In the last few decades, there has been a huge increase in allergy and allergic reactions, but why? Just what has changed in our health and environment to bring this about? Consultant NHS allergist Dr Sophie Farooque discusses one of the biggest puzzles in medicine.

For example peanut allergies were almost unknown before the 1990s, but today it  and other food allergies are much more common. Sophie reveals the best thing to do to stop a child developing a food allergy is - perhaps counter intuitively -  to ensure that from an early age, they are exposed to a wide variety of foods, including potentially hypoallergenic ones.

And Sophie discusses how  children with eczema are at increased risk of  developing a cascade of other allergies, and what parents and doctors can do to minimise this risk.

She explains why if you are allergic to one cat you will probably be allergic to all, but why that’s not necessarily the case for dogs. It turns out that cat allergen is one of the most powerful allergens of all, and remarkably resilient. Amazingly, it has even been found in Antartica.

And for those parts of the world where it's the start of spring and many are starting to suffer from hay fever, she explains why she recommends nasal rinses and steroid sprays, but says patients should stay away from nasal decongestants and hay fever steroid injections.

The link below gives the BSACI's (British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology) advice on early weaning to avoid food allergy),and the BSACI website also contains lots of other information about allergies in general.

Preventing food allergy In your Baby

The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director.  You can follow Liz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at https://liztucker.substack.com

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