Food question

[LightPhoenix]

Do you have a source on that? That is way cool.

Speaking as a biochemist with a small bit of background in immunology, it may or may not be true.

On the one hand, constant low-level exposure to an allergen (like pollen) will reduce the type of allergic reaction that causes "allergy". In reality it shifts it over to a different type of reaction that is less harmful to the body, so it doesn't really go away. However, the physical effects of the allergic reaction can be lessened. Additionally, this really only works with minor allergies. For example, I can't eat eggs without going into anaphylactic shock (which means I cook a lot of my own food, which the ladies love ), and no amount of conditioning is going to help that. However, I used to be minorly allergic to nuts - hives and rashes but nothing too terrible. I was a stubborn kid though, and eventually that "went away".

On the other hand, one thing to keep in mind is that ingestion and inhalation are two very different modes of exposure. In the relatively small quantities present in honey combined with the fact that you're probably combining that with other food, thus diluting the allergen further, chances are you won't feel the effects of that pollen nearly as much as if you had breathed it in. So by this reasoning, chances are this is not really as true as people would like to believe.

So really, it could be true or it could not be true. Personally I'd lean towards urban myth, because I don't think the concentration of allergen to food, combined with the extremely harsh environment of the stomach compared to the lungs, would prevent any meaningful exposure.

Okay, I'll stop now. Alton rocks!

 

[reveal]

Good Eats should come out on DVD. Seriously.

http://store.foodnetwork.com/shop/t...2&subcategory_code=99&search_type=subcategory

 

[Harmon]

Speaking as a biochemist with a small bit of background in immunology, it may or may not be true.

On the one hand, constant low-level exposure to an allergen (like pollen) will reduce the type of allergic reaction that causes "allergy". In reality it shifts it over to a different type of reaction that is less harmful to the body, so it doesn't really go away. However, the physical effects of the allergic reaction can be lessened. Additionally, this really only works with minor allergies. For example, I can't eat eggs without going into anaphylactic shock (which means I cook a lot of my own food, which the ladies love ), and no amount of conditioning is going to help that. However, I used to be minorly allergic to nuts - hives and rashes but nothing too terrible. I was a stubborn kid though, and eventually that "went away".

On the other hand, one thing to keep in mind is that ingestion and inhalation are two very different modes of exposure. In the relatively small quantities present in honey combined with the fact that you're probably combining that with other food, thus diluting the allergen further, chances are you won't feel the effects of that pollen nearly as much as if you had breathed it in. So by this reasoning, chances are this is not really as true as people would like to believe.

So really, it could be true or it could not be true. Personally I'd lean towards urban myth, because I don't think the concentration of allergen to food, combined with the extremely harsh environment of the stomach compared to the lungs, would prevent any meaningful exposure.

Okay, I'll stop now. Alton rocks!

Thank you.

I tend towards homeopathic treatments, alternative meds, and such when I can.

(My Dad was diagnosised with ALS twelve years ago, started fighting it almost immediately with Chinese Medicine and alternative forms. He has gone back three times to be rediagnosised. Not until recently did the Doctors finally say- “well you can’t have ALS. No one on record has gone into remission for that long with this disease.”)

Bee Pollen (according to The Ultimate Healing System) is loaded with vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, C, Folic Acid, to name a few) and has loads of minerals (Iron, Copper, Silica, Sulfur, Chlorine, again just to name a few).

Bee Pollen is listed in the back of the book as being part of a Life Extension Technique.

After finally getting in touch with my Dad (he’s been at a friends hunting cabin in Idaho for the last month) he says that Bee Pollen is the one supplement that he would not do without, which I find very interesting. It gives him energy, helps to keep him from catching colds, etc. I guess you could say he swears by it.

I wish I was better at research I might be successful at finding out more about honey and Howard Carter- which is what started this thread. Thank you all.