So why do some people get allergies, while others don’t? Well that’s exactly the topic of today’s episode, so stay tuned as we dive in.

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Of course plenty of you don’t have allergies, but that doesn’t mean you won’t some time in the future. So let’s talk more about it.

A surprisingly large percentage of people have allergies to at least one substance. By one estimate about 50 million people in the United States do, so that’s about 15% of the population. That percentage has been on the rise for the last 50 years and it looks like it’ll keep trending upward.

Generally allergies are more common in children but people of any age can suddenly discover a fun new allergy to something. Environmental allergies can develop with age, and likewise allergies can be outgrown. Actually quite a lot of kids with milk or egg allergies eventually outgrow them, as many as 60-80%. Then they become more powerful than you could possibly imagine. Some allergies rear their ugly heads again though after years of remission. Maddeningly, we’re not sure why. But there do seem to be risk factors that make a person more likely to develop allergies. Some of them are genetic, and some are environmental.

Let’s start with genetics. In an effort to see how big a role they play scientists have studied twins. For fraternal twins when one has a peanut allergy, the other also has that allergy only 7% of the time. But when the twins are identical, that allergy is shared 64% of the time. That’s a big increase that points to genes being a factor.

A person is more likely to have an allergy if their parents do too, but strangely, a child won’t necessarily have the same allergy as their parents. If someone is allergic to bees, their kid has a greater chance of also being allergic to something, but it could be nuts or cats instead.

It’s also possible that an allergy doesn’t appear until adulthood because it’s been slowly building up over time. Exposure to new allergens later in life could trigger new reactions. Things like moving to a new area with different flora or getting a pet cat.

#Allergies #SeasonalAllergies #Allergy #FoodAllergy #Seeker #SeekerPlus


Read more:
Allergies and the Immune System
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/healt...
“Allergic disease is one of the most common chronic health conditions in the world. People with a family history of allergies have an increase risk of developing allergic disease. ”

What causes allergies?
https://www.livescience.com/what-caus...
“Wondering what causes allergies and if there's a cure? Well, allergies are exaggerated immune reactions to foreign substances. ”

Are ‘WiFi allergies’ a real thing? A quick guide to electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/t... Sufferers of EHS, estimated as “several” per million people, tend to experience some combination of physical symptoms like nausea, headaches, palpitations, fatigue and rashes/other dermatological problems, often at the same time.

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Seeker+ is your home for deep dives, fun facts, rabbit holes, and more. Join host Julian Huguet as he unapologetically nerds out on the oddball history, astounding science and intriguing future around topics that will make you the smartest person at your next trivia night.
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