4 ms·

To play a devil advocate, there could be a lot of non-human allergens, with a most common culprit being pollen.

by wetpaws 7y ago

beerandt 7y ago
Especially in the Bay Area. There's a reason sour dough bread is a thing, for example. It's in the air.
- spoovy 7y ago
  What reason? I've been making sourdough in the old european way for years. Am I missing something?
- kec 7y ago
  Wild yeast is in the air everywhere. Sourdough is a thing in SF not because the environment there is particularly good for it, but because of historical reasons (ie, French bakers moving in during the gold rush).
  - beerandt 7y ago
    >Wild yeast is in the air everywhere But not the same yeast everywhere. Plus bacteria are also a factor, and also vary place to place. Some may cause worse allergies than others, depending on the person. As far as I know, French bakers didn't bring the yeast (or starter) responsible for sourdough. They just brought french bread. The sourdough part happened naturally, at least initially. Now it's actively encouraged. But even with the right starter, the further east you go, the harder good sourdough is to make.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
mhandley 7y ago
Pollen could definitely be a key part of it, but I doubt it's the whole story. Checking the PM 2.5 count for yesterday for the Bloomsbury sensor in central London, it's actually about 70% of that at any of the sensors in the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, etc) or San Francisco. http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/current-air-quality/air-monitoring-data/?DataViewFormat=daily&DataView=aqi&StartDate=11/15/2018&ParameterId=316#/aqi?id=316&date=2019-10-08&view=hourly http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/current-air-quality/... You need to convert units, because the US readings are given on the AQI scale, whereas the London ones are raw measurements: https://aqicn.org/calculator/ https://aqicn.org/calculator/
bodyfour 7y ago
As someone who made the opposite move (Bay Area -> London) I found that I started suffering from hay fever for the first time in my life. I think that any move to an area with a sufficiently different mix of pollen can cause problems for your immune system.
- jonatron 7y ago
  As someone who has always lived in London, I started getting hayfever around age 22. When asked by doctors if I have any allergies, and I say nothing except maybe hayfever, they always say "oh everyone has hayfever"
  - JoeAltmaier 7y ago
    Its commonly not allergy e.g. not a histamine response. It can be simple irritation due to particulates in the air. Everybody should respond to that.
- Filligree 7y ago
  Some years ago I moved from northern Norway to central Dublin. By any reckoning that's a decrease in air quality -- though Dublin is still much better than most cities -- but it also came with a reduction in allergic reactions. I suspect simply because there isn't as much nature in the vicinity, which I don't actually appreciate. Oh well.

To play a devil advocate, there could be a lot of non-human allergens, with a most common culprit being pollen.

beerandt 7y ago

Especially in the Bay Area. There's a reason sour dough bread is a thing, for example. It's in the air.

spoovy 7y ago
What reason? I've been making sourdough in the old european way for years. Am I missing something?
kec 7y ago
Wild yeast is in the air everywhere. Sourdough is a thing in SF not because the environment there is particularly good for it, but because of historical reasons (ie, French bakers moving in during the gold rush).
- beerandt 7y ago
  >Wild yeast is in the air everywhere But not the same yeast everywhere. Plus bacteria are also a factor, and also vary place to place. Some may cause worse allergies than others, depending on the person. As far as I know, French bakers didn't bring the yeast (or starter) responsible for sourdough. They just brought french bread. The sourdough part happened naturally, at least initially. Now it's actively encouraged. But even with the right starter, the further east you go, the harder good sourdough is to make.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

mhandley 7y ago

Pollen could definitely be a key part of it, but I doubt it's the whole story. Checking the PM 2.5 count for yesterday for the Bloomsbury sensor in central London, it's actually about 70% of that at any of the sensors in the East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, etc) or San Francisco. http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/current-air-quality/air-monitoring-data/?DataViewFormat=daily&DataView=aqi&StartDate=11/15/2018&ParameterId=316#/aqi?id=316&date=2019-10-08&view=hourly http://www.baaqmd.gov/about-air-quality/current-air-quality/... You need to convert units, because the US readings are given on the AQI scale, whereas the London ones are raw measurements: https://aqicn.org/calculator/ https://aqicn.org/calculator/

bodyfour 7y ago

As someone who made the opposite move (Bay Area -> London) I found that I started suffering from hay fever for the first time in my life. I think that any move to an area with a sufficiently different mix of pollen can cause problems for your immune system.

jonatron 7y ago
As someone who has always lived in London, I started getting hayfever around age 22. When asked by doctors if I have any allergies, and I say nothing except maybe hayfever, they always say "oh everyone has hayfever"
- JoeAltmaier 7y ago
  Its commonly not allergy e.g. not a histamine response. It can be simple irritation due to particulates in the air. Everybody should respond to that.
Filligree 7y ago
Some years ago I moved from northern Norway to central Dublin. By any reckoning that's a decrease in air quality -- though Dublin is still much better than most cities -- but it also came with a reduction in allergic reactions. I suspect simply because there isn't as much nature in the vicinity, which I don't actually appreciate. Oh well.