SC - Re: long pepper

[Mordonna22@aol.com]

- -Poster: <Elysant at aol.com>  

Nanna said:
>> Can I ask something, seriously? Why is it that you Americans have all these
>> allergies?

Margaret said>
> There are several reasons for this -- first of which is that the
> population of the Us is derived from an extremely diverse ethnic stock. 
> Each group brings their own particular food problems to the mix...
 
> Part, too, is due to factors of diet and environment that are just
> starting to be studied (things like connections between autoimmune
> responses and early introduction of cows milk into the diet, for
> example).
 
> Part of it is that people use the word "allergy" for "that upsets my
> stomach" or "that gives me gas" or "I think it tastes absolutely
> putrid".
 
I empathize with those of you who have allergies.  I have "major league 
allergies" myself, mostly though, it's airbourne stuff like certain pollens, 
molds and dust, although I do get hives sometimes with acidic foods.  I know 
I can't realistically avoid all the things that I'm allergic to.  Fortunately 
though, by taking my anti-histamine regularly, am able to forget I have them 
most of the time. :-)

When I mention this to my mother, however, she says pretty much the same as 
Nanna, "why is there such emphasis on allergies in the US?" also, "there were 
no such things as allergies when we were growing up!"  

Well of course there were, but (opposite to m'lady Margaret's last point 
above) symptoms weren't and aren't recognized as such sometimes in the 
village - or talked about all the time - although "hayfever" is a pretty 
common term in Britain.  On further digging for information, however, I found 
that in the past a lot of my
family did in fact experience symptoms very similar to or the same as the 
ones I 
get - they just labelled it something else and lived with it (miserably 
sometimes).

The other side of the coin.
 
I think in the US, there are different pieces to the pie.  The first two 
factors m'lady Margaret spoke of support the notion that allergies to things 
are occurring more frequently here than elsewhere - which may very well be 
true.  Higher pollution 
could also be a contributing cause to more histamine responses.  A 
sophistication in identifying and treating allergies has also developed here 
- - and more knowledge causes more identification and treatment and more focus 
on the topic including the "business boom" of glossy ads and hype on the TV 
for better and better allergy medications etc. 

All of these things, (together with the shock of sometimes hearing about 
"Anaphylactic reactions" and such actually happening to people), drives why 
the subject is more focused upon by people here, and why the prevalence of 
allergies seems to be greater here than in other countries.     

My two penneth  

Elysant