Did people have allergies in the past?

[clarrisakale]

I know this may sound like a stupid question but I've been idly wondering after seeing how common allergies seem to be these days, and research hasn't revealed much.

I'm thinking like in the Medieval Period. Were some people allergic to milk or eggs for example? Would it just be the case that lots were allergic, like today, but severe sufferers would have died and the rest would have just had to put up with it?

Also things like hay fever, would some farmers or farmer's children have had it? Or would it have been rare because they spent so much time outside and so their immune systems could cope with it?

I would assume people died early anyway and allergic people died faster

Ok that made no sense, I assume that as people died more easily so old age would be more remarkable than Illness

I think things like , "sickly child", "failure to thrive", and similar were just accepted.
I'm not sure about anaphylaxis, and how that was worded, but it must be somewhere.

If you survived infancy, then you would cope with grass pollen, milk and eggs.

They had allergies in days gone by, as early as 1AD the Romans knew that "what is food to one man, is poison to another" and by the 1600s 'summer asthma' and 'rose catarrh' (aka, hayfever) were known ailments. For more serious allergies throughout history the sufferers would have simply died at a relatively young age but it would have been documented as something else, if it was documented at all, because they didn't have the knowledge to say it was allergies. For example, a lot of babies with CMPA would have wasted away and died of 'failure to thrive', people who died of an anaphylactic reaction to something would have died of 'a choking fit' or 'a great swelling' or 'an apoplexy' or words to that effect.

Yes. If my son had his first anaphylactic reaction to egg at six months old, 100 years ago, instead of being rushed to A&E and surviving, he would have just died. Makes me hugely grateful for modern day medicine.

And some people with chronic stomach upsets/bowel troubles were possibly feeling the effects of food intolerances but "cramps" or "diarrhoea" were the best diagnosis available.

Allergies and intolerances are on the rise but the definitely aren't a new phenomenon.

Most children died - so the ones with allergies were probably weeded out young. But yes diseases such as asthma, ecema, colitis, have always existed.

Being outside more and being exposed to more dirt, home/local grown foods etc would've helped.
Everything is so sanitized these days.

There's also the genetic side of things. If you are allergic your children are also likely to be. Back then allergic people would've likely died before adulthood.

I just googled and found this. Pretty interesting!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1323893016301137

People didn't seem to have as many allergies in the 60s and 70s, let alone in the Middle Ages.

I can't remember anyone in my class being allergic to any food, or having asthma, although DSis had hay fever.

yes of course people had allergies.

there were generally 'sicky' people
many died as infants or didn't thrive

My grandmother would be 98 this year, and had allergies from childhood. She called them 'stomach cramps'.

My husband age 50 had allergies from childhood but was told it was asthma or just 'being a bit poorly' - he often ended up in an oxygen tent.

Dirt and dust can often make some allergies worse or create them. Asthma and dust/pollen allergies for example — both my dad and my dh grew up in similarly exposed to dirt and dust and both have severe allergies.

My peanut allergic child would be long-dead if we'd lived 100 years ago.

My late relative (born 1920's) once rather disparagingly said to me that there was no such thing as hay fever in her day. Apparently people used to get a 'summer cold'.

The previously spouted 'children choke on nuts' was often anaphylaxis (when throats close, throat clasping and gasping looks like choking). Or failure to thrive or unexplained death.

So yes, kids died early and young for other reasons.
Thank God for scientific advances and medical care.

Another factor is that certain health complaints wouldn't have been an issue due to the less varied diet. For instance Coeliac's Disease is more prevalent in people from cultures where gluten was historically not part of their diet. As such my ancestors probably had Coeliac's Disease but never had any issues as they didn't eat gluten in the area they were.

I have a few allergies, asthma, really bad around cats and hay pollen. Even in the 1970's I just wheezed and felt dreadful a lot, I wasn't even taken to the doctors 🙄. I firmly believe that they exist but do wonder if so many chemicals in the air and in our food haven't made things worse.

Another factor is that certain health complaints wouldn't have been an issue due to the less varied diet

Very true. DM has allergic reactions to mango, papaya, and avocado. In 2019 she is aware of this and can avoid them if she doesn't fancy spending the day with beesting lips and a raging case of the liqui-shits but in 1819 it probably would not have been much of an issue as she'd have been unlikely to encounter any of them.

If a child failed to thrive due to a milk allergy, they died of malnutrition.

If someone was allergic to fish, they died when they ate it.

If someone had hayfever, they just sucked it up and got on with it.

My dad only realised he was intolerant to dairy when my DD was diagnosed because he realised he had all the same symptoms. He'd gone almost 70 years having explosive diarrhoea and stomach cramps!

I’ve heard the nut one before (mistaken for choking) but also I’m wondering how big a deal a peanut allergy would have been? Would people have come across peanuts so regularly?

The diet of your average middle ages peasant was quite limited, mostly veg. Most of the foods that cause allergies and intolerances just werent consumed by most people.
Things like peanuts were not common until relatively recently. Snacking is a very modern thing.

out of idle curiosity I just googled KP, they started in business in 1853 selling sugar, jams and confectionary. They didnt start selling peanuts until the late 1940s. Peanut allergy would have been pretty much unheard of pre war simply because it wasnt a widely available product.

Im 54, so grew up in 1960s 70s, two of my brothers had allergies.

Yes and they simply would have died. I agree with PP, they just used to accept some children were ‘sickly’.

Yes of course they did. Like PP have said, they would have failed to thrive, been more sickly and most likely wouldn't have survived.