Personally, I am not allergic to nuts or any nut related products but I've known classmates throughout my life that are deathly allergic to nuts and must carry an epipen around with them wherever they go. I, myself, am allergic to cats which makes my eyes blow up and a few different foods that make my throat itch like cherries, for example. I always wondered why someone may be allergic to something and why it may arise later in life because I loved cherries when I was younger, they were even my my favorite fruit, but now if I eat one my throat will immediately begin to feel irritated. Jennifer Scott wrote an article explaining that when your body responds to an allergic reaction it produces immunoglobulin (IgE) which send signals to certain cells which cause your your skin or throat to itch, hives throughout your body, or however your body chooses to respond to the allergy. Research has shown that immunoglobulin has been found in genes that are essential to your immune system. Those genes on chromosome six have been linked to a peanut allergy. So it could be possible that your immune system is attacking the food or whatever a person may be allergic to as if it were a cold or the flu and your body must react to show that something is wrong so don't eat whatever it may be anymore. Allergies are also affected by a person's daily envirement such as house pets, diet, or air pollution. This could mean that by simply changing your diet your allergic reaction could decrease how it affects your body as a whole. More research must be done to fully understand why a person is a allergic to something is a consequence to the body.
I luckily am only slightly allergic to certain fruits like apples and have seasonal allergies. Considering apples with peanut butter is one of my favorite snacks, I'm glad to know that my body doesn't produce immunoglobulin when I have peanut butter. It's weird that one can suddenly develop an allergy to something they were fine with . I hope that doesn't happen to me with peanut butter because butterfingers are my favorite candy and it's pretty much just layers of peanuts.
ReplyDeleteI thought this article was very interesting. I also know a lot of people that are allergic to nuts or other things. I never knew exactly how an allergy worked until now. As it produces immunoglobulin and sends signals to certain cells which causes the reaction. However, I do know some people that have overcome their allergies by basically changing their lifestyle just a bit.
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