just are rejecting things that our generation's broke down just by playing outside a lot.
3. Overly processed foods.