More about food allergies
I was at a friend’s wedding this weekend and saw, Dave, an old friend I haven’t seen or spoken to in more than 10 years. We were seated at the same table and when the salads came around he asked the waiter if the dressing contained any peanut products. I’d forgotten that Dave was allergic to peanuts. He’d had a reaction once when we were together but it wasn’t a severe one so it didn’t really stick out in my memory. But he was the only person I knew with a peanut allergy until recently, when it seems like the rate of food allergies has more than doubled.
Remembering Dave’s love for conspiracy theories I asked Dave if he knew anyone else with a peanut allergy when he was a kid, knowing he’d probably launch into an elaborate speech about the rise in peanut allergies and his theories about what causes them. And he did.
His theory? Genetically modified foods. He says that because the peanut is a hardy crop scientists have taken peanut genes and spliced them into others. The result is an abundance of the proteins in peanuts in a variety of unlikely foods. The proteins in allergenic foods are what cause the allergy. Since so many of the foods we eat contain peanut genes without actually containing peanuts, exposure to the allergens has increased exponentially, increasing the number of babies who eventually develop allergies.
I don’t know anything about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) so I can’t really give an educated opinion about Dave’s conspiracy theory. But I do know that I prefer to buy foods grown using organic methods from local farms and many (though certainly not all) of the packaged foods I buy claim to include no genetically modified ingredients.
eat local, genetically modified organisms, genetically modified foods, causes of food allergies
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