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posted by martyb on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the aaaaa-choooooooo! dept.

One in 10 adults in US has food allergy, but nearly 1 in 5 think they do: Nearly half of adults with food allergy developed an allergy during adulthood

"While we found that one in 10 adults have food allergy, nearly twice as many adults think that they are allergic to foods, while their symptoms may suggest food intolerance or other food related conditions," says lead author Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, from Lurie Children's, who also is a Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "It is important to see a physician for appropriate testing and diagnosis before completely eliminating foods from the diet. If food allergy is confirmed, understanding the management is also critical, including recognizing symptoms of anaphylaxis and how and when to use epinephrine."

[...] "We were surprised to find that adult-onset food allergies were so common," says Dr. Gupta. "More research is needed to understand why this is occurring and how we might prevent it."

The study data indicate that the most prevalent food allergens among U.S. adults are shellfish (affecting 7.2 million adults), milk (4.7 million), peanut (4.5 million), tree nut (3 million), fin fish (2.2 million), egg (2 million), wheat (2 million), soy (1.5 million), and sesame (.5 million).


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by deimios on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:42AM (3 children)

    by deimios (201) Subscriber Badge on Sunday January 06 2019, @11:42AM (#782730) Journal

    We have written records of Coeliac disease (gluten sensitivity) as far back as ancient Greece.

    I posit that the difference is that in modern times we have superior methods of obtaining white flour which causes worse irritation compared to the impure flour used in older times. I don't know if there are studies done on this, I've made these observations on my wife who is gluten intolerant.

    Also we are far more exposed to gluten than in older times as flour is used for things you'd never think of, like the white coloring of a bitter lemon soda.

    Yes there is a fashion side to it as well, but there is a growing part of the population who are not on a gluten-free diet by choice but by necessity, sometimes with fatal consequences for failure.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Gaaark on Sunday January 06 2019, @02:07PM (2 children)

    by Gaaark (41) on Sunday January 06 2019, @02:07PM (#782750) Journal

    As well, the 'soft, fluffy' breads have EXTRA gluten added to the mix just in order to make them so soft and fluffy.

    I'm betting our bodies just weren't made to consume so much at one time.

    --
    --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 3, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:37PM

      by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Sunday January 06 2019, @05:37PM (#782803) Journal

      As well, the 'soft, fluffy' breads have EXTRA gluten added to the mix just in order to make them so soft and fluffy.

      Not really. I mean, depending on the original flour (e.g., if they're using "soft" wheat), they may add a bit of gluten to raise it to the amount of "hard wheat" (which is generally milled for "bread flours").

      But additional gluten does NOT make bread "soft" and "fluffy." It increases dough elasticity, which results in a "chewier" and more elastic result. As someone who used to buy 50 lb. bags of "high-gluten flour," I only ever used it by itself for three applications: (1) bagels, (2) as an additive to mostly whole-grain breads, where the extra gluten helped with the rise considering non-gluten-based grains that were often heavy, and (3) pizza, though I abandoned that in favor of standard bread flour because that level of elasticity isn't necessarily for pizza and I wanted a softer crust.

      Back in the days before grocery stores commonly carried bread flour (maybe 25+ years ago), people sometimes bought a high-gluten supplement to add to bread dough. It does help with the rise of the dough by supporting the structure of the dough more. So bigger air bubbles and a bigger rise, which makes the bread "lighter" to a point. But add more and it becomes springy, elastic, and increasingly chewy and tough (like a bagel).

      "Softness" comes mostly from added (mostly fat) components like butter/oil, milk, and eggs. "Fluffiness" (which is a combination of lightness and softness) can be achieved with those ingredients and extra dough processing like proper kneading, fermentation, shaping, etc. The "fluffiest" and "softest" breads generally contain the minimum amount of gluten that can allow a decent rise, given the weight and proportions of the other components. (For example, a high butter content makes the dough heavy, so you might need a bit more gluten in your flour to support the structure of the dough and allow it to rise to make brioche or something. But it's not the gluten that makes the bread soft.)

      I'm betting our bodies just weren't made to consume so much at one time.

      Well, it's difficult to say what our bodies were "made to consume." But primitive diets probably contained a lot more whole-grain elements which carry more fiber and other nutritive elements that perhaps could alter the way gluten is processed. Whole-grain wheat flours percentage-wise actually contain roughly the amount of gluten as "white" bread flours, if not a bit higher gluten content. So the actual gluten percentage isn't that off in bread compared to eating the raw grains. Of course, the processing that goes into bread making could potentially emphasize some chemical characteristics of gluten -- I don't know.

      Beyond all this, it's of course worth noting that the vast majority of "gluten sensitivity" (i.e., non-Celiac disease) cases are likely bogus [realclearscience.com]. There are lots of foods -- gluten, sweeteners, MSG, etc. -- that people are convinced they have reactions to, but in double-blind studies, most people show no "sensitivity" compared to placebo/control groups. I'm not saying such sensitivities don't exist, only that the vast majority of the "gluten-free" hype for non-Celiacs is likely based on confirmation bias and patients who think they have conditions they don't.

    • (Score: 4, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:42PM

      by hemocyanin (186) on Sunday January 06 2019, @06:42PM (#782816) Journal

      When I was a kid in the 70s, we sometimes made gluten steaks -- it's pretty easy: you just make dough and then wash the starch away from the flour, cook it with broth and then use as a meat substitute. It can be really tasty. I should make some: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYubcYQvFKY [youtube.com] (when I was a kid we'd call it "monkey meat" -- never knew there was a fancy name for it).