Up to half of the population of developed countries has the potential to develop allergic diseases and this could be partly because our homes are too clean and our food too highly processed, writes Michelle McDonagh.
This is according to Prof Jonathan Hourihane, professor of Paediatrics and Child Health at Cork University Hospital, who says that 30-50 per cent of the population would show an allergic response to some substance if skin prick tests were carried out on them.
He points out that nearly one in 50 British children now have a peanut allergy - making it more common than diabetes or epilepsy - whereas a generation ago, peanut allergy was almost unknown.
"As the genetic profile of countries only changes slowly, it has been inferred that this change must be due to dietary and other environmental changes, leading to the hygiene hypothesis. It's as though our immune systems are underchallenged due to the lack of immune encounters with ordinary bacteria and bugs so they go out looking for problems."
Prof Hourihane is one of several experts who will address UCC's Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre (APC) public forum entitled Common Ailments - From Allergies to Asthma in Cork tonight.
Prof Hourihane points out that while 20 per cent of the general population reports food intolerances, only one in 10 of these can be substantiated during formal medical tests. Many people tend to blame foods such as wheat for weight gain, bloating or behavioural problems in children, but in many cases, it's not the food that is causing the problem.
Nearly 20 per cent of children will have an adverse reaction to a food before they reach school age but most of this will be minor and only some 2 per cent of the older population will continue to have a problem.
Most food intolerances can be managed by reducing rather than completely eliminating foods, according to Prof Hourihane, in contrast to food allergies (eg nuts and shellfish) which require extreme avoidance because accidental exposure can lead to anaphylaxis and death.
"The way foods are cooked can influence their ability to elicit an allergic response, eg cooked egg is less allergenic than raw egg but roasted peanut is more allergenic than raw or boiled peanut. It's not just what we eat, but the way we eat it that is the problem," he explains.
Dr James Ryan, a specialist registrar in Endocrinology and Diabetes, Cork University Hospital and BioSciences Institute, UCC highlights the need for intervention at national and secondary school level through health promotion, to tackle the growing childhood obesity problem.
"At the end of last year, the Codeire [ Costs of Diabetes in Eire] study found that the cost to the Irish health budget of treating the complications of diabetes is up to 6.5 per cent of the annual expenditure of the health budget. This means that over €580 million is being spent on what is a largely preventable disease," he says.
Dr Ryan says paediatric clinics are seeing more and more children who are overweight, obese and have type-two diabetes, a condition which was almost exclusively found in adults a decade ago. He warns that these children are facing a future of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and other complications, as well as problems with self-esteem and bullying.
"I think there should be tax breaks or concessions for farmers or people who produce healthier foods. We need to shift the mindset from just treating complications to earlier intervention," he comments.
Dr James Martin of McGill University, Montreal, whose presentation is titled Asthma - The Modern Epidemic, will speak about the inflammatory disease of the airways that is driven by allergy to airborne allergens.
