7 interesting facts you may not know about allergies

Cape-based allergist Dr Mike Levin shares some lesser-known facts about the things that make you itch, sneeze and wheeze

1) There is a link between rain and pollen

Rain can help wash pollen out of the air, but sometimes pollen grains can get moist, swell and burst into smaller pieces, which is worse for allergy sufferers. It is called "thunderstorm asthma".

2) It's not just pollen that makes you sneeze

The most commonly inhaled allergens, apart from pollen, are:

• House dust mites;

• Cat and dog danders;

• Cockroach by-products; and

• Fungal spores.

Try these tips for treating hayfever.

3) It's possible protect your children against food allergies

In developed countries, 10% of children have proven food allergies. South Africa's rate is at 2.5% but we must correct this so it doesn't accelerate.

It starts with the diet of the mother in pregnancy. Certain foods are protective against allergies, like oily fish.

Breast-feed and introduce solid foods like peanuts, eggs and shellfish from five to 11 months to dramatically reduce chances of food allergies.

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4) Eczema is related

An early indicator of allergies is eczema, when the skin cells don't fit together. Use emollients rather than lotions to prevent skin from getting broken.

4) Over-cleaning can make allergies worse

Certain factors in rural environments protect you from developing allergies, like exposure to farm animals, unpasteurised milk and dirt.

In urban environments, we are changing the organisms that live in and on the body, the microbiome, by over-cleaning. The micro-organisms change and stop protecting you.

5) Healthy eating can help prevent allergies

Junk food and food - especially meat - cooked with high temperature methods like frying, roasting, searing or braaiing produces compounds called "advanced glycation end products", which the body regards as an allergen and which leads to inflammation.

7) There's a new allergy treatment

A new and relatively expensive method called allergen-specific immunotherapy entails small amounts of your specified allergy being injected or ingested to flood the immune system and develop immunity.