IGE Antibodies & Allergy Increase: Facts & Statistics

[BenVitale]

How are IGE antibodies related to an increase of allergies in the world?

 

[bobze]

How are IGE antibodies related to an increase of allergies in the world?

IGE antibodies are a normal part of our immune response (see the post above mine), which wouldn't be "responsible" for the increase of allergies.

I think the question really needs to be broken down, firstly the "increase" in allergies is a phenomena happening in industrialized (western) cultures, from this then the question would become why are allergies on the rise in industrialized cultures.

Or better yet, what has changed in industrialized cultures which increase our bodies immune response to seemingly harmless things.

I think many physicians and scientists would answer our bordering obsessive need to be clean. The current theory on it is that we have removed so many microbes and microorganisms that were once a part of our daily lives, we've "freed" up our immune systems to be over-reactive.

Interestingly, there has been some people with severe allergies which have found relief by infecting themselves with parasitic worms (hook worms). The idea being that the body's immune system is too busy killing worms to worry about something so mundane as pollen.

I believe there have also been some studies done on Mycoplasmas and other environmental organisms, which at one time in our history would have constantly been invading our bodies through our daily lifestyles. With our constant hand-washing and food sterilization many of these organisms are no longer present in and on our bodies.

I suppose that's the trade off, wipe out diphtheria and suffer the hay-fever. Edit for grammar.