Comment by rwmj
4 years ago
It could be sampling bias or increased availability, but it does seem as if allergies in general are increasing: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/02/747545877/se...
4 years ago
It could be sampling bias or increased availability, but it does seem as if allergies in general are increasing: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/08/02/747545877/se...
I mean, that’s comparing one figure, which came from who-knows-where, to one new study; it’s not hugely convincing. Especially as at least the new figure is via self-reporting.
One thing I think people forget with this stuff, 50 years ago many people just weren’t exposed. I live in Ireland; when my grandparents were kids everyone in the country could’ve been allergic to sesame and no-one would have noticed; it just wasn’t part of the food culture.
Now, it is. In general, particularly in rural areas, most peoples’ diets were extremely restrictive until pretty recently; in industrialised countries people are exposed to a lot more variety than a couple of generations back.
Definitely the right questions to be asking, and I have no idea of the answers.