3 ms·

Lets not also forget how allergies are more common in the developed world and particularly in children living in the cities who don't generally get a lot of out

Lets not also forget how allergies are more common in the developed world and particularly in children living in the cities who don't generally get a lot of outside play time.

gumby 10y ago
> Lets not also forget how allergies are more common in the developed world and particularly in children living in the cities who don't generally get a lot of outside play time. The evidence for this is not clear. Actual research is needed, and such research is complex, expensive, and unfortunately potentially political. This article describes a very nice A/B experiment for this one autoimmune condition but makes no general claims. But outside these few cases we don't know. One factor is reporting. Do poor kids in India suffer fewer allergies or are they simply dwarfed by the other problems -- or just not reported? How do various cultures report and recognize allergies? Did feudal serfs suffer hay fever from close contact with all those grass proteins and pollens or did they develop immunity? Who knows? It does seem to appear that certain allergies (e.g. tree nut) are on the rise in the US, but the rate is not restricted to urban populations. But if kids have any symptoms they are isolated from nuts just in case, so surely the rate is overstated in the legitimate interest of keeping kids safe (though unnecessary restriction has its own problems). And other "allergies" can be fashionable (e.g. gluten response) which both helps and hurts those with legitimate problems.
- Dr_tldr 10y ago
  > But outside these few cases we don't know. One factor is reporting. Do poor kids in India suffer fewer allergies or are they simply dwarfed by the other problems -- or just not reported? This is a great point that gets overlooked: lack of data is often taken as non-existence, even implicitly. When the average life expectancy is under 50 and there's fewer than one doctor for every 10,000 people, sneezing and occasional sinus pain doesn't even warrant a mention.

Lets not also forget how allergies are more common in the developed world and particularly in children living in the cities who don't generally get a lot of outside play time.

gumby 10y ago

> Lets not also forget how allergies are more common in the developed world and particularly in children living in the cities who don't generally get a lot of outside play time. The evidence for this is not clear. Actual research is needed, and such research is complex, expensive, and unfortunately potentially political. This article describes a very nice A/B experiment for this one autoimmune condition but makes no general claims. But outside these few cases we don't know. One factor is reporting. Do poor kids in India suffer fewer allergies or are they simply dwarfed by the other problems -- or just not reported? How do various cultures report and recognize allergies? Did feudal serfs suffer hay fever from close contact with all those grass proteins and pollens or did they develop immunity? Who knows? It does seem to appear that certain allergies (e.g. tree nut) are on the rise in the US, but the rate is not restricted to urban populations. But if kids have any symptoms they are isolated from nuts just in case, so surely the rate is overstated in the legitimate interest of keeping kids safe (though unnecessary restriction has its own problems). And other "allergies" can be fashionable (e.g. gluten response) which both helps and hurts those with legitimate problems.

Dr_tldr 10y ago
> But outside these few cases we don't know. One factor is reporting. Do poor kids in India suffer fewer allergies or are they simply dwarfed by the other problems -- or just not reported? This is a great point that gets overlooked: lack of data is often taken as non-existence, even implicitly. When the average life expectancy is under 50 and there's fewer than one doctor for every 10,000 people, sneezing and occasional sinus pain doesn't even warrant a mention.