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For more reading on this subject, check out this insightful charticle by Meredith Broussard in Harper’s Magazine in which she dissects a brochure issued by the Food Allergies & Anaphylaxis Network. One detail I particularly loved: the debunking of the news story from 2005 where a teenager died from kissing a boy who had eaten a peanut butter sandwich earlier in the day. The major news outlets covered this as though it was a food allergy death, when in fact the coroner ruled that the girl had smoked pot before the kiss and died of an asthma attack.
This isn’t the first time CHOW has covered faulty allergy testing and bogus allergy complaints. Bottom line: Sometimes “allergic” just means “I don’t like it.”
Image source: Flickr member Dan4th under Creative Commons
A few food allergies are real. Those can be life-threatening.
Most are fictitious. Overzealous people wield them as weapons. Instead of a polite "I don't care for that" they say "I'm allergic to that" in an accusatory tone. They expect an apology and immediate attention to their objection.
Food allergies are like tobacco smoke allergies: more fashionable than real.
In my complete exasperation I made a typo! That should read 'IGH-1.'
My 'allergies' are IHG-1 reactions and a diet tailored to thyroid disease. I never make a big stink about it in a restaurant, and I always choose what I CAN eat instead of asking for substitutions, but I do call them 'allergies' if it comes up because I can NOT eat certain things. Food reactions are not always histamine reactions and this is not something I feel the need to get into tableside...+READ
My 'allergies' are IHG-1 reactions and a diet tailored to thyroid disease. I never make a big stink about it in a restaurant, and I always choose what I CAN eat instead of asking for substitutions, but I do call them 'allergies' if it comes up because I can NOT eat certain things. Food reactions are not always histamine reactions and this is not something I feel the need to get into tableside with a server in a restaurant. To the author of this article, enjoy your health. And maybe try to gain some compassion for those of us that don't.-COLLAPSE
Except, some allergies aren't bogus. And some "intolerances" aren't anything you want to deal with. Could we have some compassion here?
I didn't have any food allergies that I knew of, but recently, I started eating an orange (which I hadn't liked during most of my younger life) everyday. Since doing that, I've been getting a rash on my cheeks. Am I faking it if I believe that I have an allergy to oranges? Maybe it's a coincidence, eh?
The bottom line is that falsely believing you have a food allergy doesn't hurt anyone...+READ
I didn't have any food allergies that I knew of, but recently, I started eating an orange (which I hadn't liked during most of my younger life) everyday. Since doing that, I've been getting a rash on my cheeks. Am I faking it if I believe that I have an allergy to oranges? Maybe it's a coincidence, eh?
The bottom line is that falsely believing you have a food allergy doesn't hurt anyone because you just deny yourself some food. Yes, there are some reactions to peanuts which can be serious enough that people can't even be around peanut dust. Some people can go into anaphylactic shock and die. If 5-8% of people have this potential, then a little hysteria is worth it if it saves their lives.-COLLAPSE
I rushed my mother to the hospital several times as she turned purple because her throat swelled shut. She was allergic to shellfish, sulfites, a bunch of meds, and as she got older the list grew larger. A doctor nearly killed my mother once because he didn't believe she could be allergic to steroids. So, yes, we were sensitive to the issue.
We never expected other people to change what they...+READ
I rushed my mother to the hospital several times as she turned purple because her throat swelled shut. She was allergic to shellfish, sulfites, a bunch of meds, and as she got older the list grew larger. A doctor nearly killed my mother once because he didn't believe she could be allergic to steroids. So, yes, we were sensitive to the issue.
We never expected other people to change what they ate, but we did expect that they would not try to serve her food that could kill her.
I have found that people who call food allergies "hysteria" are people who have not suffered from food allergies or had loved ones who have suffered from food allergies. All it takes is watching someone you love turn blue once to get you paranoid, especially if that someone is your child.
So yes, some people go overboard to protect their child or other relative. I posit that anyone who has seen a true allergic reaction once would understand these feelings.-COLLAPSE
I love food. Love cooking, love eating out. Love Chowhound, even.
More than that, I love my incredible 6 year old son, who has multiple food allergies, and who has been rushed to the ER SIX TIMES for anaphylaxis.
The NYT article said nothing new. I would write more, but for now, I am too tired. Better I leave you all with these links:
http://cbs2.com/local/Teen.dies.Chino.2.1689075.html
She...+READ
I love food. Love cooking, love eating out. Love Chowhound, even.
More than that, I love my incredible 6 year old son, who has multiple food allergies, and who has been rushed to the ER SIX TIMES for anaphylaxis.
The NYT article said nothing new. I would write more, but for now, I am too tired. Better I leave you all with these links:
http://cbs2.com/local/Teen.dies.Chino.2.1689075.html
She died Tuesday.
And,
http://www.faiusa.org/?page=FAI_and_FAAN_Respond_to_Articles_on_Prevalence-COLLAPSE
Well now, honestly I can't believe that the writer actually got away with posting such a hurtful and accusatory article. Ignoring the fact that last week was national food allergy awareness week and that's probably why the article got published, I guess it isn't enough that most of the country already doesn't take food allergies seriously enough. So let's all go out of our ways to attack people...+READ
Well now, honestly I can't believe that the writer actually got away with posting such a hurtful and accusatory article. Ignoring the fact that last week was national food allergy awareness week and that's probably why the article got published, I guess it isn't enough that most of the country already doesn't take food allergies seriously enough. So let's all go out of our ways to attack people who said those allergies!
Hey guys, I think that people are faking caner too!
No but seriously- while yes I'm sure that the media and society at large has sensationalized this food allergy "craze," but do realize that it IS the media... what haven't been sensationalized?
My friend's Dad has an anaphylactic allergy to shrimp, which he found out after he was rushed to ER when he stopped breathing after dinner one night. So yes, I guess people can be pretty sensitive about "this issue" when it can potentially kill you.
Why are you so bent out of shape about other people's allergies and what they do about them again?-COLLAPSE
I'm with you Lessley. Hysteria Galore.
For years I have noticed that geographic location of an American has a direct bearing on his percieved sensitivity to allergies! I have seen this for many years all over this country, in very different kinds of environments.
City people for some reason appear to suffer from far more allergies and reactions than do people who live in a more natural...+READ
I'm with you Lessley. Hysteria Galore.
For years I have noticed that geographic location of an American has a direct bearing on his percieved sensitivity to allergies! I have seen this for many years all over this country, in very different kinds of environments.
City people for some reason appear to suffer from far more allergies and reactions than do people who live in a more natural environment, and in a place where a more physically demanding lifestyle is the norm.
I've always wondered, why?
Is it people being removed from the world we were meant to live in? Are they weaker? Is it the chemicals that permeateeverything in a city?
Is it a percieved delicacy that really isn't there? So curious.
People get real sensitive about this issue too.-COLLAPSE
belly, part of the problem is that the over-hyping of food allergies results in some pretty draconian actions like banning peanut butter and jelly sandwiches from schools, to name one. I don't see a problem with separating out fact from fiction.
Oh, get off the high horse, Lessley! :-)
The NY Times article indicates *doubt* - so why do you claim certainty?
You write that people mistake other food sensitivities for allergies, but this still allows that food sensitivities exist. If you get hives each time you eat eggs, for example, it might be a sensitivity and not an allergy.... But does it really matter what it gets called? Either...+READ
Oh, get off the high horse, Lessley! :-)
The NY Times article indicates *doubt* - so why do you claim certainty?
You write that people mistake other food sensitivities for allergies, but this still allows that food sensitivities exist. If you get hives each time you eat eggs, for example, it might be a sensitivity and not an allergy.... But does it really matter what it gets called? Either way - you'll avoid the eggs. And you write that 'allergic' can just mean 'I don't like it.' What if the person really does like eggs?
Anyhow - mass hysteria or not, the symptoms are often real and consistent. Give folks the benefit of the doubt. Medicine doesn't understand a lot about the gut yet.-COLLAPSE
Isn't an asthma attack similar to symptoms of anaphylactic shock? And since when do people get asthma attacks from smoking weed?