Food Allergies -- The Causes

Thank you, both for the article and for looking into this some more!

A lot of people in my family suffer from food allergies too...my father from some particularly inconvenient ones.

Cazort-

Like I said in our earlier correspondence- I'm SO going to look those things up! My siblings suffer from food allergies, and my sister is one of the most rare cases recorded in medical history- therefore, I realize after reading the first comment- I was a bit unclear on some aspects of food allergies.

Thank You :)

This sounds like propaganda to me. The International Food Information Council Foundation masquerades as an independent science-based non-profit, but it is essentially a puppet of the industrial agriculture business. It is aggressively pushing the (incorrect and unscientific) idea that allergies are caused solely by genetic factors because there is fear (and warranted fear) that commercial agriculture could be introducing toxins into the environment that could be one of the many factors contributing to allergies.

My grandfather, Alan Cazort, was one of the early allergists, and I also know a number of contemporary doctors and a few researchers in immunology who have all told me the same thing--that allergies, like most health problems, are caused by an interaction between genetic factors and environmental factors. The Wikipedia page on Allergy has a good section on causes that cites a number of studies. It's common sense and common knowledge, and backed solidly by science.

As the "tea person" I want to also mention that there is a lot of hype surrounding Rooibos (a South African plant used in herbal teas) as a treatment for allergy. There has not been a huge amount of research done on this plant, but so far, there is no evidence that it can treat allergy. However, there is some evidence that it can promote healthy immune system function, so it may show promise for preventing allergy. There is also some evidence that it is helpful for treating respiratory ailments such as asthma, so it may be a useful treatment for the symptoms of respiratory allergy. The page on Rooibos on RateTea.net has a few links to further scientific studies if anyone is interested.

One of my close friends was had severe food allergies until her 20's. She seemed to simply grew out of them as she grew up. Is this common and how is this possible if food allergies are considered genetic?

Nonsense. There is a large body of good research indicating that while genetics certainly can predispose a person to allergy, there are many factors that can trigger that propensity into full blown allergies. The first and perhaps most important is whether an infant is exclusively breastfeed for the first 4-6 months of life. It is not only that breastmilk is full of protective antibodies, but that it is full of substances that cause the infant's gut to mature & be less permeable. A permeable gut leads to sensitization. Formula feeding exposing an immature gut and immune system to huge (proportionately) amounts of a foreign protein (formula) and is well established in medical literature as increasing not only frequency but severity of allergic symptoms. We can't change our genes, but we can minimize allergies by exclusively breastfeeding for at least 6 months preferably longer.