Growing up you may have had friends or family suffer from a food allergy, which is an immune system reaction to eating a specific type of food. These reactions can vary in severity from itchiness and swelling, all the way to the air passageway closing and becoming fatal if medical attention is not sought out. As time progresses, food allergies are becoming more and more common across the globe. Though, scientist are still trying to figure out why we have food allergies in the first place. They are lead to believe it has to do with genes and environmental factors. In a recent study it was found that polymorphisms in 9 genes have been associated with food allergies, yet this has not been a proven association. Some similar allergies that are not food related, like asthma and skin rashes have a little more knowledge behind their genetic coding but is still pretty untouched in the research world.
Food allergies being extremely common across the globe, it is fascinating how little research has been conducted and resulted. I have multiple people in my life with varying food allergies and it is very scary not knowing why they react the way that they do, especially when in many cases one accidental ingestion of a food someone has an allergy to could lead to a serious emergency room trip. Finding a cure could also revolutionize the stress management of parents who have to slowly introduce their babies to new foods in fear that they might have a severe reaction. Once more research is conducted and investigated I can only hope that will lead to a cure for those suffering with food allergies.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892276/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/food-allergy/symptoms-causes/syc-20355095
I have friends and family with certain food allergies, one allergic to legumes and another to avocados. I'm curious to know if food allergies are connected to genes, because it makes me wonder why such a potentially detrimental gene would exist in the first place.
ReplyDeleteA family member of mine has a severe food allergy to peanuts and any type of nut so I know how challenging it can be to alter your life around it. If allergies are connected to genes, I wonder the possibilities that can be performed to decrease the reactions people have to certain things. I am very curious to hear future studies on this!
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