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I saw a show several years ago that said Australia (I think specifically Melbourne?) and a city in Finland are the epicentre of research for food allergies, bec

I saw a show several years ago that said Australia (I think specifically Melbourne?) and a city in Finland are the epicentre of research for food allergies, because of how prevalent they are. The Finnish two was basically split in two decades ago so that half of it is in Russia and half in Finland. The Finnish side has made significantly better economic progress since then, but also has a much higher rate of allergies. In Australia it seemed to affect first generation descendants of immigrants (I vaguely recall SE Asia and South America being over represented in those impacted?). They had a doctor from Malaysia on the show that had 7 kids, the latter 2 both born in Australia and both had peanut allergies. I remember him saying how hard it is to travel home with them “you tell someone in Malaysia your kids are allergic to satay and they just don’t understand”. I’m like you re lunches as a kid. I never liked peanut butter as a kid, but it was a staple option among kids alongside Nutella and Vegemite. Now peanut butter and Nutella is banned in a lot of classrooms.

hilbert42 2y ago
"The Finnish side has made significantly better economic progress since then, but also has a much higher rate of allergies." To me, that's very significant. It's almost a quintessential model. Splitting a population down the middle and changing the circumstances of one and not the other has to be pretty much the ideal situation for researchers. So what's the research say? "In Australia it seemed to affect first generation descendants!… … “you tell someone in Malaysia your kids are allergic to satay and they just don’t understand”." Reckon that'd be pretty disturbing for parents who'd consider satay a staple food. Again, I can only say that Australian kids of my generation who came of age in the late '60s—mid '70s and who were exposed to Asian foods including satay for the first time and loved it, never seemed to have problematic allergies with peanut sauces. BTW, re swapping sandwiches, the trade at school often occurred with peanut butter and honey (or jam) with Vegemite and lettuce (sometimes cheese). I always preferred the latter, the former being a bit too sweet (perhaps I was a bit unusual). :-)

hilbert42 2y ago

"The Finnish side has made significantly better economic progress since then, but also has a much higher rate of allergies." To me, that's very significant. It's almost a quintessential model. Splitting a population down the middle and changing the circumstances of one and not the other has to be pretty much the ideal situation for researchers. So what's the research say? "In Australia it seemed to affect first generation descendants!… … “you tell someone in Malaysia your kids are allergic to satay and they just don’t understand”." Reckon that'd be pretty disturbing for parents who'd consider satay a staple food. Again, I can only say that Australian kids of my generation who came of age in the late '60s—mid '70s and who were exposed to Asian foods including satay for the first time and loved it, never seemed to have problematic allergies with peanut sauces. BTW, re swapping sandwiches, the trade at school often occurred with peanut butter and honey (or jam) with Vegemite and lettuce (sometimes cheese). I always preferred the latter, the former being a bit too sweet (perhaps I was a bit unusual). :-)