By TLB Contributor: Christina England
I recently attended the annual Allergy & Free from Show in London. The show is the largest show of its kind in the UK, with over three hundred exhibitors, displaying everything from wheat-free biscuits to allergen-free mattresses.
There were a vast number of exhibitors, exhibiting an array of produce for wheat-free, gluten-free, egg-free, dairy-free, soya-free and nut-free diets, and after attending a number of lectures on food allergies, I began to question what was behind the rapidly growing problem of severe food allergies.
The exhibitors informed me that the number of people who suffer from food allergies has grown to an all-time high, with at least one in five people in Britain suffering from a food allergy or food intolerance. Interested in their comments, I asked them what they believed was causing this massive increase. Although many were reluctant to answer my questions, a few people told me that they believed that environmental factors were at the root of the problem.
Intrigued, I asked them whether or not they believed the large number of childhood vaccinations could be to blame for the increase. Although a few did believe that this was a possibility, none of them wanted to be interviewed on the topic…