What Causes Allergies?

Allergy season is in full swing! Cars are covered in pollen, sneezes abound, and Claritin is being swiped off the shelves faster than toilet paper. 

In this video we discuss the difference between allergies and food intolerances, the role of our immune system in allergies, different types of allergy tests, and hypotheses as to why people have more allergies now than they did 100 years ago!

 

// SOURCES 

Adaptive vs innate immunity: http://www.biology.arizona.edu/immunology/tutorials/immunology/page3.html

Allergy testing info: 

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/3-reasons-why-home-allergy-tests-probably-wont-help-you/

Different kind of allergy tests review: 

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1258/acb.2011.011011

Genetic tests and allergies: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5407010/

Importance of not putting children on diets based off of allergy tests:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jun/04/bogus-allergy-tests-causing-real-harm-say-experts

Blood testing for allergies: 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314037/pdf/1840666.pdf

Making sense of allergies PDF: 

https://senseaboutscience.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Making-Sense-of-Allergies-1.pdf

Frequent allergies: 

(https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/allergies-more-frequent_us_561b1687e4b0e66ad4c85844)

Overactive immune system: https://www.embriahealth.com/resources/healthlifestylereports

Germany Environmental factors: 

https://www.allergicliving.com/2010/11/20/allergies-why-so-many-now/

Epigenetics and allergies: 

https://www.npr.org/2013/04/15/177319365/the-doctor-trying-to-solve-the-mystery-of-food-allergies