Is it me or have the number of children with allergies got worse....

[spiralqueen]

...since pregnant women started being told to restrict their diets and avoid certain foods?

I think it must be you

But when I was growing up in the 60s/70s very few children had allergies and our mothers were encouraged to eat a wide range of foods.

If you plot the growth in the number of children with allergies it mirrors the increasing restrictions on what is considered appropriate for pregnant women to eat.

Surely there is a link?

Sorry I still think it must be you

The diet restrictions are not the cause though.
Our world is more polluted.
We are better diagnosed.

I've always thought it has something to do with the increasing number of chemicals we use in the home (and that are used to create our homes). I try to only use bleach and a supermarket's own yellow liquid (cheaper than flash and no experiments on animals). Oh, and bicarb, vinegar, all those old-fashioned things that our grandparents and theirs before them used, are wonderful too.

Hopefully, DD1 will turn out ok... [fingers crossed emoticon]

and its you.

Oh, though saying about the food thing - I've always wondered why pregnant women are told to steer clear of peanuts if they want to avoid peanut allergy in the child. I thought one tried and tested way of getting rid of an allergy was to increase your tolerence by gradually increasing your exposure to something?

I know quite a few adults with allergies, so presumably they were children at some point.

It does seem as though there are more, but I think a lot of the allergies have always been around.
In "the olden days" children used to choke" on peanuts and die. Nowadays it is recognosed as an allergy the first time they react, and their lives can be saved. Similarly babies with milk allergy used to just starve to death with no-one understanding why. Kids with eczema type allergies would suffer dreadfully, (I remember a cousin who just "had eczema", she was red-raw most of the time), whereas now it can be recognised for what's causing it, and controlled to some extent.

minesacheeseandpicklesandwich - my thoughts exactly - the whole immunisation theory.

Countess Dracula - what do you put the rise in allergies down to?

Hunkermunker - I take your point but the numbers of adults with allergies is a lot less than today's children.

I also feel that you feel that the number of children with allergies may have increased rather than got worse

I put it down to you as I said

So it's my personal fault that there are more kids with allergies

I had better go and take myself off to a desert island somewhere then...

well you did say is it me?
IMO yes it is

I think I have probably done about as much research into it as you so my reponse is clearly valid

When I was doing statistics at university we were given an exercise which involved plotting Arsenal's away scores for a ten-year period against the price of bananas. We all duly plotted it and got a lovely little graph, with a statistically significant correlation.

Moral (and first law of statistics):

Correlation does not equal causation.

Living on desert island now as it's all my fault. Allergy rate gone down yet?

My son has multiple allergies to milk, eggs, lentils, chickpeas and others. All of which I consumed regularly in pregnancy.

He's not allergic to peanuts which I avoided in pregnancy although he may be as he has never actually consumed peanuts, just had a negative skin prick test.

I don't believe mother's diet has anything to do with the increase in allergies (although it is quite hard for me being pregnant 2nd time round to not try and avoid the things DS is allergic to).

I think it's down to other environmental factors and also as others have suggested down to increased awareness of allergies.

Perhaps Countess Dracula will be kind and let me come back from exile in a few years

Or maybe not if the allergy rate goes down

Hmmm, interesting. I was the only diagnosed nut-allergic child at school (in the early 80s), but this wasn't until I was around 10. Before that, the odd time I'd had a reaction, it wasn't recognised as allergy. So I agree with the others who say it's at least partly due to increased awareness.

Wondering about Ruby's point - presumably peanuts are a relatively new thing in UK diets? Mind you, I'm allergic to hazelnuts etc which have been in this country for a lot longer.

I ate peanut butter on toast most days throughout my pregnancies
DS 13 has multiple allergies included most treenuts and seeds. Interestingly his peanut allergy was milder than the other allergies and ds had grown out of peanut allergy by the age of 12 but not the others.

DD has no allergies

DH has multiple allergies including nuts and we both suffer hayfever and eczema. I suspect that genetics play a big part.

There is also a theory that we in the west mainly consume peanuts which have been roasted whether whole or in foods which is supposed to increase the allergy problems.

It will also be interesting to see if now weaning later will affect the allergy numbers , because going on these boards (which is not scientific I know) food allergies are still on the increase. There is quite a few studies which show weaning later actually increases allergies.

The other problem is there is too much of an allergy industry with too many quacks diagnosing multiple allergies in anyone who walks in the door using totally unproven techniques