The Allergy Doctor: Why 1 in 10 children have a food allergy | Professor Gideon Lack

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Allergies are on the rise in both infants and adults. Many are calling it an epidemic. Allergies can limit your diet, cause irritation, and in some cases be life threatening.

In today’s episode, we discuss the evidence suggesting that our gut plays a key role in protecting us from food allergies.

Professor Gideon Lack tells us how we can reduce the risk of allergies developing in children. Gideon also shares innovative ways to treat allergies and significantly reduce the risk of death.

Gideon is Professor of Paediatric Allergy at King’s College London. His groundbreaking studies into allergies have reversed the official medical advice of multiple countries.

*Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system

Timecodes
00:00 Allergies are on the rise
01:30 Quickfire questions
05:30 Allergies vs intolerances
07:11 Do allergies only develop in children?
11:29 How your immune system behaves during allergic reactions
15:59 Hay fever and asthma
18:57 How to spot birch pollen allergy
20:58 Is peanut allergy lifelong?
27:44 Gideon’s light bulb moment
32:30 New allergy guidelines
34:01 Does eczema matter?
36:36 The importance of the gut microbiome
42:32 Skin and allergies
45:08 Advice for parents of babies
50:19 Advice on breastfeeding
54:06 Should nuts be banned on planes?
57:49 The truth about airborne allergens

Books by our ZOE Scientists:

Mentioned in today’s episode:

Trends in Allergic Conditions Among Children: United States, 1997–2011, published by

[IreneMorrison-nc]

I think what we not talking about is that evolutionarily and historically babies were weaned to solid food by the mothers chewing the food to a smooth consistency and passing it to baby that allows the establishment and building up the gut flora. In our modern society passing food from the mother’s mouth into the baby perceived as disgusting and unhygienic. The available Baby foods on the ship shelves are tasteless and process food that lacking nutrients and important enzymes, I wonder if this could be a link to so many children are ‘fussy’ eaters.

[WendyBell-jb]

I developed a dairy allergy in my 40s. Since embarking on my Zoe journey I now realize it's my very poor gut micro biom that is the cause.

[nefertitib]

As someone who has no allergies I am counting my blessings

[jausten]

I have never understood why babies in the UK are bathed so often. In Germany, the advice is once or twice a week …or when their nappies have exploded and they have poop up to their ears 😂

[fanfav]

Thank you for discussing this topic. My daughter has several food allergies. Discovered during her 1st year

[daniela]

I was born in the late 60s. My mother was very young and knew nothing about allergies that might affect me. She ate shellfish and pretty much everything she wanted. I'm perfectly fine.

[sueqsworld]

I DON'T agree with the statement about peanuts on planes. I have had allergies all my life, severe with peanuts and if someone opens up peanuts on a plane, I react very badly to that, with my eyes swelling up, and triggering a severe asthma attack.

[dmistry]

The thing which struck me most is the advice for mothers. I really struggled to make decisions on what to feed my children and how. The government advice and health visitor guidance was most detrimental as it prevented me from using my intuition.

[missnicola]

I have two big dogs that my baby was born into the home with and not only does she have food allergies, she’s also allergic to the dogs too!

[ChelseaLang]

I'd love to know more about shellfish allergies developing in adults. What is the mechanism for that? What can be done to prevent or reverse these kinds of allergies? Similar question for eczema in adults.

[amandalcullen]

During my pregnancy, I had a normal diet and ate most things. When my daughter was a baby, she had an egg allergy which she eventually outgrew. She often ate nuts. However, at the age of 14, she had a severe allergic reaction to all nuts. It was so severe that she was advised that her children would not be able to eat nuts due to her allergy. One morning, she woke up in anaphylactic shock because something blew in through the open window.

[tikaanipippin]

In post-WWII UK, food rationing continued until 1954, and children, (and their parents), had years of limited exposure to a range of foods whilst growing up. Our diets were historically bland. Travel, and exposure to foreign airborne allergens were similarly limited. By the late 60s and through the 80s to today, the range of foods available increased greatly as did travel. Is there evidence that this early "boomer" population had any notable epidemic of food allergies, compared to those of their children and grandchildren? Born in 1952, I did not have food allergies or asthma/eczema during my first 30 years, but I developed seasonal sensitivity to tree pollens (initially vernal conjunctivitis in Maytime in my 40s), which in the last 5 years has increased to year-long allergic rhinitis from various allergens, starting in January with pollens like Hazel, with heavy nosebleeds in late spring. Only since my 50s have I been receiving vaccines for Influenza, Covid, Shingles and Pneumonia, as recommended by the NHS.

The "Why" in this video is not addressed! What primes us to become sensitive to environmental and food allergens. What protects us from them, apart from avoidance?

One significant fact is that most of us do not have parasites, particularly worms in the gut. Helminthic therapy has shown the benefits of small, temporary infestations for people with atopic eczema and asthma. Worms were natural parts of our microbiome until medicine eradicated them from our environments, and their presence is known to modulate our immune response to desensitise us from environmental allergens, which in themselves are harmless.

Except those who have dogs and cats, who may contract small temporary infestations from their pets, which are treated regularly by veterinary pharmaceutical products so they do not have serious worm problems themselves.

Dogs are mentioned as being protective for their families allergies in the video.

Nowadays, most socially compliant dog owners immediately remove their dog faeces from the environment and dispose of them, leading to an increase in allergic conditions in their dogs!

Dog owners know that their dogs will anoint themselves, or devour faeces of other species. Fox poo is a favourite for rolling in, cat poo for eating, and if your dog park is inhabited by rough sleepers, human faeces are a favourite "Eau de Colon" for your canine!

Why? Simply put, dogs are practicing instinctive Helminthic therapy by exposing themselves to worm eggs and larvae in the deposited faeces of slightly different species. Parasites are highly specialised, but infect a range of species to a lesser extent than their natural hosts. This confers immune modulation, without heavy parasite infestation, and the infestation is short lived outside the natural host.

Why Eggs, Dairy, and nuts and peanuts?

Peanut and other vegetable seed oils have been used as an adjuvant in vaccines since the 1960s, with the realization that mineral oil used previously may have been carcinogenic, with a 1961 US patent by Merck & Co., No. 3, 149, 036.

God knows which vaccines contained what ingredients because of pharmaceutical company trade secrets in their preparations. Inactive ingredients are not necessarily disclosed.

Viruses for vaccine production were grown in fertilized chicken eggs, or in calves, and many bacterial growth media contain animal proteins, such as BSA (Bovine serum albumin), milk proteins and so on. How much of a pathogen preparation for vaccine production contains the viral host's proteins, or the bacterial growth medium proteins?

What better way to develop an allergy to a commonly available food, than injecting it in a vaccine, designed to stimulate the immune response, in newborns and growing children?

[isagoldfield]

Thank You for having Professor Lack, such a wealth of knowledge & information💕💕💕💕💕

[deborahhebblethwaite]

I am 71 years old living in Canada and developed allergies in my early 20s mostly two grass ragweed you name it so I was given shots for many years. What Indidn’t realize is that in the shot there’s a tiny bit of formaldehyde to keep it from spoiling. Well guess what? I developed a severe allergic reaction to a lot of chemicals in my late 30s. To the point where I could barely live in regular society. I have worked continually in trying to overcome these allergies and when I say allergies they makes me stop breathing, and I have gotten much better. My son was born in my mid 20s not breast-fed bathed regularly and has to date at 46 years of age no allergies. When I was in my mid-20s, I developed acne and was given a long mild course of antibiotics of which I blame all my problems on from what I have read about antibiotic over use. I refused to give my son antibiotics when he was young simply kept him home when he fell ill with chicken soup and fluids. Actually he never took an antibiotic until I would say three years ago when he developed strep throat. He was given a course of penicillin which hehad no reaction .. I, on the other hand am highly allergic to penicillin, I say this because I believe contributing to my son’s good health outside of a good diet when he was young and I think he still has one is the lack of antibiotic use. I also never gave him any over-the-counter NSAIDs if he had a headache, etc. I used to tell him to just breathe. I myself take none of those things anymore. I’m not saying I have the answer. Most of this is anecdotal, but that’s my thinking seems to of worked for me.🇨🇦

[littlelights]

Interesting.

I have eczema and an anaphylactic reaction to most nuts inc peanut, and then hayfever type reactions to what feels like most of the outdoors, animals, dust etc.

I know I had very severe eczema as a baby - my mum has some horror stories - and that I had early (at 2 weeks old) chickenpox followed by a bad staph infection. Also that my parents have confirmed I used to get hives if my dad rubbed eczema creams into my skin after eating nuts. So yeah - quite a few risk factors there.

Esp as this was the 80s so after I reacted to a nut at 4 months, they were just avoided wholesale.

I have three children. My eldest and middle child have no allergies, and their skin is generally fine (they get patches of eczema here and there very occasionally, but it's treatable and goes away).

My youngest does have patches of dry skin - the doctors have said it's mild eczema. She also gets hives and I can't pinpoint the triggers (there's more than one I'm sure!). She's reacting to milk at the mo - I've printed the 'milk ladder' (slow introduction of increasing amounts of milk) and we're following that.

As for nuts - no way on earth any nuts are coming into my house, ever. Too dangerous and stressful for me - she's 8 months and if I have a life threatening reaction and am carted off to hospital, where does that leave her? She's breastfed with no formula alongside weaning so obviously still v reliant on breast milk. Anyway. I'm hoping she's low risk for a nut allergy because there are no nuts anywhere at home so there's minimal risk of exposure through skin. My partner gives the kids nut stuff to eat when they're out with him, or at grandparents etc.

Official guidance for parents changes over time - I've followed WHO guidance re 6 months exclusive breastfeeding for all three, only to find out that was probably wrong, esp given my risk factors. We all do the best we can i suppose with the info we have at the time.

Hopefully my youngest can also avoid my fate! Allergies and eczema suck.

[gmwfldp]

I think you should check how the bathing before bedtime which is always recommended as the daily bedtime routine influence allergies. I mean it just can't be good to wash away the natural oils on the skin daily like that.

[catherineedwardes]

Would love to know what we can do as adults to reverse intolerances and allergies.

[susanchristian]

I was brought up in the late 40s and 50s as far as I know no foods were off limits and I have no food allergies.But our food was very different then. I do have hayfever, and in hindsight I think I had that as a child - what my mother called a summer cold - and it was down to the huge lime tree in the garden, lime pollen being still one of my main triggers. My hayfever got much worse following lockdown and a covid infection. I'm now sensative to many more things, and pretty well all year round.Birch pollen is one of my triggers, but I've never had any problem with apples or other fruit, maybe because I've eaten lots of them all my life.

[simondennis]

Thanks for another great video. Great to hear the skin microbiome briefly discussed.

My schoolboy understanding is that the skin is the biggest human organ? I would love to see more videos about the skin microbiome. Understanding about the gut micrbiome seems to have come on leaps and bounds, and seem very logical, which makes me wonder if the parallels with our skin, could be similarly important and currently more misunderstood.

[aimeelinekar]

I went into anaphylactic shock aged 4 months on my first solid meal (fish and egg). Early exposure didn’t prevent those allergies. As I grew up, the list only got longer - all things discovered through exposure, mostly early on, and with no attempt at avoiding the allergens. I had eczema - still do, though it has improved over time. How does this tally with the exposure theory?