By Dr. Cliff Han, President & CEO — AllerPops
The first day of spring is a time for celebration. Birds chirp, flowers bloom, and you get to leave your winter coat in the closet for months on end.
But if you’re an allergy sufferer — which, according to the Center for Disease Control, over one in four Americans are — the arrival of spring isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Instead of enjoying the season’s warmer temperatures and longer days, many allergy sufferers are stuck indoors sneezing, sniffling, coughing, wheezing, and enduring a host of other unpleasant symptoms.
This year could be different, though. In fact, it may be time to rethink how we approach seasonal allergies altogether.
Why are seasonal allergies on the rise?
chich some have proposed environmental change as the culprit causing this increase. Still, others are convinced something else is at play.
The truth is that seasonal allergy symptoms are a modern problem. If we look back a few generations, we find very few people struggling with them. While some point to environmental issues like pollution, but others blame genetic factors. After hundreds of studies and thousands of data points, however, we see a clearer picture emerging.
As modern humans, we have learned to do an exceptional job of ridding bacteria from our environments, many of which were — and still are — extremely harmful. However, we now know that some microorganisms are crucial to helping us keep our immune systems in check
The link between decreasing bacteria and increasing allergies
Historically, our ancestors lived closer to nature. They picked fruits and vegetables from the fields, drank water from streams, and worked closely with animals. During these activities, they were exposed to many different types of bacteria.
We have been taught to fear the microorganisms around us. Thanks to increased sanitation and antibiotics, our bodies come into contact with far fewer bacteria today. On the whole, that is a good thing. Infant mortality has decreased while life spans have increased, a tiny cut no longer carries the threat of deadly infection, and illnesses such as tuberculosis are kept at bay.
Even so, as we learn more about microbiology, we see that some of the organisms that we are taking out of our bodies serve valuable purposes, working alongside our immune systems to prevent excessive inflammation.
Our allergy symptoms are the result of an overactive immune system. Without beneficial bacteria, our bodies react abnormally when exposed to specific triggers like pollen or dust mites. The reactions affect many parts of our bodies, including our skin, eyes, and lungs.
Allergy treatments focus on symptoms rather than the cause
Common treatments for seasonal allergies include antihistamines, nasal sprays, and decongestants. But these treatments focus on the symptoms of seasonal allergies rather than the underlying cause.
Antihistamines reduce allergy symptoms such as sneezing, wheezing, itchy eyes, and skin rashes by blocking histamine receptors in your body’s immune system. Nasal sprays are medications that open up your sinuses, making them less congested, and decongestants are often used as a last resort for symptom relief since they narrow blood vessels around swollen tissue to reduce inflammation.
These treatments come with several problems. First, they fail to offer full relief from symptoms. When allergy sufferers get by with pills and inhalers, they are unable to experience true relief from their allergies. Second, the chemicals needed to suppress the body’s natural response to irritation all cause side effects. Over time, these side effects can become as frustrating as the allergy symptoms themselves. And finally, treating only the symptoms of allergies means they can return or even worsen if the environment changes or new allergens are encountered.
Fighting seasonal allergies at their root
Rethinking seasonal allergies means refocusing our treatments to address the cause. Although over-sterilization and antibiotic use has enabled us to eliminate many kinds of bacteria, the resulting lack of exposure to the right microbes increases our risk for allergies.
The answer for millions in need of treatment for seasonal allergies may lie within their own microbiome — the community of bacteria living inside us and regulating our immune systems by producing anti-inflammatory compounds. When we’re born, we have an abundance of these good bacteria, but overuse of antibiotics and modern lifestyle habits like excessive hygiene have depleted our microbial colonies.
Good bacteria are a key part of healthy immune function, but the truth is that many of us simply don’t have enough of them in our bodies. Through years of intensive research, we are starting to identify specific bacterial strains and combinations that are central to normal human immune function.
While many of us have been taught to fear bacteria, these are harmless organisms that have been cooperating with our bodies for many thousands of years, but we have been unknowingly removing them through over-sterilization, heavy antibiotic use, and excessive oral cleaning. By letting them regenerate, it’s possible that allergy sufferers may find that their symptoms can disappear almost overnight.
