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Children brought up in the countryside are half as likely to sufferfrom food allergies as those brought up in cities, according to a new study from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Isee no reason to be suspicious of this announcement: Feinberg is arespectable institution; the study isn't one of those particularlyattention-seeking exercises in raising a research institute'spublic profile; and the results somehow feel right (not, of course,that intuition is in any way scientifically useful once the sciencehas already been done; but it represents a kind of publicvalidation). In suggesting something wrong with our modern, urbanised lives,studies like this strike a chord, and if they result in a radicalreappraisal of our lifestyles, and we learn to shun the processedand re-adopt the natural and organic, then so much the better. The problem is that when it comes to food allergies, or foodintolerance, we are in that shady area where psychosomaticconsiderations come into play. I am not here talking about thegenuine, life-threatening allergy, where even a whiff of a peanutcan set off anaphylactic shock. The danger of which is, you mightbe surprised to hear, vanishingly rare ( 150 Americans die from food reactions a year, out of a population of well over 300million. And the place is absolutely swimming in peanuts, Igather.) I am talking about the reaction that used to be expressedby the phrase "it doesn't agree with me" a get-out phrase whichcould also include the meaning: "I don't like it." Or it is areversion to the fussy eating of childhood , which masks a greater and deeper unhappiness that the sufferer isunable or unwilling to express. It sometimes seems that people are claiming allergies orintolerances where there are none, or where there are only imaginedones (which, of course, may be as real to the sufferer as a genuineintolerance). It is now the rule and never the exception tobe invited to list any "dietary requirements" before attending anygathering where food will be eaten. This is not just a polite wayof asking if you adhere to a certain religion. It's also asking youpolitely if you're a fusspot. As it happens, there is a food thatmakes me feel really rather uncomfortable when I've eaten it, and Ialways think after doing so, "well, that was a mistake" but thatfood is pancakes, and I love pancakes, so my intolerance can goand, so to speak, stuff itself. So it might be salutary for us not to fret over our milderallergies, but to regard them as of little or no consequence. Lynda Snell's hayfever in The Archers is deliberately represented as a symbol ofher irritating neediness; good. I suffer from hayfever, sometimesdebilitatingly, but so what? The summer is great. Contact with adog brings me out in a rash, with asthma, and streaming eyes, butif there's a pleasant dog around, I pat it and rub its ears. Withcats it's even worse that is, the attention I am prepared tolavish on them far exceeds that which I spend on dogs. As forhorses, forget it I'm a wreck after being near one, even at theraces, it seems, but patting them on the nose and getting vaguelychummy with them is one of life's small, keen pleasures. I wasrecently tested for animal allergies to find out just why I was sowheezy. I discovered, after what was perhaps a footling use of NHSresources, that I was allergic to all common domestic animalsexcept rabbits. So the specialist advised me to ditch the cat andget a rabbit. Thus fundamentally failing to appreciate what makesan engaging pet. So I told him the only way I would have a rabbitin the house would be if it was in a casserole. I amrabbit-intolerant. This article was commissioned after a suggestion from SpectacledLangour. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Rechargeable Lead Acid Batteries , China Carbon-zinc Batteries for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Lifepo4 Rechargeable Battery.
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