US Beef

Growstuff, yes you're right as we all exercise a lot as well. Of course, it's far easier to exercise if you feel really fit and are not overweight. We're not health freaks, however, just enjoy our daily lives as much as possible.

David, I was just illustrating another choice, perhaps counteracting all those messages we grew up with (from the Meat Marketing Board and Dairy Industry) about the essential protein and calcium we needed from their products!

www.globalmeatnews.com/Article/2018/02/08/Joint-marketing-activities-announced-by-UK-meat-levy-boards

It seems that an awful lot of people have allergies, including asthma and nobody knows why, all sorts of theories abound why.
50 + yrs ago I do not remember widespread allergies, antibiotics were probably used on a larger scale then both for humans and animals whereas they are tightly controlled now. So why we are getting more allergies remains a mystery, there is much less air pollution, I remember when city air was much worse than now and water pollution much worse, the environment is much cleaner now.

It is all tied up with the immune system, either it is not developing or it is being damaged by some event, or illness.

Food is very unlikely to be a cause of allergies, how do you identify any particular cause when there is no such thing as pure food, even what you grow in your garden. Everything has some kind of contaminant, soil, bacteria, fungus, air, water, and all the additives in processed food, we all rely on our immune systems to protect us.

I can't answer that because I honestly don't know and I'm not going to make an amateur speculation. However, it's one reason why I'm reluctant to accept food with higher levels of antibiotics and growth hormone. I don't think we really know what the long-term effects on a population are and I'd rather not risk it. As long as the food isn't bad (and I'm aware of food hygiene guidelines), I'd rather eat my food in as natural state as possible.

There's a theory that allergies are sparked by being in too clean an environment as babies and children. Apparently, those who are brought up on farms are less susceptible.

Another explanation is about the percentage of Neanderthal genes we've inherited. The more Neanderthal we are, the more allergies we have!

There are regional differences too. In this part of the world, dairy allergies and lactose intolerance are rare (as historically, many gene carriers died in infancy). In Japan, alcohol allergy is more common, whereas here, it's rare as even children were given beer in the past when it was safer than drinking water.

There are so many possible causes to allergies including genetic, alcohol, infection or drugs in pregnancy, vaccinations in childhood, serious illnesses. Too much cleanliness?, possibly, maybe cleaning materials, dust mites, chlorine in swimming pools for young babies, poor housing, all these or any combination.

When you look at the list if side effects with any medication you might be taking it does make you wonder, will it affect me.

As far as I know, I don't suffer from any allergies, nor do my children and my parents didn't either.

My former mother-in-law claimed for years that she was lactose intolerant, which made cooking for her a bit of a pain. However, she was seriously ill at one point and was tested in hospital for allergies and intolerances and it turned out that she wasn't intolerant after all. Both her children claim to have all sorts of allergies, but I have no idea whether they really have.

My own feeling is that I'm happy not to have any allergies and would rather stay that way, which is why I don't want to stuff myself with any more chemicals and hormones. The human race has done a pretty good job of surviving by eating the food from the ground (whether plants or plant-eating animals) and I'll willingly carry on with that.

So, no thank you to US beef!

Hetty I thought milk was a dairy product

Is your family member allergic to soya also allergic to nuts? In my case my family member is allergic to fresh fruit as well. Doesn't this lead to a rather restricted and dull diet when so many of the products considered to be at the centre of vegetarian and vegan diets (soya, nuts, fresh frui) and key to giving these eating patterns their variety

My relation is not exceptional, there are many other people with similar broad spectrum allergies - and I speak of people whose allergies have been properly diagnosed - and who are prescribed epipens because of the serieous nature of these allergies

What causes allergies is to a large extent irrelevant. I was just enquiring how someone with serious allergies to major _plant-based food groups could manage to have a good, mixed and interesting diet if they were unable to supplement their diet with animal based foods.

I am sure they could probably eat a nutritionally sound diet, but would it be an enjoyable interesting diet, with a lot of variety, this where my doubts come in.

I wasn't suggesting your relation hadn't been properly diagnosed - I hope you didn't think otherwise.

This has all gone very off-topic, but did you know that in some cases nut allergies can be overcome. I know somebody who was treated, first with minute quantities of nuts, which then increased. I understand that he is no longer considered allergic.

growstuff my post above was not directed at you.

However I would say that allergies caused by auto immune diseases, have different causes and triggers to ordinary immune reactions and are unlikely to respond to standard acclimatisation treatments.

However, I wrote what I did about allergies in response to those who would eliminate all animal based foods from our diets and also, tangentially, to those who advocate the industrialised farming of beef, which relies on routinely feeding farm animals antibiotics and other drugs.

There is a worldwide crisis with antibiotic resistance and antibiotics should be used only to deal with specific bacterial infections in human or beast, the first line of defence should always be infection avoidance, which means not rearing animals, any animals, in systems where the routine feeding of antibiotics to the animals is necessary to avoid infections running riot among animals in such systems.

Adult onset food allergy/intolerance is on the rise- Gathered information from emergency rooms across the U.S. indicates that every three minutes someone shows up at the emergency room having a reaction be it severe or mild to something they consumed- The allergens runs the gamut- Some are the culprit more frequently than others-

While the rise is documented, they don't know why - But are working towards learning why-

My personal thoughts on the allergy matter, people are eating foods produced internationally, grown and raised on foreign soil, that carry foreign particulates such as pollens, nutrients and other organisms from fertilizers, composts and manures and raised from different seed families that are different from the seeds used to grow vegetables and fruit that people's bodies became accustomed to-

Just a theory ..

MOnica, yes, properly diagnosed and epipens at the ready here! It runs in the family. With Mum it was shellfish and my brother nearly died when given a mashed banana as a baby.

Lactose intolerance and milk protein allergy are two entirely different things. My son can't eat fruit. It's possible to be allergic to meat as well.

So many foods have added milk that you end up sticking to a few safe basics and making your own instead of buying biscuits etc.

MOnica, I'm with you 100%. In a way I've been forced to cut down my meat consumption because I simply can't afford to eat it every day. I prefer to buy meat from a local farm. They don't have sheep, but all the other meat is raised and slaughtered locally. When I buy there, there's a label with the meat stating where the animal was raised. Admittedly, it's expensive but I prefer to eat just a small amount of meat, which I know has been raised in reasonable conditions.

I live on my own, so I'm only buying for one. I doubt if the average family could afford to buy that way and I think they should be able to buy meat (not necessarily expensive cuts) knowing that it isn't stuffed full of antibiotics and hormones.

PS. I'm thinking hard what I could eat if I were veggie and allergic to many vegetables.

I know so many foods have milk products, which is why it was so awkward feeding my ex-MIL. I wasn't too happy when I discovered that she wasn't lactose intolerant at all.

(PS MOnica) We don't know if she's allergic to nuts. She's only two and we haven't dared to find out yet!

Why not have her tested? You'll need to know at some stage.

An allergy is different to an auto-immune disease such as coeliac disease.

Yes, I know.

It wasn't specifically addressed to you growstuff, but there did seem to be some confusion up-thread.

I just thought I would say in case some posters didn't realise.

Oh, OK

I've had allergies my entire life- Yet I tested negative to the series of tests administered by an allergist- Just the other day I leaned a little too far into the garden and not so gracefully tumbled into it- Within minutes I developed rashes on my arms-

It's not uncommon to test negative to tests despite their results are incorrect- I would encourage testing regardless, just as much as I would encourage anyone to be mindful of their bodies despite negative test results-

If I turned completely vegetarian I'd never be able to eat out ever. I have a garlic intolerance. I met a lady on holiday who couldn't eat onions either. Made her diet very limited.

Like many I eat local, free range meat. Just eat much less of it.