"Allergies might be good for you after all." - Yale University school of Medicine

[jason]

Allergies might be the body's response to protecting itself from environmental toxins, say researchers, just in time for hay fever season.

A new theoretical study at Yale University School of Medicine, argues that type 2 immunity, which helps protect against external environmental hazards, by releasing T cells, evolved to guard against things like large parasites, chemicals and toxins - a decidely good thing.

The study poses the question of whether allergies, instead of being a plague, are actually helping to detoxify us of things that are noxious to our body, said Medical XPress.

It ponders whether certain things people are allergic to are toxic to certain people and not others, as some people do not have the right detoxifying mechanisms.

In that case, allergies are our last line of defense against that peanut butter, or apple or pollen that gives us stomach cramps or a runny nose.

read more Allergies might be good for you after all, study says

*warning* lots of pop-ups on the site.

 

[Suzie]

Well they sure don't feel very good! I always thought allergies were pushing things out of your system. Good to know I was on the right track!

 

[Rose @ Walnut Acre]

I think a lot of times we would do well to relax and trust that our bodies know what they are doing and let them do their jobs. A lot of things that we want to fight may be there for a good reason. The trick is knowing which is which and I certainly don't have that completely figured out yet. But I do try not to get to worked up about what my body is doing.

 

[Irma]

Some people have an immune system that goes into overdrive. Those same people seem to be prone to autoimmune system disorders. I think the jury is still out.

 

[Esperahol]

The key word there is the word "might". I have always been taught that allergies are the sign of an overactive immune system. To put a different way allergies are your immune system coming down with a bad case of OCD. It's checking the oven knobs and the windows and all the doors because if it doesn't bad things might happen, but it's failing to acknowledge that everything is okay and that it is now behaving illogically. It's a very thin line between constant viligence and paranoia.

 

[gar]

Ah just like "runny nose" the body which produce a excessively soft liquid to try to drip whatever is trying to get in that irritates the nose. My father says its our body has its own defends mechanism to simply protect itself biologically.

 

[shaunche]

This does make sense. Peanuts are one of the most common food allergies and peanuts contain aflatoxin, one of the most toxic compounds to be found in food. Developing an allergy to peanuts could be our body defending itself against this dangerous toxin.