Comment by rsynnott

4 years ago

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.