School kids and Epipens (food allergy, lens, hives, stomach)
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I'm 58 years old and went to school in the 1960's and '70's. One thing I hear from younger folks is "The same allergies were around then. They just weren't as publicized/well known". I understand your point, but growing up I didn't see anyone with a food allergy (gluten, peanut butter, whatever) and they never made the news at all. So I would agree that something has changed over the years to cause all this.
I don't know. We didn't use a cafeteria until Junior High, we either went home or packed a lunch. One might assume that parents wouldn't feed their kids something that would make their kid sick. Once we hit Junior High and the cafeteria you did see kids getting sick or having stomach issues.
Two of my kids, one born in 1983 the other 1996, both have severe food allergies, especially to peanuts. The middle two do not although one is allergic to cats.
I had food allergies, milk was one which doesn't bode well when you have a dairy farm, as well as tomatoes. Mrs. NBP has been allergic to fish all her life and we both have cats as well as certain plant pollens on the list. I was born in 1954 and her in 1956 so yeah, food allergies as well as others have been around.
I still say some of it, like gluten, is just better diagnosis. Fifty years ago a kid felt crappy every time he ate bread he just didn't eat bread.
One theory is that we're now too sterile and kids aren't exposed to as many allergens now.
I still say some of it, like gluten, is just better diagnosis. Fifty years ago a kid felt crappy every time he ate bread he just didn't eat bread.
One theory is that we're now too sterile and kids aren't exposed to as many allergens now.
Agreed on both. Some of the severe allergies may have killed kids in the 1950s and 1960s and no one knew exactly why- or they figured it out in the autopsy.
I also wonder about some of the ingredients in processed foods. A friend who usually can't tolerate gluten said that she could eat bread when she went to Slovenia to visit family and was fine. We don't always know every effect of genetically modifying crops. And there may be some chemicals that the human body just isn't meant to handle. DS, who's blessed with excellent health, once developed hives. I called his day care provider and asked if he'd had anything unusual- and all she could think of was the Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid he'd had that day. He's now 33 and hasn't had hives since. Hasn't had Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid, either.
Agreed on both. Some of the severe allergies may have killed kids in the 1950s and 1960s and no one knew exactly why- or they figured it out in the autopsy.
I also wonder about some of the ingredients in processed foods. A friend who usually can't tolerate gluten said that she could eat bread when she went to Slovenia to visit family and was fine. We don't always know every effect of genetically modifying crops. And there may be some chemicals that the human body just isn't meant to handle. DS, who's blessed with excellent health, once developed hives. I called his day care provider and asked if he'd had anything unusual- and all she could think of was the Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid he'd had that day. He's now 33 and hasn't had hives since. Hasn't had Purplesaurus Rex Kool-Aid, either.
Some of it could be better diagnosis but I think a lot of it is the things that are added to our foods. Before we had all these additives, people just ate the food, not the artificial color, the artificial flavoring, the artificial preservative. I don't know what these things do to people, but I think they do something.
Kids did have some allergies back in the 1950s, of course. I had a good friend who had terrible eczema. Turned out she was allergic to feathers and cats, in fact there was a whole list of things she was allergic to. Her eczema disappeared once she got those allergens out of her life.
And, yes, a few kids had asthma too. Caused by whatever they were allergic to probably. But mostly we didn't have kids in school who had these dangerous food allergies
I broke out in hives from some kids' cereal that had some strange additive. But mostly, we didn't have foods that were artificially colored or flavored. Our cereals weren't colored neon green or red or blue.
People my age probably did get some of this artificial stuff in the food but not that much. Generations before didn't get the additives; not that their food was perfect, but the junk food and food with all the additives didn't exist. If they lived on a farm and grew all their own food, good chance there wasn't any junk added to it. It was simply...food.
Some of it could be better diagnosis but I think a lot of it is the things that are added to our foods. Before we had all these additives, people just ate the food, not the artificial color, the artificial flavoring, the artificial preservative. I don't know what these things do to people, but I think they do something.
Kids did have some allergies back in the 1950s, of course. I had a good friend who had terrible eczema. Turned out she was allergic to feathers and cats, in fact there was a whole list of things she was allergic to. Her eczema disappeared once she got those allergens out of her life.
And, yes, a few kids had asthma too. Caused by whatever they were allergic to probably. But mostly we didn't have kids in school who had these dangerous food allergies
I broke out in hives from some kids' cereal that had some strange additive. But mostly, we didn't have foods that were artificially colored or flavored. Our cereals weren't colored neon green or red or blue.
People my age probably did get some of this artificial stuff in the food but not that much. Generations before didn't get the additives; not that their food was perfect, but the junk food and food with all the additives didn't exist. If they lived on a farm and grew all their own food, good chance there wasn't any junk added to it. It was simply...food.
Food additives, unchecked and not properly investigated, were very high in the 50s and 60s remember. The 50s were awful - and its when fast food and TV dinners became popular (as well as popularity of canned foods, and freezer ownership moving people away from fresh foods). There was far, far less attention (and rules) paid to what went into processed foods in the 50s than today. Sure if you lived on the farm and grew your own then you might be good - although pesticides were pretty liberally applied back then without any thought as to the consequences. DDT was sprayed all over.
A lot of allergies are simply imagined - like the gluten hysteria. The actual percentage of people with celiac disease or actual gluten allergy is low. I've seen people come on here and say they are allergic to all artificial sweeteners. Which would simply be miraculous since allergies are allergen-specific and every artificial sweetener type is a different molecule (ie a different allergen).
There's a lot more of people just making up **** nowadays. But there is also informational spread that wasn't available in the 50s and 60s due to less connectedness. We all hear about the kid dying from the peanut allergy each month nowadays, you didn't back then - but it still happened.
As for overall allergy-incidence - definitely diagnoses are up but the jury is still out as to whether that reflects an actual increased incidence.
Agreed on both. Some of the severe allergies may have killed kids in the 1950s and 1960s and no one knew exactly why- or they figured it out in the autopsy.......
One of the local newspapers here used to do News of the Past section. A couple that stick out were kids (teenish if I remember) who came down from DC to the beach, had a picnic and died. Official cause of death was "apoplexy".
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