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Maybe the rise in allergies is due to the rise in awareness as opposed to hysteria.

Although I DO agree about the mass hysteria about the peanuts (It's a peanut - hit the floor!), as a family with food allergies that nearly killed my child - allergy to wheat, misdiagnosed as ulcers, and therefore fed more wheat... I can truly feel the pain!!!!

I think we as a society are becoming more aware of the allergens and are diagnosing them. As a child I was told I just had a nervous stomach because I didn't like school - "now drink your milk or you can't go to recess"...to finding out as an adult my severe stomach pain was caused because of milk allergy/lactose intolerance.

People who have not been there should not judge - severe allergies are real!

Back in the good old days we who have the inherited problems with lactose and/or wheat would have been lucky to have been considered "a separate creation" ~ that way they'd not been plying us with grape juice and raisins (which also have chemicals that cause us problems). (And they'd definitely not been forcing us to Communion.)

A recent study in Finland reported that the genetic problem with wheat extends to at least 3.5% of the population in that country who have the genes for it (and there are now 11 different genes that can cause it). However, the problem with wheat usually only affects about 1.2% of infants and children.

Fortunately it's not really an allergy. Instead, our T-cells are already pre-programmed by the genome to treat wheat as a deadly poison. It's not, of course, but the genome doesn't know that. Lactose intolerance isn't an allergy either ~ it's just normal. Adults up until about 10,000 years ago had a full set of genes that enabled folks to handle milk up until they were 6 years old or so, and then they shut down lactase production. Normal adults can't handle milk, but mutants can (how's that for spin).

In the US, about 5% of whites, 25% of African Americans and virtually 100% of Asian Americans cannot digest lactose without the aid of lactase pills.With 7% of all Americans having some degree of trouble with milk, and another 3.5% having some degree of trouble with wheat, you have a nice chunk of the market (10.5%) that will NOT BUY products containing milk or wheat, or both.

Those of you with either problem know how terribly many things like that are sold in modern grocerystores. Even sodapop has wheat additives (called "modified food starch") ~ I'm down to one brand in one flavor because of that.

I'm starting a campaign to force "truth in labeling" on cornbread so that it only has corn in it, and Rice Krispies have only rice! And what's this problem with so many cooks who ruin perfectly good chili by putting in flour when there's so much cornstarch available.

BTW, there's another 40%+ of the population who have a fish allergy to one degree or the other. A few of them really get sick. Most don't.

People who have not been there should not judge - severe allergies are real!

But they are extremely infrequent. I once had a lot of allergy testing done and found that I was "allergic" to lots and lots of things--especially cockroaches and cats. But a reaction to a skin allergy test usually doesn't have much to do with everyday life.

And lactose intolerance is either a genetic disorder or an example of environmentally-induced decreased production of lactase post-weaning, but not an allergy. If you lack the enzyme to break down lactose into galactose and glucose, it'll just go on through until it reaches the friendly gut bacteria that are able to digest it, producing a lot of gas in the process. If your kids are not congenitally lactose intolerant, the best way to make sure that they do not become lactose intolerant is to make sure they keep drinking milk and consuming dairy products after being weaned. This will maintain the production of lactase.

It would be interesting to follow vegans and see how much more misery their children experience throughout life by having become environmentally lactose intolerant because of their parents' choice of lifestyle.

Many food allergies, including milk allergies, are believed to have been caused by exposure to foods earlier in infancy before the leaky junctions of the intestinal lumen have sealed leading to an immune response to various proteins that would normally never be able to cross the gut epithelium. Colostrum in human mother's milk helps to block these junctions.

I agree about the allergies, the bad thing is you can develop them at any time evidently. I spent New Year’s day in the ER due to an allergic reaction to OraJel! I have always had seasonal allergies but nothing like that. I had just applied some to a sore gum at bedtime and woke up with my throat closing up and my mouth swollen twice it’s size.

Turns out after seventy years I am allergic to benzocaine. I am on four different meds including steroids to clear it all up.