This morning while I was getting ready for work, I had the NPR news app running on my iPad. I like to listen to it since it's short enough but broad enough that it at least gives me quick roundup of some of the headlines of the day. One of the stories that caught my attention was one about the use of a yellow rice. This yellow rice, ‘golden rice,’ is not a natural food. It has been genetically modified to contain high amounts of beta-carotene, hence the color. On its face, this sounds like a good idea. In areas across Asia and Africa, millions of people do not get enough vitamin A in their diet, and beta-carotene is a primary source of this nutrient. What I wondered was how a food like this plays into the food allergy conversation.

_Yesterday I came across a very in-depth article in the NYT about a large food allergy study/experiment on children who were highly allergic to multiple foods. Through oral immunotherapy a doctor was able to raise the tolerance of children to multiple food allergens to the point where they could again safely interact and grow up more like normal children. Some of the cases were extremely severe, to the point where even crumbs or traces of food allergens would send some of these children into anaphylactic shock – a nightmare scenario for any parent. Foods like wheat, dairy, nuts, and the usual suspects were actors in this play, but what struck me was the unspoken reality that accompanies the rise in food allergies – no one knows exactly why. So with such a big question mark, I wondered how does this relate to the ‘golden rice’?

_There are many theories about the causes of allergies, and while the most popular, the ‘hygiene theory’ does seem to hold some water when it comes to respiratory allergies like rhinitis, hay fever, and sinusitis, it meets a serious challenge when you try to apply it to food allergies. Studies have shown that children raised on farms or environments that are a little more germ-friendly than the typical suburban American household do show lower instances of allergies and asthma. However, in even these places, respiratory allergies are still increasing, and food allergies are rising at a much higher rate.

_So why? Why is the food that has sustained the human race for centuries now threatening the lives of so many of our youth? Dr. Nadeau from the NYT piece leans away from the hygiene theory and more towards the chemicals and toxins that saturate modern life. The idea is that environmental factors damage genes or transform them at a very fast rate. These genes are then passed down, which could explain why children of parents with allergies are much more likely to have allergies.

_There is some evidence to support this theory – research pieces that show higher rates of allergies in children when allergic parents as well as others that demonstrate the development of food allergies in children who have immigrated with their parents and adopted a ‘western diet’ (even when there is no parental history of allergies).

_This brings me back to the ‘golden rice’. I understand the potential of such a crop, but I also understand some of the dangers commonly levied against genetically modified foods. (FYI, a quick look through your pantry will likely reveal that about 30% of the processed foods you find have genetically modified substances in them.) Brushing these aside and focusing only on the allergy aspect, I keep coming back to a singular question. We do not know why many of the foods that we eat are threatening the lives of more and more children every year, so is it wise to push ahead by adding yet another variable into the mix? We have yet to figure out why the foods we currently eat are affecting food allergies and would most certainly have even less knowledge as to how these new foods could play into that mix.

_When turn this question over in my head, I think of a chef who can't figure out why his dish turned out tasting so poorly, but instead of working his way back, eliminating ingredients and trying to find the culprit in the recipe, he simply adds more ingredients and hopes for the best.

_To read the full NYT Oral Immunotherapy Story or the NPR story about ‘golden rice’.

_Author: K. Gilmore