Early last year, I put a query out to my fledgling Facebook fan base, “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a scientist?” Only one person responded, but that one response absolutely nailed it. “I'm not a scientist but I follow science and believe that at its best, science tells the best stories.” That golden insight came from none other than, Henry Ehrlich, co-author of Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide, editor of the corresponding website AsthmaAllergiesChildren.com, and now author of the book Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure. And boy, did he not only follow the science, but he tells its gripping story to an entire food allergy community.
A PhD neuroscientist and mother's journey into understanding the immune system.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Book Review - Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure
Early last year, I put a query out to my fledgling Facebook fan base, “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of a scientist?” Only one person responded, but that one response absolutely nailed it. “I'm not a scientist but I follow science and believe that at its best, science tells the best stories.” That golden insight came from none other than, Henry Ehrlich, co-author of Asthma Allergies Children: A Parent’s Guide, editor of the corresponding website AsthmaAllergiesChildren.com, and now author of the book Food Allergies: Traditional Chinese Medicine, Western Science, and the Search for a Cure. And boy, did he not only follow the science, but he tells its gripping story to an entire food allergy community.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
My new article at Slate - egg allergies and flu vaccines ARE compatible
I'm really proud to have authored the following piece on Slate. Vaccines are tried and true at preventing a multitude of potentially deadly infectious diseases and have a long history of safety. Are there adverse events? Of course, but they are rare. The benefits far outweigh the risks (see the infographic below). While the flu vaccine varies in efficacy every year (some years are better than others), it is the best means we have to prevent flu, which can and does kill thousands every year and puts many more in the hospital. It is especially important for those with asthma.
Please know that I want to present everyone with facts so that they, along with healthcare providers, make informed decisions. People can and do rarely have anaphylaxis to vaccines, which may have nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of egg proteins. In controlled clinical trials, over 4,000 individuals with egg allergies have received the flu vaccine without anaphylaxis. On top of this, the MMR vaccine is also made using eggs and is routinely given without issue. It is important that as many of us who can receive vaccines do, in order to protect not only ourselves, but those who can't receive it (e.g. - those who have had anaphylactic reactions to vaccines more generally).
Vaccines are often suggested as a cause behind allergies, autism, etc. There has been no direct causal evidence to support this. A lot has changed in our modern world (maybe some not for the better), but I fear going back to the pre-vaccine era. Keep the discussion going! This is an important one to have.
Please know that I want to present everyone with facts so that they, along with healthcare providers, make informed decisions. People can and do rarely have anaphylaxis to vaccines, which may have nothing to do with the miniscule amounts of egg proteins. In controlled clinical trials, over 4,000 individuals with egg allergies have received the flu vaccine without anaphylaxis. On top of this, the MMR vaccine is also made using eggs and is routinely given without issue. It is important that as many of us who can receive vaccines do, in order to protect not only ourselves, but those who can't receive it (e.g. - those who have had anaphylactic reactions to vaccines more generally).
Vaccines are often suggested as a cause behind allergies, autism, etc. There has been no direct causal evidence to support this. A lot has changed in our modern world (maybe some not for the better), but I fear going back to the pre-vaccine era. Keep the discussion going! This is an important one to have.
 | |
| vaccine infographic created by Leon Farrant, as appeared in Forbes - http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2013/02/19/a-graphic-that-drives-home-how-vaccines-have-changed-our-world/ |
Monday, January 20, 2014
The Costco Perspective
Sometimes I like to take a step back from the daily grind and focus on the "big picture." It only seems appropriate that my trip to an uber-sized warehouse store could help with this "big picture" endeavor. As the New Year has come and gone, it's good to periodically put things in perspective and reflect - how far we have come, where we are now, what may lie ahead in this allergy journey.
The start of the allergy journey was a bit like my arrival at Costco -
I make sure I've got my shopping bags, hop out of the car, turn to press the button on the remote to lock the doors, and begin my stroll to the store entrance. I clear the back end of my car, and... holy bleepety, bleep, bleep, bleep. I almost get bowled over by the white Suburban with fancy silver rims on a mission to get that coveted parking spot next to the store entrance. Geesh. I didn't see that one coming. An inocuous day like every other can completely change things (thankfully I didn't get run over). The day that my son had his first anaphylactic reaction certainly changed life in ways I couldn't have imagined.
As the rush of adrenaline subsides, I show my membership card to the petite, smiling gray-haired lady only to be greeted by this:
The start of the allergy journey was a bit like my arrival at Costco -
I make sure I've got my shopping bags, hop out of the car, turn to press the button on the remote to lock the doors, and begin my stroll to the store entrance. I clear the back end of my car, and... holy bleepety, bleep, bleep, bleep. I almost get bowled over by the white Suburban with fancy silver rims on a mission to get that coveted parking spot next to the store entrance. Geesh. I didn't see that one coming. An inocuous day like every other can completely change things (thankfully I didn't get run over). The day that my son had his first anaphylactic reaction certainly changed life in ways I couldn't have imagined.
As the rush of adrenaline subsides, I show my membership card to the petite, smiling gray-haired lady only to be greeted by this:
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Holiday ode to theobromine
 |
| Molecule of theobromine |
When holiday times start getting you down… theobromine.
Pick
yourself up with a quick fix… theobromine.
You might
just fall in love with this season… theobromine.
Against all
odds and all reason… theobromine.
Its botanical
origins discovered by our friends to the south… theobromine.
Well before
the first Christmas ever existed… theobromine.
Why on earth
do we consume such a bitter magical potion… theobromine.
It’s
elementary, my dear Crick and dear Watson…
Theobromine,
theobromine. Your magical, mystical
powers make my heart sing. You make me
feel good and give my mind focus. You suppress
coughs, relax airways, and tame inflammation. Your pharmacology truly works
wonders for me… but only in small doses, you see.
 |
| Cocoa beans - Image source: http://cocoa-beans.org/ |
Who on earth
figured out how to get it?!… theobromine.
The beans of
cacao – we collect it, ferment it; we dry it and roast it… theobromine.
But, it’s
still not ready for consumption after all that… theobromine.
We grind it
and press it, then send it off to make chocolate… theobromine.
Our friends
in Europe perfected a most laborious art… theobromine.
Some like it
dark, some like it light, some raise a glass for a toast… theobromine.
Give it some
sweetness, give it some flavor… theobromine.
The possible
culinary combinations seem endless… theobromine.
 |
| A final chocolate product. Darker chocolate = more theobromine. Image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chocolate.jpg |
Theobromine,
theobromine. Your magical, mystical
powers make my heart sing. You make me
feel good and give my mind focus. You suppress
coughs, relax airways, and tame inflammation. Your pharmacology truly works
wonders for me… but only in small doses, you see.
So holiday
times getting you down just a bit?
Endless
cooking, and cleaning, and holiday shopping draining your spirit?
Take a
short moment, a deep breath, along with two, maybe more, pieces of chocolate.
Close your
eyes, soak it in, and thank the Lord for this blessing… theobromine.
- My favorite allergy-friendly theobromine sources – EnjoyLife, Vermont Nut-Free chocolates, and Hershey’s cocoa powder to make my own concoctions.
- A nice series on the origins and processing of chocolate from Cadbury
Monday, December 9, 2013
If food allergy deaths in food-allergic individuals are rare, do we change our ways?
This is a follow up post to 1 reason I despise science headlines. It is in response to the recent press-coverage of Incidence of fatal food anaphylaxis in people with food allergy: a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.
After a week of thought, I am content that a group of researchers attempted such a risk assessment given the existing literature, i.e. what is the risk to a population of food allergic individuals dying from an allergic reaction to food. There is a real need for good, hard statistics to put things into perspective. What I am unsure of is whether this study warranted the press coverage that it has received. As discussed in my first post, there is a huge range of error surrounding their identified risk of death - 1.81 deaths per million food allergic individuals per year (with a statistical error that gives a 95% chance that the true value falls between 0.94 and 3.45 deaths per million assuming no bias). However, there are real issues of possible bias, which includes but is not limited to possible medical coding errors surrounding death due to anaphylaxis and pinning down the true prevalence of food allergy. This at least is a first attempt at systematic review/meta-analysis and certainly warrants more powerful studies to hone in on the true value with better accuracy and precision. The bottom line is that even with obvious known flaws in their acquired value, it is very unlikely that the risk of food allergic individuals across the food allergic population dying from their food allergy will trump the risk we all face from accidental death. The number of U.S. deaths due to accidental death is reported as 391 per million per year, according to the CDC. The study authors certainly have noble intentions of this study reducing the anxiety faced by food allergic individuals or their caregivers. Senior author, Dr. Robert J. Boyle, a pediatric allergy specialist at Imperial College London is quoted in a New York Times blog, “It’s a matter of not letting food allergy rule your or your child’s life. The risk is surprisingly low. You still have to take precautions, but I think it’s important to see it in context.”
What I've been grappling with personally is - does this study reduce my anxiety level?
After a week of thought, I am content that a group of researchers attempted such a risk assessment given the existing literature, i.e. what is the risk to a population of food allergic individuals dying from an allergic reaction to food. There is a real need for good, hard statistics to put things into perspective. What I am unsure of is whether this study warranted the press coverage that it has received. As discussed in my first post, there is a huge range of error surrounding their identified risk of death - 1.81 deaths per million food allergic individuals per year (with a statistical error that gives a 95% chance that the true value falls between 0.94 and 3.45 deaths per million assuming no bias). However, there are real issues of possible bias, which includes but is not limited to possible medical coding errors surrounding death due to anaphylaxis and pinning down the true prevalence of food allergy. This at least is a first attempt at systematic review/meta-analysis and certainly warrants more powerful studies to hone in on the true value with better accuracy and precision. The bottom line is that even with obvious known flaws in their acquired value, it is very unlikely that the risk of food allergic individuals across the food allergic population dying from their food allergy will trump the risk we all face from accidental death. The number of U.S. deaths due to accidental death is reported as 391 per million per year, according to the CDC. The study authors certainly have noble intentions of this study reducing the anxiety faced by food allergic individuals or their caregivers. Senior author, Dr. Robert J. Boyle, a pediatric allergy specialist at Imperial College London is quoted in a New York Times blog, “It’s a matter of not letting food allergy rule your or your child’s life. The risk is surprisingly low. You still have to take precautions, but I think it’s important to see it in context.”
What I've been grappling with personally is - does this study reduce my anxiety level?
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