3 ms·

I learned from the article that cooking "denatures proteins." I happen to be very allergic to all raw produce except grapes, apples, onions, lettuce, and spinac

I learned from the article that cooking "denatures proteins." I happen to be very allergic to all raw produce except grapes, apples, onions, lettuce, and spinach. Everything else needs to be cooked. No crudités or fresh orange juice for me. People look at me funny and ask why cooking would make a difference. I say, "I dunno, but it must break down my allergy molecules so that I don't react to them." Then they (idiots all!) say, "No, that doesn't make sense." Now I can confidently snow people with "denatured proteins," whether or not that's the true reason for cooking solving my produce allergy problem. Confidently bowl people over with scientific jargon, and they believe you.

albertsun 18y ago
So you're allergic to folded proteins? That seems unlikely since even those few raw things you can eat have trace amounts of different proteins in them. If I were very allergic to so many different foods, I'd want a real explanation for my own sake at least, and not just try to snow people with scientific jargon.
- etal 18y ago
  Some lactose-intolerant people do better with cooked dairy products, like pizza. Biology isn't like computers; usually a small bug, like a protein the body can't process, is fine in trace amounts. Even a little strychnine is fine in trace amounts.
- ewiethoff 18y ago
  I would love a real explanation. But believe you me, allergy science is just getting started. (So is a heck of a lot of other medical knowledge.) "Allergists" didn't even exist until a few decades ago. "Allergy and immunology" is a pretty new specialty. My pediatrician switched his practice to "allergy and asthma" in 1970. He told my mom he did so because he wanted to try to help whatever the heck is wrong with me. Well, I can't read his mind for motives, but that's what my mom reported. I astound and baffle allergists when their tests reveal the huge numbers of foods--and varieties of foods--I'm allergic to. (Note to self: I am not going into my other allergy foods here.) Their first reaction is to blurt out, "What do you eat?! How do you live?! It's a wonder you're alive!" After that, their reactions and attempts to help vary considerably. The closest I've gotten to an explanation from a live doctor is hearing one mutter something about "volatile oils" into his Dragon Naturally Speaking before walking off and leaving his nurse distressed for my sake. I do get strange satisfaction knowing that food allergies have gotten much more prevalent in the past decade or so. This means more researchers take more interest in it, the FDA changes its food labeling laws, the general populace has a little more knowledge, etc. When I'm feeling grandiose, I tell myself that my strange body (and that of a guy I spoke to on the phone who is a guinea pig at the Mayo because he's allergic to all foods) are the vanguard or cassandras or whatever for something new and weird going on in the world. But perhaps I read too many Greg Bear novels. ;-) I subscribe to an allergy research newsletter from South Africa, which contains a lot of fascinating, nerdly stuff I never hear from live doctors. And when I do try to mention research, I get, "That means you don't need me except to prescribe Epipens." But I got away from reading it a few years ago. I think I'll head back to doing so. Thank you for indirectly putting the bee in my bonnet. http://www.allallergy.net/abstracts/index.cfm http://www.allallergy.net/abstracts/index.cfm Ah! A quick glance reveals an article called "The importance of nasal provocation test in the diagnosis of natural rubber latex allergy." This just might pertain to me even though I have a banana allergy, not a latex allergy... But I think I'll leave it for a few days. This whole topic is getting way too heavy today. Bye, folks. I'm logging out.
omouse 18y ago
Yeah, the Science & Tech section of The Economist is rarely any good, but the same is true for all other newspapers/magazines. They're journalists/economists/whatever, not actual scientists or techies.
mfhughes 18y ago
> I happen to be very allergic to all raw produce I guess I'm an idiot, because I don't believe you at all, at least not in the terms you've stated. If you had a diagnosed autoimmune disorder like Crohn's I would have no trouble believing you but "I'm allergic to raw produce" just sounds like 100% bullshit to me. Your behavior is typical of attention-whore types who were either neglected/ignored as a child or were lied to extensively by their parents for some reason. Notice how you dwell on other peoples' ("idiotic") reactions to your mind-blowingly hard to believe claim.
- cadlin 18y ago
  It's nice that you question his personal experience because if it's something you haven't heard of, then it obviously must be both bullshit and a consequence of poor parenting. A little digging on the internet (curiosity over blithe ignorance, oh no!) would return this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome And guess what? Cooking produce probably does help him because it denatures the proteins present in the food. Your post is nothing besides internet tough guy posturing, which I do find entertaining, if a bit annoying. The more you know!
  - mfhughes 18y ago
    You're right, I've never heard of that, and I still think it's bullshit. If you're allergic to fruit, vegetables, and nuts, you might just consider killing yourself to make the gene pool a little cleaner.
    - ASJS 18y ago
      And you Sir, should consider killing YOURself to make the internet a slightly nicer place. Unbelievable.
      - mfhughes 18y ago
        I'll take it into consideration.
etal 18y ago
Yes, that's right. Most plants have a number of defense mechanisms to ward off insects, bacteria, fungus, etc. to avoid being devoured. (Plus other physical barriers, but that's not the problem here.) If a certain animal can eat a certain plant, it's usually because the animal has its own mechanisms for handling the defensive proteins, or hosts bacteria that can do it. You're probably missing some of these. Heat makes a protein unfold; and unfolded protein still has the amino acids you can metabolize, but no structure, so it can't do anything.
dgordon 18y ago
Someone I know is highly allergic to pineapple; eating more than a few bites could easily cause her to suffocate to death without intervention. She didn't realize this for years because she only ate canned pineapple, which doesn't affect her at all. One day she had dried (but not cooked) pineapple and went to bed; fortunately she didn't like the taste and only had a bite or two because she woke up swollen and having a hard time breathing. After that, she was still able to eat canned pineapple without any problems. Whatever it is that causes the reaction must be broken down for good by heating the pineapple to canning temperatures.

albertsun 18y ago

So you're allergic to folded proteins? That seems unlikely since even those few raw things you can eat have trace amounts of different proteins in them. If I were very allergic to so many different foods, I'd want a real explanation for my own sake at least, and not just try to snow people with scientific jargon.

etal 18y ago
Some lactose-intolerant people do better with cooked dairy products, like pizza. Biology isn't like computers; usually a small bug, like a protein the body can't process, is fine in trace amounts. Even a little strychnine is fine in trace amounts.
ewiethoff 18y ago
I would love a real explanation. But believe you me, allergy science is just getting started. (So is a heck of a lot of other medical knowledge.) "Allergists" didn't even exist until a few decades ago. "Allergy and immunology" is a pretty new specialty. My pediatrician switched his practice to "allergy and asthma" in 1970. He told my mom he did so because he wanted to try to help whatever the heck is wrong with me. Well, I can't read his mind for motives, but that's what my mom reported. I astound and baffle allergists when their tests reveal the huge numbers of foods--and varieties of foods--I'm allergic to. (Note to self: I am not going into my other allergy foods here.) Their first reaction is to blurt out, "What do you eat?! How do you live?! It's a wonder you're alive!" After that, their reactions and attempts to help vary considerably. The closest I've gotten to an explanation from a live doctor is hearing one mutter something about "volatile oils" into his Dragon Naturally Speaking before walking off and leaving his nurse distressed for my sake. I do get strange satisfaction knowing that food allergies have gotten much more prevalent in the past decade or so. This means more researchers take more interest in it, the FDA changes its food labeling laws, the general populace has a little more knowledge, etc. When I'm feeling grandiose, I tell myself that my strange body (and that of a guy I spoke to on the phone who is a guinea pig at the Mayo because he's allergic to all foods) are the vanguard or cassandras or whatever for something new and weird going on in the world. But perhaps I read too many Greg Bear novels. ;-) I subscribe to an allergy research newsletter from South Africa, which contains a lot of fascinating, nerdly stuff I never hear from live doctors. And when I do try to mention research, I get, "That means you don't need me except to prescribe Epipens." But I got away from reading it a few years ago. I think I'll head back to doing so. Thank you for indirectly putting the bee in my bonnet. http://www.allallergy.net/abstracts/index.cfm http://www.allallergy.net/abstracts/index.cfm Ah! A quick glance reveals an article called "The importance of nasal provocation test in the diagnosis of natural rubber latex allergy." This just might pertain to me even though I have a banana allergy, not a latex allergy... But I think I'll leave it for a few days. This whole topic is getting way too heavy today. Bye, folks. I'm logging out.

omouse 18y ago

Yeah, the Science & Tech section of The Economist is rarely any good, but the same is true for all other newspapers/magazines. They're journalists/economists/whatever, not actual scientists or techies.

mfhughes 18y ago

> I happen to be very allergic to all raw produce I guess I'm an idiot, because I don't believe you at all, at least not in the terms you've stated. If you had a diagnosed autoimmune disorder like Crohn's I would have no trouble believing you but "I'm allergic to raw produce" just sounds like 100% bullshit to me. Your behavior is typical of attention-whore types who were either neglected/ignored as a child or were lied to extensively by their parents for some reason. Notice how you dwell on other peoples' ("idiotic") reactions to your mind-blowingly hard to believe claim.

cadlin 18y ago
It's nice that you question his personal experience because if it's something you haven't heard of, then it obviously must be both bullshit and a consequence of poor parenting. A little digging on the internet (curiosity over blithe ignorance, oh no!) would return this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome And guess what? Cooking produce probably does help him because it denatures the proteins present in the food. Your post is nothing besides internet tough guy posturing, which I do find entertaining, if a bit annoying. The more you know!
- mfhughes 18y ago
  You're right, I've never heard of that, and I still think it's bullshit. If you're allergic to fruit, vegetables, and nuts, you might just consider killing yourself to make the gene pool a little cleaner.
  - ASJS 18y ago
    And you Sir, should consider killing YOURself to make the internet a slightly nicer place. Unbelievable.
    - mfhughes 18y ago
      I'll take it into consideration.

etal 18y ago

Yes, that's right. Most plants have a number of defense mechanisms to ward off insects, bacteria, fungus, etc. to avoid being devoured. (Plus other physical barriers, but that's not the problem here.) If a certain animal can eat a certain plant, it's usually because the animal has its own mechanisms for handling the defensive proteins, or hosts bacteria that can do it. You're probably missing some of these. Heat makes a protein unfold; and unfolded protein still has the amino acids you can metabolize, but no structure, so it can't do anything.

dgordon 18y ago

Someone I know is highly allergic to pineapple; eating more than a few bites could easily cause her to suffocate to death without intervention. She didn't realize this for years because she only ate canned pineapple, which doesn't affect her at all. One day she had dried (but not cooked) pineapple and went to bed; fortunately she didn't like the taste and only had a bite or two because she woke up swollen and having a hard time breathing. After that, she was still able to eat canned pineapple without any problems. Whatever it is that causes the reaction must be broken down for good by heating the pineapple to canning temperatures.