[mikegi]

This food allergy issue has gotten out of control. My wife had trouble supplying a snack for our daughter's preschool class because of the restrictions (take a look at how many products contain peanut or other nut oil in their processing).

I've read about the hygiene argument and it seems possible. I'm not a biologist and did not sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I've known several kids with peanut allergies. My parents' generation, who are now in their 70s, rarely had food allergies and even pollen allergies. I also noticed that many of them never wore glasses until they became farsighted with age. Of course, this is all anecdotal. I'd like to see something more scientific.

[FreedomCalls]

My parents' generation, who are now in their 70s, rarely had food allergies and even pollen allergies.

On the other hand a lot of them died either in infancy or while they were toddlers. Did they even recognize those deaths as possibly allergy-related? Maybe it's just that children are living with an allergy in the 2000s that would have killed them in the 1930s and so it's just more visible.

[Riverine]

I've read a theory of some researchers that a child growing up with house pets is beneficial in that it "exercises" the immune system. seems as though there may be a connection to this issue.

[little jeremiah]

Most people eat food that has many additives such as artifical food coloring, artificial flavoring, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, and a lot of corn syrup. None of these were used a couple of generations ago. It is actually hard to find any "regular" food without these additives. Even when I was a kid (in the 50s) most food I ate at home was cooked at home. Not so any more.

Often when we shop, I look at other peoples' carts and compare the contents to our cart. Our cart contains ingredients like flour, milk, vegetable and fruit produce, butter, raw beans, plain oatmeal (not the instant flavored kind), cheese, and that's about it. Often other carts don't have one natural ingredient. All either cans, packages, microwaveable this and that, every bit of it pre-prepared.

I don't doubt that this has something to do with childrens' allergies. The body can only take so much garbage without some kind of symptom.

[Dunstan McShane]

Of course, this is all anecdotal. I'd like to see something more scientific.

Maybe this is just the emerging intellectually-reactionary curmudgeon in me, but I'm beginning to think we should trust anecdotal information a bit more than science, whose parameters for investigation often dictate the kinds of responses they will get.

Sudden feeling that I am painting a target on myself . . .