Why allergies aren’t nuts at all

Faced with airline peanut bans, it’s easy to dismiss allergies as imaginary modern maladies. They’re not – and we need to understand why they’re on the up

LOVERS of nuts – and freedom – suffered a blow on 1 August, when the US budget carrier Southwest Airlines went peanut-free. While many parents of children with allergies expressed thanks, other people took to the internet to announce they would be bringing their own supply from now on.

If you were born before the 1990s, or don’t have children, peanut bans by airlines, schools and workplaces can feel like a gross overreaction. Allergies
may seem like modern maladies, but that does not make them any less real or life-threatening.

This isn’t simply a case of hypochondria or increased vigilance – cohort studies that have closely followed different generations for decades confirm that hay fever, allergic asthma and food allergies have all risen since the mid-20th century in the developed world.

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Rapidly developing nations such as China are now beginning to see an increase in allergies too. The challenge is to work out why, and dispel some of the many other myths surrounding allergies (see “The allergy explosion”). In the meantime, whether afflicted or non-afflicted, we must all learn to live with them.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Allergies aren’t nuts”