February 19, 2008

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Your Food Allergies

I've always been very suspicious of people who claim to have allergies, whether food or otherwise. When pressed, they often say they know they have allergies because "one time I ate X, and the next day I had Y reaction, and everything else I ate that day was something I eat all the time." I'm suspicious not just because such stories lack solid causative links, but also because I once claimed a bullshit allergy of which I was convinced at the time.

While doing yardwork as a kid of maybe seven years old, I once was cutting some elephant ear fronds and got some of the sap on my inner elbow, and the area turned red. I ran inside to wash it off, and then told my parents I couldn't cut elephant ear fronds anymore, because I'm allergic to the sap. I maintained this argument for maybe a year, and then decided voluntarily to cut those fronds the next year because the alternative was raking leaves, which I hated more. Naturally, some of the sap got on me again; no reaction. In retrospect, the most likely explanation for the original irritation was that a frond's jagged, freshly cut edge had scraped me as it deposited sap on my arm.

So... do you have any allergies? What about food allergies? Jeanette claims to be allergic to codeine without having been clinically diagnosed. Her sister, Betty, claims to be allergic to peanuts without having been clinically diagnosed. What do you think you're allergic to? Think about it. Okay. Got it in mind? Now check out this little fact I just read about:

"More than one-quarter of the population in seven countries in the European Union claims to suffer from food allergies or intolerances. ...[C]linical tests indicate that the incidence of such allergies is much lower than commonly believed (about 3.5% of the population)..." -- Herve This, Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring The Science Of Flavor

So... 86% of those who claim they have food allergies are wrong. How sure are you about your allergy now? Are you missing out on all sorts of delicious, peanutty goodness thanks to your own misdiagnosis? Are you avoiding oranges just because you caught a virus after eating them once? Wouldn't you rather feel guilty about eating ice cream because it makes your thighs fat than not eat ice cream at all?

It seems to me like it would be worth getting my allergies clinically tested. Or, if I'm one of the people claim to have a "mild allergy," it seems like it would be worth jumping into the deep end of the pool: Eat what you fear, and see how bad it really is. If you know it's not a serious enough reaction to cause permanent injury, and you don't have anything important going on that weekend, just eat it, and see what happens. There's an 86% chance that you'll experience no adverse effects.

Cross-posted at Barzelay.net.

Posted by Barzelay at February 19, 2008 2:52 PM | Comments (1) | Food Politics and Culture

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