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What I learned about allergies
24 June 2005
The kids began their shrieking competition at 6am. . .
I was late leaving the house because I couldn't find the car keys. (Matt, 5, had decided they would be safer tucked inside one of his shoes.)
Then the car's air-conditioning packed in halfway along the M4.
It was so hot I felt like sticking my head out of the window to get some air, like a dog.
But despite it all, I made it to the Allergy Show on Saturday.
The sunshine and muggy heat didn't seem to put people off. Olympia was packed with exhibitors and visitors.
I spent a good while picking up information and discovering some amazing new innovations. . .
Salt pipes for asthma. . . anti-dust mite bed coolers. . . eye drops for computer users. . . water ionisers. . . eczema creams. . .
You name it, I drank it, ate it, tried it or bought it!
Eventually I staggered out of there with bags and bags of stuff (much like my wife at the summer sales), including a brand new hi-tech super-juicer sold to me by a slick salesman.
If you went to the show you probably saw the guy doing his stuff. . . microphone clipped to his lapel. . . benefits rolling off his tongue. . . making bad jokes about his wife. . .
All the usual patter. But what really caught my eye was what he did with a Brussel sprout. . .
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Get healthy with yummy sprout lemonade!
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While he was demonstrating the juicer, he suddenly added a Brussel sprout to a glass of lemonade.
Yes. That's right. A Brussel sprout.
In lemonade.
'One of these,' he proclaimed, 'has as much iron and goodness as an entire portion when boiled.'
'Oooooh,' the small crowd gasped.
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'And this,' he said, holding up a spear of asparagus, 'has more protein that the same weight of rice, corn, or beans.'
'Oooooh,' went the crowd,
And in it went, too.
Then he picked up a kiwi fruit.
'Did you know that there is 5 times as much vitamin C in a kiwi fruit than there is in an orange?'
We all shook our heads.
'Well now you do,' he said chucking it into the juicer, unpeeled and almost whole.
'The thing about fruit,' he continued, 'Is that the bit you always throw away - the core - is the most healthy.'
What pips contain, in fact, is something called Vitamin B17 - which has been known to fight cancer. The best source is, in fact, peach or apricot kernels. (But I will save this for another letter, as it's an interesting subject in itself.)
Finally, the salesman threw in a lemon and 3 apples, pressed the button and a greeny-yellow liquid sluiced out.
The result? A great tasting lemonade - with a portion of fresh raw greens included. Amazing.
So what I am saying. . . in a roundabout way, is that, yes. . .
. . .I bought the juicer.
I'll let you know over the coming months whether a daily dose of home-juiced fruit and veg can transform your health for the better.
Now, back to allergies. . .
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Are you making a mistake when you clean your house?
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There's still a lot of mystery about allergens in food.
What we know is that some components of some foods react with antibodies to cause a hypersensitive reaction.
What's harder to find out is exactly why one thing will trigger an allergic reaction for one person and not for another.
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But at least with a food allergy you can avoid eating the culprit.
More tricky are allergic reactions to our daily surroundings. For example, your home right now could be an allergy time bomb.
Dust mites. . . wool fibres. . . animal hairs. . . they could all be the cause of asthma, hay fever and other respiratory problems.
So here's how to make your home 'low allergen'.
- Before you start, know your allergy. Find out the cause by getting a skin-prick test or RAST blood test. The charity Action Against Allergy suggest you go to an allergy specialist, although your GP could help. They advise against going to a commercial organisation.
- Lay off the housework a little! Yes, good news. By vacuuming and dusting too much you can boost the levels of dust-mite allergen in the air. Do a good clean once a week. Or, better, get someone else to do it. You have an excuse.
- Be careful of using air filters. These are very good at taking offending particles out of the air, but they don't help if the cause is your pillow, sheets or cat.
- Watch out for misleading adverts. No allergy product you get on the shop shelves is a 'miracle worker'. Remember that 'anti- allergenic' pillows are just pillows with no feathers. They are no better for protecting you from dust-mites, which actually prefer the less-tightly woven fabric of synthetic pillows.
- Don't turn your mattress over! Health sections of magazines often advise you to do this. But airing your mattress by turning it over regularly actually releases huge clouds of allergen from the mattress. . . and straight up your nose.
- If you're the one with the allergy - get out of the house while someone else to goes to work cleaning sheets and pillows, dusting and hovering. And stay out for the day if you can.
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Think you have a food allergy? Do this immediately!
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I also got some good information from The British Allergy Foundation - Allergy Foundation - who say:
'True food allergy is at present a fairly uncommon occurrence with approximately 2% of the population diagnosed as suffering.
'There has however been a very worrying increase in the number of severe food allergy cases and it is vital that anyone with a food allergy should be under the advice of an allergy specialist.
'We strongly recommend anyone with a food allergy, however mild, to keep a food diary recording everything that is eaten and drunk and what reaction occurs.'
So if you are at all concerned you may have a food allergy, do something now. Keep a diary and then go to an allergy specialist for a test.
They will be able to sort you out much quicker if you come prepared.
Now, I think it's time for one Ray Collins to go and test out his new juicer.
Do you think there's a juice recipe that helps you find car keys?
Yours, as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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