Early Detection of Allergies – It’s In the Blood

Solving any good mystery is a bit like a pulling a string. You begin to pull and more and more string follows, but the goal is always the same, to find the beginning. Allergy research is a lot like this.…

Breast Cancer Awareness: Allergies and Cancer

From ads in magazines and on television to even NFL games, November’s color is pink. Over the last several years, Breast Cancer Awareness month (November) has been synonymous with pink ribbons and pink in all types of ads and even…

Viaskin Peanut Allergy Patch Fast Tracked by FDA

Over the last few years there has been a lot of “good starts” when it comes to novel treatments of allergies and asthma. From a vaccine for cat allergies to bronchial thermoplasty for asthmatics, there have been a myriad of…

Peanut Allergy Patch 2015 – Update

Big news was shared early last Sunday at the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting in Houston, TX on a new therapy against peanut allergies. A research team from Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Kravis Children’s…

Gut Bacteria Key to Allergy Development?

In the last two years, there has been an incredible amount of research into what is called the human microbiome – the wide variety of microorganisms that live on and in us. It is still a difficult concept for many…

Allergy-Free Nuts? Maybe Not As Far Off As You Think

Tree nut and peanut allergies are some of the most common as well as some of the most commonly discussed food allergies. Without fail, every year we hear at least a handful of stories about those who are severely allergic…

New Dust Mite Vaccine on the Horizon?

Vaccines have often been the subject of potential treatments for allergies, and as we've discussed before, a UK firm, Circassia, has been through several stages of testing a vaccine for cat allergies. Research recently released by a team working at…

Peanut Allergy Immunotherapy Offers Hope

Mothers with children who have peanut allergies can find hope for relief in recent allergy studies. In a study recently published in the Lancet, Dr. Andrew Clark and his team conducted clinical trials testing immunotherapy treatments for children with peanut…

CATALYST – Clinical Trials, Cat Vaccine

This is a topic we've mentioned before throughout the years and originally back in 2011, a novel treatment for cat allergies that is less invasive, less time consuming and as effective as more traditional allergy shots. British drug maker, Circassia…

Dogs and Asthma – Man’s Best Friend, Yet Again?

Owning a dog changes a lot of things for people, but one thing you might not think about is how it changes the dust inside your home. It's true, the composition of the dust in dog owner's home is actually…

Household Drama, and Not’Real Housewives’ Kind

Typically, a research piece about botulism would fall outside of the scope of topics we cover, but with this most recent article's focus on vacuum cleaners and the suggestion that they maybe be potential vectors for disease (like botulism), we…

Fatty Acids Linked to Increase Risk of Allergies

An article recently published by a group of Swedish researchers calls into question some of the zeal over fatty acids in our diet. With the seemingly endless parade of ads for supplements rich in antioxidants and fatty acids, this latest…

Update on Cat Allergy Vaccine

Back in 2011, we posted a blog about a vaccine for cat allergies, and at that time, it discussed the Phase II trials of the vaccine. Well, two years later, the results are in, they look promising, and Phase III…

Fungi, Asthma & Your Lungs

Viruses, bacteria, and germs… they seem like a terrifying lot sometimes, particularly when the evening news shows stories of salmonella food poisoning, some ultra rare microbes with devastating effects or a story about how research on the mutating the Avian…

Pulmicort Does Make You Shorter

In a recent study presented at the European Respiratory Society conference in Vienna, researchers defined the link between the use of a common asthma treatment drug and a child's height. For years it has been believed that budesonide, the primary…

Your Brain on Allergies

An article published in the most recent issue of the Journal of National Cancer Institute touches on a subject that we first wrote about several years ago – the link between cancer and allergies. At that time we pointed out…

Link Between Antibacterial Soaps and Food Allergies?

For several years, one hypothesis behind the increase in allergies has been the ‘hygiene theory.’ This suggests that in western societies, children are exposed to fewer germs and bacteria, and that this lack of exposure can actually lead to a…

Study Raises Concerns about Traditional Chinese Medicine

For centuries, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has used a variety of herbs and extracts as well as practices like massage and acupuncture, to treat a wide variety of health issues. And while TCM largely lacks Western research to prove its…

Overuse of Antibiotics When Treating Rhinonsinusitis

While sinus infections can affect anyone, they often are most problematic for those who suffer from respiratory allergies or those dealing with the flu or other illness. Seeking relief, people will often head to their doctor's office, and most carry…

Study Links Farm Environment and Allergy Development

There have been many studies that have started with the theory that exposure to more environmental allergens leads to an immune system that is less sensitive to common proteins like pollen, dander, etc. This is significant for allergy and asthma…

Link Between Less Sunlight and Food Allergies?

Though milk is often fortified with vitamin D, from grade school health classes on we've learned that much of the vitamin D we receive is from exposure to sunlight. In addition to keeping bones strong and healthy, vitamin D and…

Allergic to… Bacteria?

Can you be allergic to bacteria? A study released in this month’s issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology suggests that some instances of asthma may be related to what could be classified as an allergic response to bacteria. _The…

Peanut Allergy Triggered by Blood Transfusion

Children and adults with life-threatening allergies know all too well that precautions against an allergic reaction must be taken in every aspect of life. An extraordinary case of an allergic reaction related in the NY Times emphatically illustrates this point.…

BPA Exposure During Early Pregnancy Linked to Infant Wheezing

We've been keeping a close eye on news about the relationship between BPA and asthma and allergies. We've talked about this subject before. (See BPA, Allergies, and Asthma and BPA, Triclosan Linked to Allergies.) A new study seems to provide…

New Cat Allergy Vaccine is Safer, Quicker

Good news! Allergy treatment really is improving. As The Washington Post reports in Cutting Allergy Shots, advances are being made in immunotherapy that uses isolated proteins that make up specific allergens. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published a…

Iron Supplements While Pregnant May Help Prevent Childhood Asthma

With early childhood asthma and allergies on the rise, researchers are always on the lookout for reasons for this surge. In addition to a lack of vitamin D, iron deficiencies may also account for problems in infant and childhood breathing,…

New Food Allergy Test: Greater Accuracy, Less Risk

Researchers have developed an online calculator that predicts in seconds whether a person has three of the major food allergies, reports Science Daily in Easy, Accurate Way to Predict Food Allergies Developed, Study Suggests. This ‘Cork-Southampton calculator’ is 96 percent…

H Pylori Stomach Bacteria & The Hygiene Hypothesis

According to the National Review of Medicine, researchers at New York University have discovered more evidence in support of the hygiene hypothesis. The hygiene hypothesis posits that modern societies have experienced an increase in asthma and allergies because of decreased…