Ever wonder why it seems like everyone has peanut allergies these days? Well believe it or not, research is beginning to show that the microbiome has a large part to do with it. Gut health seems to be the answer for everything these days, crazy! There is also research being done about allergies to bacteria and how this can be linked to certain food allergies and allergies to antibiotics, specifically penicillin. Why is all this important anyways? Well if we find causes to these allergies we could potentially fix them, and then we can all enjoy peanut butter, yay!
There is still a lot of research that needs to be done, especially human trials, but researchers have begun to do some on humans and many other tests on mice. In a recent study, explained in a News Atlas article, researchers looked at fecal samples of many infants, some with known food allergies, and others without. What they found was that infants with food allergies were often lacking a handful of bacterium in the gut. They did another study in mice following this one, where they gave allergy suffering mice a mixture of the bacteria the infants in the previous study had been lacking. They saw a decrease in allergic reactions. This is pretty incredible because not only are they understanding why these allergies are happening, but can prevent them and help fix allergies the individuals already had. This could be a game changer in the world of children allergies. I look forward to seeing more research that is done in the future, and you should be excited about it too!
Another interesting topic, as mentioned earlier is the link between mold allergies and food/antibiotic allergies. As you probably already know, penicillin is a wonderful drug, well at least before it gained antibiotic resistance. As discussed in a Very Well Health article, many people are allergic to Penicillium, a fungal mold that is common in households. Those that are allergic will get those annoying allergy signs and symptoms, like a runny nose, sore throat, and malaise. The good news is that this allergy does cause an allergy to the antibiotic penicillin. However, researchers have seen a link between the mold allergy and certain food items, such as certain cheeses and mushrooms. That’s pretty gross if you really think about it, a link between mold and foods we eat? Gross. The article explains that this can be attributed to cross-reactivity, which is when these organisms and food items have shared proteins.
Allergies are such an intriguing concept, and all these new discoveries could be very beneficial for many people.
Laura's Food For Thought 